Numerous hosting companies give business packages that tout the use of cutting-edge hardware and software, but the simple fact is that any top-notch hosting supplier should utilize the latest and best technology. Business leaders should expect this as a minimum prerequisite but, a far more important question is: Does my hosting provider implement an intelligent backup process to make certain that my data and information are secure from damage?
Are You Protected?
Consult your hosting company if a business continuity solution is offered with your hosting plan. Amazingly, a lot of companies do not incorporate standard data backup as a normal service. Offering high-quality, guaranteed data loss prevention is usually difficult and pricey for the hosting company, but this is protection you should not afford to go without.
Already Guarded? To What Amount?
If your web hosting service provider offers backup services, do some research to prevent unforeseen hassles and future frustrations. Confirm that you can trust your provider to regularly and accurately backup crucial computer data. Evaluate the following:
How long it will take to restore from backup?
Your existing hosting company may offer backup services, nevertheless, you should understand the technology they utilize to safeguard you. If they use tape backup, it might be hours before you get your data back when you need it. Your business could find itself at the end of a long list of clients expecting restoration of servers, programs, and data if a problem develops. Take the steps to be aware of what you can expect of the hosting supplier if repairing from backup is needed to prevent a disruptive business emergency.
What does the backup plan include?
Look into the kind of data and information that is protected. Don't assume all providers enable you to restore individual files or your entire server. If you need to recover speedily, you want a provider that provides you the choice of restoring individual files or the entire server. Furthermore, find out how far back the backup goes. There is a huge difference between 4 days and 4 weeks.
Is there an additional backup off-site?
Check with your supplier if their business continuity solution comes with an off-site component. True business continuity solutions include replication of all data and virtual servers to a production data center in a form enabling them to be booted up there in the instance of a long term outage.
Application-consistent or Crash-consistent?
If you are hosting virtual servers, this can be the most important question. Make sure your hosting company takes application-consistent snapshots of your server. If they don't, you might get a perfectly unusable restore. Crash-consistent snapshots are a point-in-time backup of your server. All Exchange, SQL, and disk transactions are left incomplete, bringing about impaired databases and files. An application-consistent snapshot quiesces or closes all transactions to disk, enabling you to restore the server with zero corruption.
Quick Checklist for Acceptable Backup Provisions
If you're overwhelmed with questions to ask and not sure of the solutions to look for, you can start using this quick reference checklist of minimum provisions:
• The provider should perform a daily backup of your entire server.
• Data needs to be retained for at least 4 weeks.
• You should have the choice to restore anything from a single file to an entire server.
• Data should be duplicated off-site.
• The provider should take application-consistent snapshots.
Are You Protected?
Consult your hosting company if a business continuity solution is offered with your hosting plan. Amazingly, a lot of companies do not incorporate standard data backup as a normal service. Offering high-quality, guaranteed data loss prevention is usually difficult and pricey for the hosting company, but this is protection you should not afford to go without.
Already Guarded? To What Amount?
If your web hosting service provider offers backup services, do some research to prevent unforeseen hassles and future frustrations. Confirm that you can trust your provider to regularly and accurately backup crucial computer data. Evaluate the following:
How long it will take to restore from backup?
Your existing hosting company may offer backup services, nevertheless, you should understand the technology they utilize to safeguard you. If they use tape backup, it might be hours before you get your data back when you need it. Your business could find itself at the end of a long list of clients expecting restoration of servers, programs, and data if a problem develops. Take the steps to be aware of what you can expect of the hosting supplier if repairing from backup is needed to prevent a disruptive business emergency.
What does the backup plan include?
Look into the kind of data and information that is protected. Don't assume all providers enable you to restore individual files or your entire server. If you need to recover speedily, you want a provider that provides you the choice of restoring individual files or the entire server. Furthermore, find out how far back the backup goes. There is a huge difference between 4 days and 4 weeks.
Is there an additional backup off-site?
Check with your supplier if their business continuity solution comes with an off-site component. True business continuity solutions include replication of all data and virtual servers to a production data center in a form enabling them to be booted up there in the instance of a long term outage.
Application-consistent or Crash-consistent?
If you are hosting virtual servers, this can be the most important question. Make sure your hosting company takes application-consistent snapshots of your server. If they don't, you might get a perfectly unusable restore. Crash-consistent snapshots are a point-in-time backup of your server. All Exchange, SQL, and disk transactions are left incomplete, bringing about impaired databases and files. An application-consistent snapshot quiesces or closes all transactions to disk, enabling you to restore the server with zero corruption.
Quick Checklist for Acceptable Backup Provisions
If you're overwhelmed with questions to ask and not sure of the solutions to look for, you can start using this quick reference checklist of minimum provisions:
• The provider should perform a daily backup of your entire server.
• Data needs to be retained for at least 4 weeks.
• You should have the choice to restore anything from a single file to an entire server.
• Data should be duplicated off-site.
• The provider should take application-consistent snapshots.
Lisa Gecko is a staff writer for Infinitely Virtual.
To learn more about cloud services, call Infinitely Virtual at 866-257-8455 or visit: See our Cloud Services hub, Cloud Services with Infinitely Virtual
To learn more about cloud services, call Infinitely Virtual at 866-257-8455 or visit: See our Cloud Services hub, Cloud Services with Infinitely Virtual
