Data Backup Solutions in Placerville 

A quick guide to data backup solutions in Placerville 

Modern businesses run on data so losing access to data, even temporarily, could be a huge problem. Fortunately, it’s a problem that can be easily avoided with some appropriate advanced planning. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to data backup solutions in Placerville.

The day of hardware-based solutions is (almost) totally over 

In theory, you can use hardware-based solutions to manage your data backups and you can also backup your data to physical storage devices. In practice, the only case for using hardware-based solutions to manage your data backup process is that you already have them and want to recoup your investment in them. Even then, that’s a risky strategy since hardware devices are vulnerable to physical failure and need on-site repairs or swap-outs. This is why they have been largely abandoned in data centers and never really took hold in cloud-based systems.

If you’re still running a data center, there may be a case for using physical storage for your local data backup, but you generally want to use the cloud for your off-site data backup. This is not only more convenient than transporting physical storage from A to B, it also makes for much quicker restores. If you’re already in the cloud, then cloud-to-cloud data backups are almost always the only sensible option.

For completeness, even in the cloud, there may be a case for keeping a data archive in physical storage. Even then, however, it would generally be in addition to a cloud archive and some companies are happy just archiving their data in the cloud.

A robust data backup solution is the foundation of a disaster-recovery plan 

In simple terms, a disaster-recovery solution gives you access to your data plus whatever you need to make use of it (for example an operating system and applications). If you’re already working in the public cloud, then the most straightforward and cost-effective way to implement a disaster-recovery solution is just to backup your data to another public cloud and ensure that this cloud also holds the tools you need to work with it.

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Although this may seem excessive, given that the mainstream public-cloud providers all have very solid track-records, the simple fact of the matter is that you really never know what is going to happen, so it makes sense to be prepared.

If you’re in a data center, then your disaster-recovery solution will need to be a second data center (since you are presumably unable or unwilling to use the cloud for your main work). You can, however, use the cloud as a convenient and very affordable alternative to transporting and storing physical media. In the old days, the argument against this was that you could be left high and dry if there was an issue with the internet, but these days, it’s probably more likely that there would be an issue on the roads, especially in an urban area like Placerville.

If you’re using a private cloud then you have to decide between using a public cloud to hold your data backups and having a separate private cloud for disaster recovery or just backing up your data to your second private cloud.

The advantage of using the public cloud is that it is usually more cost-effective and generally will have little to no impact on your recovery time. In the real world, most of the time you’re going to be recovering from your local backup to your local system and most of the rest of the time you’re going to be recovering from your off-site backup to your local system. Where you will see a difference, however, is in the time it takes to get your disaster-recovery solution up and running.

If you opt to use a public cloud, then you will need to transport the data across the internet and then decrypt it before you can start working. If however, you use your second private cloud for both data backups and disaster recovery, then your data will already be on-site, so the most you will need to do is decrypt it. In short, therefore, if you’re prioritizing cost, then you probably want to use the public cloud for storage, but if you’re prioritizing recovery time, then you probably want to use a second private cloud.

For completeness, using a second private cloud would also give you extra security against there being any issues with your public-cloud platform at the same time as there were issues with your main cloud, although it also has to be said that the odds of this happening have to be fairly low.

If you’d like to speak to a reputable and experienced data backup solutions provider in Placerville, please click here now to contact Salient IT.