In the daily operations, important data is generated and stored.
Since they are essential for a variety of purposes, it is important to ensure that they are protected from damage and loss.
While there are many ways to do this, you need to make sure that you have selected the one that is reliable and effective.
One of these methods includes remote backup.
The popularity of this method is increasing day by day because it has additional benefits as compared to the regular server backup.
Before selecting this option, it is important that you check out the features, advantages and disadvantages.
Features of Server backup: Some of the important features to check on when selecting these systems include: • Encryption: The data you deal with is very important and should therefore be protected from an unauthorized access.
It is therefore important to select a system that encrypts the data before it is sent via the internet and should store the data in the encrypted form.
Note that any encryption is not ideal because there are many cyber criminals with advance skills.
Therefore, ensure that you have selected a strong encryption with at least 256 bits and the system should offer you the chance to use your own encryption key, which you should keep with you at all times.
• Continuous back up: You need to select the system that will work continuously or the one that provides you the option of backing up data at a predefined program.
The selection will depend on your needs but you need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each before you make a choice.
It is however important to select the server backup program that will back up files that are locked and open.
Continuous back up means continuous data protection.
• Storage of Multiple versions: The remote backup must come with the ability to store variety of versions of the databases and files.
Additionally it should be easy for you to restore them at will.
To achieve this, you can opt for at least two mirrored data centers or keep a copy of the latest version with you.
• Support for Full restores: The systems should be able to fully restore data fast.
This is important in case the server crashes- an incident that could lead to the loss of a lot of data and information.
It is important therefore that you select a system that is capable of restoring the data through other means as via the internet would take a long time to completely restore all of the details.
• The file retention policy should be flexible: Before selecting any type of remote back-up, it is important to check out the type of file retention policy it comes with.
The retention policy should be flexible for different types of files and at the same time it should have different retention periods depending with your data.
With this in mind, you also need to determine the advantages and disadvantages of using the server backup.
Some of the advantages include: • With this system, you need not do any manual steps because the data will be automatically backed up.
• Unlike the traditional methods where you need countless of storage devices, the remote backup systems offer you unlimited retention of data.
• You will also benefit from the presence of variety of versions of the same file.
• The data sent to the system is protected by encryption and you can easily restore them whenever you want without worry of unauthorized access.
• It is more convenient because the data is continuously stored and you have the chance of accessing them even when you have changed computers.
The disadvantages of using remote backup are: • The storage depends with the network bandwidth and if the bandwidth is slow, the restoration will be slow and vice versa.
• You need to be careful with your encryption password because once it is lost; you cannot access the data and restore it.
• Some of the providers do not use strong encryption methods and this can compromise the privacy of the data.