With the recent WannaCry worm and other ransomware attacks in the spotlight, many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are taking a good hard look at their data backup solution and finding it wanting. In addition to lacking a second site for storing backups, many still use rotating tapes or removable offsite media which is cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive. It’s time for Plan B.
With data the lifeline of most small businesses, and ransomware and other cyberattacks on the upswing, ensuring you have the right data backup (and recovery) solution in place is critical. The key is to focus your backup strategy on availability, and that’s where cloud-based solutions shine.
Among the advantages of cloud-based solutions are seamless backups on-demand, sized right for your needs, without big upfront investments in hardware, software and secondary storage sites. It’s a win-win, but choosing the right cloud-based backup solution isn’t easy. It requires:
- Assessing your situation: This includes fully quantifying your data storage needs, and establishing backup windows and priorities. It also means planning for growth: The rule of thumb is to plan for 30-50% storage growth each year.
- Leveraging existing IT solutions: You’ve invested quite a bit in modern storage and virtualisation technologies. Doesn’t it make sense to base your backup plan on them, specifically by choosing a partner that uses the same hardware, software and service providers you do?
- Realising all applications are critical: No two end users have the same needs, but they all agree their own data is most critical. Today, 47% of IT workloads are considered mission-critical, and that number is expected to jump to 52% in the next two years. Optimal backup solutions know any downtime is unacceptable and plan for 100% application availability.
- Focusing on speed and visibility: Availability requires fast, seamless backup and recovery. Look for partners that provide single, agentless, image-based backups that enable granular data and file recovery, as well as strong visibility into the health and performance of your backup infrastructure.
- Testing every scenario. Even the best backups aren’t any good unless they are available and recoverable exactly when and where you need them. Choose a solution that can run automated recovery verification jobs to guarantee recovery of every VM every time.
Availability is also the prime focus of our partner Veeam with its Veeam Cloud Connect. It provides the easy, affordable and reliable cloud-based backup you need, tailored specifically to the unique needs of your business.
Read 10 things to consider for an Always-On SMB here
With Veeam Cloud Connect, all your hosted backup repositories (called cloud repositories) are integrated directly into the Veeam backup console. Simply click Add Service Provider, enter the credentials you received from your provider (like QCS Group), and their cloud repositories appear in the backup infrastructure. That’s it! There’s no VPN or separate console, and cloud repositories work like other backup repositories except they’re available even if the primary backup or data center is lost.
Don’t get caught without a plan B. Ensure the availability of your mission-critical data without the cost and complexity of building and maintaining a backup site. Veeam Cloud Connect now with VM replication provides fully integrated, fast and secure cloud-based backup through QCS Group.
