Prevent Data Loss With Data Backup: A Comprehensive Guide

Table of Contents

1. What is data backup?
2. What is the importance of data backup?
3. What is the 3-2-1-1-1 backup strategy?
4. What is the difference between data backup and disaster recovery?
5. What are the benefits of a cloud backup storage solution?
6. What is hot storage?
7. What is the difference between hot storage and cold storage?
8. What is Backup as a Service (BaaS)?
9. What are the business benefits of engaging a BaaS provider?
10. What are the benefits for MSPs to deliver BaaS for their end user clients?
11. What are SaaS backup solutions MSPs can differentiate with?
12. The MSP opportunity to leverage backup services to introduce cloud solutions
13. Why is Veeam the #1 for cloud data backup?
14. Why are Probax and Veeam better together for delivering MSP cloud data backup solutions?
15. Why is Probax the #1 choice for MSPs who deliver reliable backup services?

1. What is data backup?

A data backup is the replication or snapshot of data at a point in time. Data backup solutions enable you to recover the duplicate set in the event of data loss or compromise. 

There are numerous methods for backing up your data. Choosing the appropriate option can assist you in developing the most effective data backup strategy and continuous data protection for your needs. 

Whatever data backup solution or backup strategy you employ, you must store data somewhere at the end of the day, regardless of how you do it, and have the ability to restore files when you need to. Backups are vital for large and small enterprises alike, as data loss can cause significant damage and disrupt business operations.

2. Why is the importance of data backup?

The backup's purpose is to create a copy of the data that you can recover in the event of a data failure. Failures in primary data can occur as a result of:

• Corruption of data
• Hardware failures
• Software failures
• Malicious attacks, malware, or viruses, and
• Human error.

Data backups enable data recovery from a previous point in time. A backup process offers business data protection as the business can recover data from any unplanned event.

The benefits of data backups include the following:

Data security

Security is an essential part of data backup. As IT systems interact and grow, the number of potential threats to a company's data keeps growing and include a range of threats or risks of data corruption.

Therefore, a secure backup and recovery solution is essential to safeguard and save data. 

Quick and accurate replication of data

Ensuring you have a duplicate of your data protects it in the event of a calamity. If something serious happens, you can backtrack and resume production from the point where the backup copy was made, depending on a backup schedule.

Protecting against primary data loss or damage requires storing a copy of the data on a secondary medium. Offsite backup copies should be made regularly to avoid data loss between backups.

No disruptions to work

Most people are unaware that a backup solution is running while they work. Less user downtime or disruptions means uninterrupted business operations service as it does not affect the end users.

Helps management control costs

Consider the equipment required to do manual data backups. In addition, you'll need numerous physical data storage solutions for your computers. So, if you have a significant number of machines with large volumes of data, especially if the more data is being produced each year, it can be an expensive and time-consuming option.

On the other hand, a cloud offsite backup storage solution with large storage capacity will be a valuable solution.

3. What is a 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy?

The 3-2-1 backup method has been the golden standard in the information technology sector for many years. Veeam has been using this rule for many years to help companies ensure recoverability during times of crisis.

The 3-2-1 backup method

The 3-2-1 rule is as follows:

1. You should have three copies of the data backup files
2. You should use two distinct mediums of data backup
3. At least one copy stored offsite in secondary storage.

The way this works for simpler, offsite data backup solutions is:

1. Data on production (Copy 1, media 1)
2. Data backups in a Veeam Library (Copy 2, media 2)
3. Offsite disaster recovery (Copy 3, media 2)

The new 3-2-1-1-0 backup method

Nowadays, it's best to have four copies when production data is also included. This leads us to the 3-2-1-1-0 rule for backup data.

Today, the 3-2-1-1-0 rule is the way to go. It assists in ensuring recovery from the several types of situations that may occur. A 3-2-1-1-0 method dictates that you must: 

• Maintain a minimum of three copies of company data
• Data should be stored on at least two main types of storage media
• Maintain one copy of the data backups in a secure location offsite
• Ascertain that all recoverability solutions contain no errors

The 3-2-1-1-0 method advises on an offline or air-gapped copy, which can be in the form of backups stored off-site as in the 3-2-1 Rule or cloud backups stored with irreversibility. This means the data cannot be altered or changed.

4. What is the difference between data backup and disaster recovery (DR)?

There are several significant distinctions between the two when comparing a data backup solution and DR. Let's look at these differences:

They have different purposes

Backups are most valuable when you need to recover a deleted or corrupted document, for example, an email. In addition, backups are frequently used for archiving data on a long-term basis or for data retention purposes.

However, if you want to ensure that your company can swiftly resume normal operations following an incident, you should instead go for DR that is based on replication and incremental backup.

