While it’s not incorrect to think of backup and recovery systems as part of overall cyber security protection strategy, it’s important to remember they must also meet traditional requirements, such as adhering to the backup best practice of 3-2-1-1.
A backup and recovery solution needs to run seamlessly in the background, only requiring IT administrators’ time when tests are needed, or when something actually must be restored.
Data backup systems must be adaptable to IT infrastructure changes, and of course, potential dangers. This is often achieved by switching to a new backup and recovery solution.
There are many considerations for IT managers to factor into the selection of a backup and recovery solution, not least of which is the cost-benefit calculation. However, they must also carefully examine which functions the business needs today and what will be required in the future, plus where it will be located – on-premises or in the cloud.
Carefully examine which functions the business needs today and what will be required in the future.
The following six considerations should be top of mind in the selection process, as they are crucial to the successful implementation of a backup and recovery solution that goes beyond cyber protection.
Main reasons for the restore case: There are multiple reasons, including cyber threats, natural disasters and quite often human error. Up to 60% of restore cases recover data that was accidentally deleted, altered, or even lost by employees. Therefore, it’s important to choose a solution that can recover data quickly, easily and with a low recovery point objective without placing too much strain on IT administration resources.
Type of licensing: It makes sense to have all options for data backup and recovery available on a single platform. However, the market offers a wide range of licensing models and packages that include or facilitate specific features to be added. Subscription-based licensing models − such as per TB of data volume, per virtual machine, or per socket − are trending. Nevertheless, in certain cases, it can be advantageous to consider other licensing models and evaluate them from a financial perspective. Physical socket-based licences or perpetual licences sometimes prove to be lucrative alternatives. Therefore, when selecting a provider, it is essential to ensure they offer a variety of licensing models to enable the business to choose the best option tailored to its specific needs.
Platform backup and disaster recovery: A data backup solution always includes a simple way of recovery, in addition to backup. What often needs to be added as an additional component or integrated into the infrastructure is the real disaster recovery. This is especially the case with smaller or medium-sized solutions. This is immensely important in the event of major data incidents, when entire systems must be restored in the shortest possible time and from remote locations, or from the cloud. This option should already be integrated into the platform as standard.
Connection to tape: The low-cost tape is not dead, although its alleged decline has been predicted for the past 20 years. The Linear Tape-Open programme reports record levels of demand for magnetic tapes in recent years. In 2023, magnetic tapes with a total storage capacity of 152.9 exabytes were sold − an increase of 3.14% compared to the previous year. Therefore, when choosing a backup and recovery system, IT managers need to confirm that in addition to the cloud and classic on-premises disk systems, the connection and, above all, the management of tape solutions, is also included.
Availability of appliances: Especially in times of scarce resources and a shortage of skilled workers, appliances have a decisive advantage for SMEs over pure software that is installed either on a dedicated server or a virtual machine. Self-contained and optimised solutions require significantly less administration effort than systems where software and hardware must be maintained separately.
Consistent backup of databases: This is a more complex task that many SME backup recovery solutions can't master. If a database is large, such as Oracle in production, SQL or SAP R3 or SAP S/4HANA, it is usually not an option to restore an entire system with long downtimes in an emergency. A restore is required at a dedicated point in time and state of the database. The consistent backup restore of Oracle databases, with or without RMAN, is particularly tricky. Very few backup restore providers can back up Oracle consistently, and if they can, then usually only with RMAN, which means enormously high costs. IT decision-makers should look for a data protection solution that can consistently back up all common large databases and can handle Oracle databases with and without RMAN.
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