Thursday, June 16, 2011

Be Sure To Choose The Right Remote Server Backup System

By Nancy Taylor


You were hired almost a month ago as the new IT expert after the old IT expert was let go; it seems he knew just enough to impress the general manager but not even close to enough to impress the new operations manager. You were told when she brought you on that you would have a great deal of work in front of you and it turns out that she was not exaggerating. The computer network is a mess. There are old accounts and passwords that should be closed and the principal database is a disaster. To top it all off the entire mess is backed up on an outdated tape drive on a single tape. Or rather it was backed up until the night the drive failed three months ago.

There is a year end inventory coming up in a month and the entire network and database needs to be reliably backed up before then. Needless to say this was set as your top priority. You're not even sure if the three month old data on the tape is reliable. You've been told to quickly find a good remote server backup system. But, what are the features of a really good system?

## Highly secure

The hallmark of a good remote server backup is security. You will be trusting not only your network data and your entire inventory and sales data but all of your current confidential client information which is being collected every day. You have to know that the encryption provided is going to reflect the sensitive and strategic nature of the data. You must find out about key generation and management as well.

## Thoroughly redundant

You have to be sure that your backup database is going to be stored on redundant servers in discrete locations in order to ensure that it will not be susceptible to catastrophic failures such as earthquakes and fires.

## Quick and easy to use.

Modern server backup systems should be easy to run. Once they're in position they need to be easy to maintain and operate. More importantly in the event of a system failure or data loss the recovery process needs to be straight forward and simple. You have to know that you have easy access to your backup day or night.

## Cost-effective

Just like anything else, you ought to know what exactly you're paying for. Are you purchasing space on the remote servers? Is the rate you're paying based on encrypted data or unencrypted? Are you paying for data transfer? You need to have a crystal clear contract that details the fee structure and how it may change over time if your data needs increase.

Remote server backup and recovery systems are a thriving business nowadays. The competition is fierce and so it is really worth shopping around for the solution that works best for your company. chuck out the ratty old tape drives and breathe a little easier knowing that if anything goes awry at the office your data is secure and accessible.




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