What is online backup?
Online backup is data backup that involves the transfer of files and folders over the internet for storage in secure data centers. These data centers are managed by a third-party company, like The Network Pro, in a separate location, offering companies a highly resilient form of off-site backup for their data.
What are some advantages of online backup?
Technology is always changing and just as cassette tape was replaced by CD, which has been replaced by Mp3 - online backup is becoming more popular simply because it is more advantageous than its predecessor. VHS lost out to DVD because of fuzzy picture quality, slower fast forward and rewinding and bulky storage requirements. It is the same natural progression with all new innovations.
Online backup is automated
Tape backup, to varying degrees, is a manual process. It involves human intervention where the IT manager, or nearest responsible person, has the task of carrying out backups on a day-to-day basis. The problem is whether that process is being carried out reliably. Is the Monday tape in on Thursday and is the backup being done every day like it supposed to be? This is a major problem if a restore needs to happen – the data is not going to be accurate.
As an alternative, online backup requires little human intervention. It can be set to carry out backups automatically where the user defines the scheduling, parameters and backup sets through a simple software interface. No other action is required, with the software alerting the user when successful backups have taken place and when there might be potential issues. The result is one less task for the IT manager and more confidence that backups are being done. The Network Pro offers NetStoreIT, which is an easy and affordable solution for all business to be sure that their data is secure and available.
Online backup is more secure than tape
Tape backup can represent a security risk. Data contained on tapes is normally unencrypted, and the tapes themselves are often left unattended on the back seat of a car or in somebody’s handbag. Should anybody get hold of a backup tape that they weren’t supposed to have, they could access all the personal information. If that data contains company financial or customer information then the consequences can be very serious. As well as that, backup tapes are also susceptible to fire and water damage.
Online backup makes data backup more secure because information is encrypted in transfer and storage. Encryption scrambles the components of a file making the contents unreadable without the assigned encryption key. With online backup, data is also stored offsite in secure disaster-proof data centers. The result is complete peace-of-mind for the user knowing that nobody unauthorized can access their data and that it will always be available to them no matter what happens to their equipment or buildings.
Online backup allows users to backup wherever, whenever!
Today there is no such thing as a single site office for data creation. Laptops and wireless broadband technology has created a mobile workforce. People are generating data from everywhere – planes, trains or working from home.
It doesn’t matter how much you ‘remind’ a user to carry out a backup, chances are that they will forget. Tape backup is no longer feasible for safeguarding against data loss in the modern mobile environment.
In contrast, some online backup services can help IT managers enforce backups on demand without requiring any user compliance using a centrally administered control portal. The IT manager can control all backup processes in a population, setting machines to backup automatically. For a single user it also offers the opportunity to carry out a backup anytime, anywhere, as long as they have an internet connection.
Online backup is now affordable!
It is true that in the past online backup might have been too expensive for the average company. It was typically used by those who had very sensitive data to protect and didn’t mind paying the premium. However, technology has developed and the price has come down. More companies are starting to realize that online backup can actually be more cost effective than tape.
With tape backups, before you can even start making backups, you have to purchase a tape drive machine, the backup tapes, backup software, and assign somebody to do them. Then there is the additional operational cost of maintenance on the machine, continuously buying new tapes, finding somewhere fire proof to store them, paying for somebody’s time to do them, replacing the machine a couple of years down the line etc…
There are ways to cut costs. For example, you could buy a cheap knock-down tape drive or instead of paying an expensive IT consultant simply ask your receptionist to do a backup when they have a spare minute. But what’s the point of a contingency plan like backup if you are not even sure that it’s going to work? The Network Pro offers the simple solution to make sure that your IT network and backups are secure 24/7/365.
Online backup is faster
Many detractors argue that online backup isn’t as efficient as tape backup because transferring files over the internet is a slow process. Local backups performed via tape can be carried out relatively quickly while online data backup is heavily reliant on bandwidth resources and amount of data being backed up.
While it’s true that an initial backup of an entire data set may take some time, normal operations can continue undisrupted while the backup is taking place. Then, after the initial backup is complete most backup software only takes incremental backups of the changes made to specific files. This means that only small data bytes are sent resulting in vastly improved backup times.
Again some point to the fact that restoring data after a complete server failure will take days. This is entirely possible but online backup allows users to select the most vital data for recovery immediately. For example, if you lose a complete server and can’t live without email, you could perform a complete Exchange restore in a matter of hours (depending on data size). Then you can simply stream the other, less critical, data back onto the machine in the meantime. Indeed, decent online backup providers will also offer an onsite cache of backed up data for bulk restores directly from disk. Either that or they will have all your data shipped securely back to you on a media device direct from the data center. However, as broadband technology evolves this is sure to become even less of an issue.
Online backup is 'future proof'
Online backup is a guarantee that data will be retrievable for many years to come. When companies have to buy a new tape drive or another server, there is no guarantee that their previous backup tapes will be compatible with the new equipment. Most don’t believe that it would be an issue, but it happens regularly.
Businesses can have the confidence that it is going to work, regardless of the brand or operating system on any new equipment they plan to buy in the future.
What to Look For in an Online Backup Service
The Network Pro’s solution, NetStoreIT offers the following features:
Backup Features
Backup features include things like automatic backups, incremental backups, archive ability and file managers. NetStoreIT offers easy ways to set up automatic transfers and syncing and simple ways to restore and view stored files.
Security
Secure transfers and secure, private storage.
Backup Space/ Price
Price is competitive.
Ease of Use
Easy to use. Features are easy to understand and make it simple to configure, transfer and restore files.
Help/Support
NetstoreIT provides support via telephone, email, and embedded or online help files.
To get a quote for your offsite data backup, please call (877) 263-8770.
714-333-9620