Backup and DR in 20 mins

Not so very long ago most businesses relied on tape-based backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) processes. For many, this was highly unsatisfactory, and their overall perceptions of tape backups were shaped by problems such as:

• Often unreliable with errors because of open files, tape media faults and drive failures
• Only run as fast as the slowest link in the chain, frequently the tape read/write speed
• Getting the tape from the office manager’s flat back to the office quickly
• Are very slow when it comes to restoring significant volumes of data

Today’s backup technologies have revolutionised speed and reliability and transformed disaster recovery, and now businesses can be returned to full operational capability in as little as 20 minutes when using good backup and DR solutions.

DR in 20 minutes: How it works

So how does it work? Without getting technical, there are two ways to do this.

• Configuring a virtual server replication process that makes copies of servers
• Using a best in class product such as Veeam backup and replication software

In each of these instances, data is replicated to a secondary data centre, and a second set of servers.

In the event of the set of servers at the primary site failing, the recovery process can be started. The RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is usually set to 10-15 minutes. This means you will lose the last 10-15 minutes of changes to data prior to the failure. The RTO (Recovery Time Objective), the time taken to restore normal operating conditions can be set to 20 mins.

Enterprise-class backup and DR for growing companies

The cost of doing this 5 years ago was extensive – maybe £6,000 per server pair just for the software. However, the cloud means it is now affordable for every business. The shorter RTO and RPO time that is required, the more expensive it is. Both RPO and RTO can be brought down to near 0, but below 15-20 mins the cost starts going up considerably.

Most businesses are able to tolerate 15 -20 minutes of data loss. Often work just needs to be re-created and over the workforce of a growing business of 10 - 100 people, re-creating a small amount of work is favoured over front-loading the cost into the backup and DR solution.

This backup and DR technology can be applied to in house systems of course, but implementing is likely to involve greater complexity and to incur more expense. It is an enterprise-level solution and cloud technology enables smaller businesses to enjoy the same level of DR capability as the largest companies, but at a cost that makes sense.

IT support and impartial advice from Serviced Cloud

Backup and DR is just one of the complete range of HTL Support's Serviced Cloud solutions. Our platforms provide solutions such as Hosted Desktop, Private Cloud, and Hosted PBX. Solutions can be integrated to enable your business to minimise cost, maximise the value of technology and boost workforce productivity.

To find out more about how we help growing companies to enjoy the confidence of enterprise-level, cloud-based backup and DR, simply get in touch today.