Data Center Backup Davis

What you need to know about data center backup in Davis

Even if you’re a small SMB, managing data center backups can be very complex. It’s therefore vital to approach it in the right way. This means having a viable strategy and the tools to make it happen. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to what you need to know about data center backup in Davis.

You need a clear overview of your assets

For years, IT infrastructure often grew organically and to a certain extent it probably still does. As much as companies did their best to think and plan ahead, a lot of IT infrastructure developed either reactively or proactive but with a view to companies (understandably) trying to get the most out of their existing assets in preference to starting from scratch (all over again). As a result, data centers tend to be places where multiple environments, operating systems, and applications all have to coexist with each other.

You, therefore, need to implement a way to inventory your assets and track all changes to them. This includes minor ones as they can have unexpected consequences, including consequences for your data center backup strategy. For example, a change in one area could create an interoperability issue somewhere completely different, which could then stop your data center backup management solution from working as expected.

You don’t need to backup everything but you do need to back up what matters

One of the issues with data centers is that it’s very easy to wind up in a situation where you have a lot of data which doesn’t appear to be needed, but which nobody is prepared to delete either “just in case”. Tackling this can be overwhelming, especially if you’re already busy (as is generally the case with data center managers.

The pragmatic way to deal with this is to identify what is essential to your operations and what is needed for compliance and focus on backing up/archiving this data. Then do what you can to drain the rest of the swamp slowly until you finally have nothing but clean, relevant data in your systems.

Remember that data center backups generally involve more than “just” backing up data. They also involve backing up operating systems and applications and configurations. You may also need to look at backing up infrastructure itself, especially infrastructure which is prone to failure such as hard drives and mobile devices.

You absolutely must have solid data center backup management tools

If you’re only running a fairly “bare-bones” data center, perhaps while you finalize a migration to the cloud, then you might be fine with either a hardware solution or a “pure” cloud-based solution (as opposed to a hybrid solution, which combines a software element and a cloud element).

Hardware-based solutions used to be valued for their convenience (especially since many of them included storage). These days, however, they are increasingly seen as a risky option, plus you can take your off-site backups to the cloud, thus eliminating the need to hold (more) physical storage in your own data center. The cloud (or Backup as a Service) also offers simplicity and convenience and is arguably more robust (and doesn’t take up space in your data center).

Most SMBs, however, are likely to need either a software solution or a hybrid solution. In fact, they may need more than one as data center environments are now often so complex that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find one solution which does everything you need. This may not, however, be obvious from the marketing, which is why it’s advisable to make good use of the evaluation period offered by most vendors.

Basically, you need to find out whether support for any given platform is as robust as you’d like it to be and if not whether there’s another solution that could plug the gap. Be particularly careful to test how data center backup management solutions perform in virtualized environments. Most will be fine but you still need to be sure. You also need to be sure about what kind of ongoing support you can expect from the software vendor.

Storage options need to be examined carefully

For a while, it looked as though hard drives were going to take over from tapes as the storage medium of choice. Tapes, however, seem to be holding their own, albeit these days generally in partnership with SSD devices. The SSD devices buffer, compress and clean the data before it is sent to the tape, thus giving an excellent combination of high-performance and reliability at a reasonable price.

Some companies use physical storage, especially tapes, for both their local and off-site data center backups, but many are now using the cloud as convenient off-site storage. This may have a slightly higher security risk but the payback is convenience and speed of recovery.

If you’d like to speak to a reputable and experienced data center backup partner in Davis, please click here now to contact Aperio.IT.