We believe your data and system backups are your most important protective method to protect your information assets. Communicat’s prime focus is on supporting mission-critical systems, therefore our staff know how important it is to make sure your backups are in good working order.
In the past risk exposure was more likely to arise from equipment failure or catastrophic events such as fire. Today, there are additional risks with the potential for malicious and criminal damage. Many organisations have been affected by malware, theft, data encryption and blackmail. As a consequence of this increased level of risk, therefore the need is greater than ever to make sure you have reliable backups. In addition, in the event that your system is damaged, you need the fastest possible re-instatement time.
Communicat has the technology to manage and monitor your backup every day. We use the best backup technology combined with highly skilled specialist technical staff. We carry out regular verification to verify that your backup systems are working correctly and to take prompt corrective action when required.
Communicat offers a range of backup systems to suit your budget, including “belt and braces” backup methods. This method involves the use of two different backup methods so that, if Plan A fails on any given day then you have a secondary Plan B backup data set.
We can also offer fast backup processing which will ensure your system uptime is maximised, whilst still providing for complete system snapshots on a daily basis. In order to achieve this we offer “store and forward” online backup systems. This method will reduce your risk to the minimum and, if you experience a data loss we will ensure your system is reinstated in the shortest possible time.
We do not just rely on backup reports that are produced by your backup software. Many companies have fallen for the trap that the backup system reports that backups are working correctly, but those reports provided a false sense of security. We conduct special tests to verify that your backups are working correctly.
The need for backups has been around for a long time, however notwithstanding this long history backup technology is still not perfect. There are many risks that require skilled, manual and regular attention to protect your systems and your data:
- Are you receiving and reading the backup reports that are being sent to you from your backup system? Do you know how to read these reports and recognise errors?
- Your backup system may be reporting that it is working correctly, however have you carried out a test restore to verify that the system can be restored?
- Is your complete system being backed up, or only part of your system?
- If you were to experience a major system failure, how long would it take to retrieve your data and re-instate your system?
- Is your backup media taken off-site every day? There have been unfortunate cases where the person who is responsible for taking backup media off-site is absent on holidays and during that time off-site rotation is forgotten. If this staff absence coincides with the time that a system failure occurs (e.g. water ingress, fire, theft, etc.), this can lead to a major loss of your information asset and problems with restoring your system back to regular operation.
Backing up Databases for organisations that operate in Multiple Time Zones
You may be operating eCommerce or other integrated data systems where your data activity operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Also, you may have to deal with multiple time zones.
Today’s business environment of continuous operation creates a problem for achieving complete backups of finance and operations management systems. Many of those systems require you to take a complete snapshot image of your system at a designated point in time. If your data is damaged or lost, then you will need to be able to restore a complete image of your data where all of the data has relational integrity across all tables, as at a particular time of the day (say, 2am). On the other hand, you need to maximise the time your system is operational on a daily basis.
Therefore, with finance and operational systems you may only have a very small window of time when you can take a complete snapshot of your data. If you operate across multiple time-zones you may be able to nominate a time (say, between 2am to 4am Sydney time) when you can have all of your Australian finance systems off-line for a complete backup to be performed. If you operate other international database then you may designate different times for them to be backed up.
For example, if your business is operating in Western Australia through to East Coast Australia, also in New Zealand, and perhaps South-East Asia, Americas, Europe, etc. therefore we may need to schedule backups for each database during a small time window that is different for each country.
Fast Backup Method – Store and Forward
In the case of finance systems and some operations systems it is usually necessary to take a complete image backup at a specific time every day to protect your data and ensure that, in the event of a need to re-instate the system, that the data will have full integrity as at the time that the data snapshot was taken.
This scenario requires that the finance system be off-air with no data being entered or edited during the time zone when complete “snapshot“ backups are being taken.
To meet this need we offer high-speed backup systems which ensure that your finance or operations systems are able to operate for the maximum number of hours per day, and only have them taken off-air for backup for the absolute minimum time window.
Communicat’s store and forward backup method will ensure that your operational systems are active for the maximum amount of time. Your backup process will be carried out during the fastest and shortest possible time window.
Backup Systems v06/span>