With the DR site and solution in place, you can quickly failover to the offsite backup copies from their remote location. Then, even if the production site is unavailable, your business can continue to operate normally.

They have different RTO and RPO

It's critical for any business to establish Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO). Backups have lengthier RTOs and RPOs. This makes them unsuitable for business-critical content that must be promptly recovered following a disaster.

True DR involves replicating critical virtual machines to enable rapid failover. This allows for substantially shorter RTOs and RPOs.

Allocation of resources

Backups are often compressed and require little maintenance or storage space. On the other hand, DR demands a different site with fully operating IT technology and being ready to migrate at any time.

Thorough planning

A data backup plan and backup process is simple. A company only needs to establish and maintain Recovery Point Targets and data retention policies.

Things quickly become more complicated when it comes to disaster recovery. First, aside from the need for extra resources, a company must identify the significance of its business applications and backup systems. Then, once they achieve this, they have to prioritize the recovery order of the virtual machines that run such applications.

5. What are the benefits of a cloud backup storage solution?

Cloud storage has emerged as one of the easiest and most effective methods of backing up more data. In cloud storage, the user stores data in a remote location rather than storing data locally or on a hard disk.

The stored data is then accessed via an internet connection. Some of the benefits of a cloud backup storage solution include the following.

Easy access and usability

With cloud backup storage, files stored remotely can be accessed from anywhere and at any time as long as there is an internet connection and sufficient network resources.

Heightened data security

Because most major and small companies use cloud storage services, they must ensure that the solution they choose delivers excellent security across operating systems. So, even if one of the data computer servers fails, your data will be available on the other data centers, keeping your data safe.

Ransomware and cyberattacks are a serious global online threat to people and businesses. In the event of an attack, having a cloud backup cyberattack protection strategy in place can save your system.

If a cyberattack compromises your system, you can simply restore it from a cloud backup, and all is restored to normal.

Depending on the data backup strategies deployed, a business can have peace of mind knowing that even if data becomes compromised on one server, a backup will exist elsewhere.

Cost-effective

The business outsources its storage problem by only using the cloud storage service. Therefore, the company saves money on internal resources by storing data online. All of this is handled by the cloud storage supplier.

Easy sharing of files

All cloud storage services offer file-sharing capabilities, allowing you to share your files with others. For example, you have the option of sending a document to another user or inviting several users to view your files.

Automated backup

Storing files in the cloud does not slow down other work and backups can be automated according to a backup schedule.

Data is accessible from anywhere through synchronization

Synchronization allows you to sync your cloud data with any device you want. As previously said, you can retrieve your data from any location on the planet. But this access is only possible with the use of synchronization.

With proper identity management, such as username and password, you can enter your cloud storage account and view all of your data. It's not necessary to copy data to other devices.

Scalable and flexible

Cloud storage is scalable and adaptable to changing needs. The service plan can be upgraded if the existing storage plan does not provide sufficient storage space.

In addition, there is no need for you to transfer any data from one location to another. The additional space will be added to your storage system along with some additional capabilities.

Disaster recovery

Every business has a backup storage plan to store all the copies of their data. If they encounter any collapse or loss of data problem, they can retrieve data from their backup plan, and that is why cloud storage is the best method to deal with this problem.

Cloud storage service provides the best platform for disaster recovery data. Any business can use cloud storage as a data backup, so if there is a data loss, the company can retrieve backup data from the cloud.

6. What is hot storage?

Hot storage refers to data that must be accessible immediately. If the stored information is operation-critical and cannot be delayed, it's a potential for hot storage.

Data is frequently kept in tiered or hybrid storage infrastructures to ensure quick data access for hot data storage. These are designed to cope with the large amount of increasing change created regularly by all end-users. 

7. What is the difference between hot storage and cold storage?

As opposed to hot storage, cold storage refers to less commonly or infrequently accessed data. This includes data that is no longer in use and needs to be stored for long periods. It's also known as long-term data retention. Cold cloud storage often has a substantially slower recovery of data and response times than those built for hot data. 

Examples of data stored in cold storage are:

• Old projects
• Financial records
• Legal records
• HR records
• Pictures

8. What is Backup as a Service (BaaS)?

Backup as a service (BaaS) in an online backup service managed by a third-party provider to ensure business data is backed up remotely in a public, private or hybrid cloud.

Backup as a Service is more manageable for businesses and delivers peace of mind as all maintenance, management, testing and compliance reporting is delegated to an MSP.

9. What are the business benefits of engaging a BaaS provider?

The advantages of engaging a BaaS provider such as an MSP rather than having one's own IT department manage backups include speed, pricing, and scalability. Let's look at some of the benefits in more detail.

