{"id":2522,"date":"2019-12-18T11:59:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T10:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.archiware.com\/blog\/?p=2522"},"modified":"2019-12-18T12:07:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T11:07:13","slug":"small-business-backup-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.archiware.com\/blog\/small-business-backup-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a Small Business Backup Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Dr. Marc M. Batschkus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small businesses face a lot of challenges. They have to compete with their services and presentation against much bigger companies. And, sometimes they want to look bigger than they are to attract customers.

Their data and IT play a central role and have to be efficient to achieve that. Small businesses need to keep costs low. This is also true for their backup solution.

Data protection is crucial. Reliability for their work and towards their customers is a core asset, and data needs to be accessible at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the question is: How to create a small business backup strategy that best supports the small businesses\u2019 work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two main categories of IT setups that need to be backed up: servers and virtualised servers. Archiware has solutions for both. Let’s first have a look at the criteria a backup as to fulfill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Important Small Business Backup Strategy Criteria<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Automate as much as possible for maximum reliability. Only an automatic backup will protect data reliably. Any manual process will be skipped or postponed sooner or later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The backup runs should avoid production time (i.e., run overnight and weekends). To avoid any impact on the actual production, the backup should make use of times with less or no production taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create step-by-step documentation of how to restore files. This is important so that everyone can get their files back whenever need be and independent of a specific person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chance of mishaps increases with deadline pressure and when people might work late. In this case,  the person that set up the system might not be there, but files need to be recovered. For this, simple documentation of all steps needed is essential. Make it available to all involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use different media technologies to balance technology risks. Having enough copies of important files and on the right media provides maximum security. To achieve this, there is the 3-2-1- rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep 3 copies of each file on 2 different media technologies (like hard disk and SSD or hard disk and Cloud) with 1 stored offsite.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is crucial to regularly test the restore process once the backup is deployed and runs. This ensures that all parts work together as intended and that files are actually accessible when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checklist<\/strong>:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n