A backup is nothing more than a copy of the current business data in use at the office, usually backups are taken nightly to keep the data as current as possible, data, that is crucial for day to day operations of your business that could come to a screeching halt if it were lost and not able to get it back. Its good practice to approach backups like any other business process, establish a daily routine for taking backups and even draft companywide policies to ensure all pertinent information is backed up safely in case disaster does strike. Backups are usually performed in a 2x2x2 format, meaning, 2 copies of the data are taken in 2 different medium and kept at 2 different places; these could be off site, on site, on an external disk, a NAS, and kept in two different places; the cloud, or in a safe at the CEO’s house for example. When it comes to backups, there are a myriad of available strategies to use, the strategy for you will be determined by the individual needs you and your company may have. The initial backup, if one has never been taken of your data before, is going to be a copy of everything, every single piece of data on the system will get replicated. From that moment on, after the initial backup has been performed, it would be redundant to copy everything again, and the huge amounts of disk space it would take. In such a case, only an incremental backup will be needed, this is where only the new data that has been generated during the work day will backed up and added to the data from the previous day’s backup. Disaster recovery on the other hand, is not just a simple backup, although backups are an integral component of the overall plan, there is more to keep in mind in order to draft out a successful recover y plan. When preparing such a plan, you not only plan for imminent failure, you also establish the procedures for recovering your data, so that your company will be back up to speed and running in no time. Preparing for the worst possible scenario imaginable is always good business sense, be it a natural phenomenon (fire, earthquake, or flood), the total erasure of your data by a virus or complete failure on part of the hardware in place. To draft a good Disaster Recovery plan keep in mind:

• Perform a Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis.
• Have a policy for nightly backups of company data.
• Identify critical resources and establish the order in which those systems will be recovered.
• In case of earthquake, flood, or fire, is there an alternate site to work at in the meantime?
• Have the people who are going to be involved in the recovery process been trained in their specific duties?
• Have supplier information in hand if the need arises to acquire additional equipment.
• Have contractor and other needed partners information available for needed assistance during recovery.

Backups and disaster recovery plans are a great way to ensure business continuity in the unforeseeable event of a catastrophic failure of your network and the eventual loss of data. Planning ahead will make the entire process a much smoother experience and will make the recovery of your business go a lot faster as well. Zoltis Technologies is ready and equipped to help your business with its backup and disaster recovery needs.