Data protection

Typically, MSPs provide advanced security features such as network firewalls and data encryption. Additionally, you can count on your data being stored in upper-tier data centers, which help safeguard it against cyber-attacks and malevolent hackers.

Cost-effective

According to Indeed, the average annual pay of a single IT software engineer in the US is around $117,993. 

Labor costs are significantly lower when using BaaS. Desktop support and the infrastructure required to provide it are two areas where cloud computing can help businesses save money. Companies can benefit from cloud BaaS in the following ways.

• Reduce their internal IT staff
• Reassign IT staff to other critical projects, and
• IT pros are more engaged by using their expertise and adding value to the business.

Scalability and rapid growth

When a business grows, it will also need rapid resource expansion. A BaaS service will streamline and simplify this process considerably. BaaS providers can deliver peace of mind by scaling up or down resource needs. 

Keeping data secure

Using BaaS for all backups stores the data in different locations offsite from where the original data is. This assists in protecting the backups from unanticipated events. As a result, storing data in the cloud keeps it safe regardless of what happens in the original location and makes it easier to to restore data as well.

Access to managed support

Maintaining, managing, and scaling environments and data centers is a time-consuming and challenging problem. Moreover, it necessitates specialized and costly technicians, adding unnecessary complexity to the management process. Implementing BaaS will relieve businesses of this burden. It will also save them money and concentrate on more critical aspects of their business.

10. What are the benefits for MSPs to deliver BaaS for their end user clients?

Businesses that engage managed services from MSPs often don't have enough technical knowledge to understand what they're getting from them.

So what are the benefits for MSPs to deliver a BaaS solution for their customers? Let's look at some:

Ensure customer data is securely and reliably protected

MSPs provide dependable backup of all of the business's critical data. This gives quick and easy access to backup data at any time and from any location.

MSPs who deliver BaaS can protect their customers from downtime, including natural disasters and cybercrime hazards.  

Ensure your clients meet regulatory and compliance requirements

Compliance is not simple: it's costly, time-consuming, and continuously changing. For starters, rules and regulations are in existence for a reason – to safeguard your personal information and that of your customers. An MSP will manage all of your compliance needs as they change.

Increase profitability and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Every MSP needs a stable stream of recurring revenue. Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) cash flow can help MSPs expand and introduce new technology and services.

Due to its predictability, MSPs can look forward to long-term profits with the recurring revenue model. All an MSP has to do is ensure that deliverable and reasonable levels of service targets are established from the start.

BaaS is an MSP solution that enables them to deliver these services profitably without increasing their workforce or workload.

Protect all business data, including SaaS data

MSPs can differentiate themselves by protecting all their customer business data, including SaaS data. We'll go into more detail about this in the next section.

11. What are SaaS backup service solutions MSPs can differentiate with?

Data protection software for Software as a Service (SaaS) products is designed to protect and store data generated by SaaS products. SaaS is any software licensed and delivered through the cloud rather than installed on-site. Businesses can save money on storage and backup as a result.

Many MSPs already manage SaaS licenses for their client's businesses, for example, Microsoft 365 and Dropbox. However, these are SaaS solutions with their own set of retention policies, not data backup solutions in themselves. Therefore, data must be safeguarded and backed up separately.

Microsoft 365 backup solutions

On April 21, 2020, the rebranding of Office 365 consumer and small business plans occurred. It is now known as "Microsoft 365." Microsoft did this to reflect their expanded offerings over and above the core Microsoft Office software range. These also include cloud-based tools and artificial intelligence functions. 

Microsoft's Retention Policies and Retention Labels retain corporate data even if it's deleted. They also destroy company data after a specific time period.

Retention Policies are a feature of Microsoft 365 that aids with compliance. They exist to ensure the security of vital corporate data housed in:

• Exchange
• SharePoint
• OneDrive
• Microsoft Teams

They exist to prevent data from being erased prematurely or kept beyond a specified retention period.

It's essential to keep in mind that SaaS platform providers, such as Microsoft Office 365, are responsible for application uptime as well as the infrastructure layer. The obligation for managing and protecting critical company data falls on the shoulders of the client.

Why is it important to back up Microsoft 365?

Let's look at some of the reasons:

Mistaken data deletion

Suppose you remove a user, whether intentionally or unintentionally; the deletion is reproduced across the network. A backup can be used to restore that user to either on-site Exchange or Office 365.

Policy gaps and ambiguity regarding retention

Office 365 retention policies are challenging to keep track of, let alone manage. A backup allows for longer, more available retention that is all secured and stored in one location for easy recovery.

Threats to internal security

Many businesses face internal threats, and they are occurring more frequently than you might think. Having a high-quality recovery solution reduces the possibility of crucial data being lost or destroyed.

Threats from external sources

Ransomware and viruses have caused significant damage to organizations all over the world. However, a backup can quickly recover mailboxes to a pre-attack instance.

A backup also ensures that you can recover mailbox data during legal proceedings. This way, you meet any compliance and regulation requirements.

Dropbox backup solutions

Archiving files in the cloud is handy, but backups are essential as with any storage solution. This is especially true if you want to relocate your files to a different service.

Having reliable backups is an essential component of any storage solution. Dropbox retains backups of all the files you keep on your Dropbox account.

However, for better data retention, you should enhance Dropbox capabilities with backup, archival, and separate ransomware recovery capabilities. The data is then available and ready to be recovered to the Dropbox account.

12. The MSP opportunity to leverage backup services to introduce cloud solutions

MSPs may offer high-value services and income opportunities by coordinating client cloud migrations and subsequently offering cloud solutions. However, the sales cycle for cloud migration can be very protracted, making it difficult for cloud solution suppliers to engage prospective customers.

You, as an MSP, could easily argue that migrating these services allows businesses to test the waters without affecting their business. Examples include failing back and failing over during disaster recovery testing.

This would also show the benefits the customer can get, which could include:

• Lower costs
• More efficiency
• Better features

You're giving your customer a way to "see" the opportunities that the cloud reflects. It will also provide them with a sense of the value of your proposal and customer service.

13. Why is Veeam the #1 for cloud backup?

Veeam is a single tool for modernizing backup, speeding up the hybrid cloud, and protecting your data. It does all of these things at once. In addition, Veeam is open and complements a diverse network of partners, enabling its solution to be readily integrated into any customer scenario.

Veeam is hardware-independent and software-defined, allowing for maximum customer customization. In addition, it provides simple, adaptable, and dependable backup services so that our customers may focus entirely on doing business.

14. Why are Probax and Veeam better together for delivering cloud data backup services?

Probax is a leading Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) partner. Probax provides out-of-the-box solutions to assist you in rapidly delivering Veeam-powered solutions to your end clients.

Probax has created an incredible platform with MSPs in mind. They are constantly innovating, scaling, and delivering new services to their partner network. In addition, Probax is continuously pushing for serious collaborations with Veeam technologies. 

Probax provides a one-of-a-kind next-generation management portal that includes intelligent site discovery and automated systems.

This enhances Veeam's business model while also enabling its MSP customers to give scalable, ready-to-use data protection solutions that provide significant benefits to their own MSP business.

15. Why is Probax is the #1 choice for MSPs who deliver reliable backup services?

Probax has been named Veeam Software's VCSP Partner of the Year for Australia. Veeam recognizes them as the leading company in backup, recovery, and data management systems that enable New Data Protection.

Probax's extensive backup, disaster recovery, and archiving solutions offer better availability and recoverability for on-site, cloud-based, and SaaS workload protection.

Probax is one of only a few VCSPs that has been approved in all three of the VCSP reseller-ready categories. They include:

• BaaS for Office 365
• Offsite Backup
• MSP Backup.

Being a Probax partner, you gain entry to our extensive network of:

• Veeam Vanguards
• Veeam Certified Architects (VMCA)
• Veeam Certified Engineers (VMCE) 

Probax offers discounted Veeam licensing through their platform, Probax Hive. This will enable you to save money and stop monthly reporting. Probax is available across more than ten zones across Canada, the USA, and Australia.

Probax has earned 50 NPS and 97% CSAT scores in the industry for customer service. What does this mean?

NPS is an abbreviation for Net Promoter Score. You can think of NPS as a growth indicator. After all, it's a customer satisfaction measurement that can assist you in determining:

• How happy customers are with your products or services
• How committed they are to your brand
• How probable customers are to recommend your business to others

CSAT measures how satisfied your customers are with the service they receive. Following an interaction with a member of the Support team, customers are sent a brief survey in which they are asked to rate the assistance they received. 

Ready to protect your MSP clients with reliable Backup as a Service?

Don't wait for a disaster to strike. Data backup and disaster recovery measures are crucial for businesses to ensure their long-term survival. Companies must address IT recovery by developing a comprehensive solution that includes people, processes, and technology.

In addition, data backup and disaster recovery plans can only be beneficial if they are designed, implemented, and tested well in advance of their use.

Disaster recovery is not a luxury. Your organization cannot afford to neglect backup or disaster recovery.

If retrieving lost data takes hours, your staff, clients, or partners will be unable to complete essential business procedures that depend on your technology. In addition, if your firm is offline for days after a disaster, you may lose clients and money. Given the potential loss of time and money, investing in backup and disaster recovery is necessary.