Data Backup Helps Company Grow

Private Cloud Data Backup

Artificial Intelligence and other technology have made it possible for a company in a mature industry (farming) to generate rapid growth. Applying advanced technology has improved product quality, saved money, and reduced time to market. To support its expansion, the company partnered with Blue Hill/CAPS to implement a secure Private Cloud data backup solution that increases resiliency, fulfills compliance requirements, and saves money.

 

Growing Company Has Greater Compliance Requirements

The company’s CTO and database manager recognized their current data backup system was insufficient in terms of both functionality and security to support future growth. The company had been using Windows Server software to backup databases each week to network attached storage. There was no offsite replication and the ability to restore backups was limited to restoring an entire server at a time.

 

Senior management at the company is committed to driving itself to the highest standards. It is investing in its technology infrastructure and procedures to comply with standards such as GDPR, Sarbanes Oxley, and SSAE-18 (SOC 1, SOC 2). It believed its current data backup system was not robust enough to support its planned compliance requirements.

 

Veeam Verified Backups and Replications

The Blue Hill/CAPS team recommended its 100% Private Cloud Data Backup and Replication solution. Utilizing powerful Veeam Availability Suite software, data is copied up from the company’s production servers collocated at CAPS’ secure data center to a backup storage appliance at the CAPS Private Cloud data center.

 

The backups are replicated to Blue Hill’s secure Private Cloud storage facility located about 80 miles from CAPS’ data center. Blue Hill/CAPS is one of few IT service providers in the Northeast offering multiple secure Private Cloud data centers located a safe distance apart but close enough to minimize latency and maximize service.

 

The Veeam Availability Suite software used by Blue Hill/CAPS automates backups and replications and reports the success of each task in real-time to both the customer and the Blue Hill/CAPS team. Replication between the two data centers is over a high bandwidth circuit. The replicas are protected using AES-256 encryption (at rest and in transit) before transmission to the remote Private Cloud data storage facility.

 

Better Customer Service and Cost Savings

Transition to the new backup system only took a few days including the time required to train client personnel. Multiple servers with several terabytes of data were backed up locally and also replicated to the remote data center. The power of the new system was immediately apparent to the Database Manager who was thrilled with the system’s ability perform restorations on a granular level.

 

“Now we can restore individual schemas instead of being forced to restore an entire database. This will make it possible for us to resolve problems faster and provide much better service to our users.”

 

The CTO is excited about the money he believes will be saved by the new 100% Private Cloud data backup solution.

 

“We have already saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by repatriating our large databases from the Public Cloud. That is what motivated us to move our database servers to Blue Hill/CAPS a few years ago when we decided to use colocation to save the money we had been spending on egress fees. We expect to add to our savings with the Blue Hill/CAPS Private Cloud backup solution

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Backup to a Data Center Instead of the Cloud

Offsite Data Backup is Required

The need to backup data to an offsite location is undeniable. Ransomware and other cyber attacks are increasing dramatically. Creating timely backups that can be restored quickly is one of the only ways to minimize the potentially devastating effects of a data breach. These backups must be made frequently and they should be validated to be error free so restoral will be successful if required.

Public Cloud Data Backup

AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud all offer a variety of Public Cloud data backup solutions. There are many other cloud service providers that market data backup services too. In general, cloud data backup services can be provisioned quickly and for low initial expense. You can easily change the amount of storage you have and can configure secondary and tertiary backups with a few keystrokes. You can even select the data center region where you want to store your backups. In addition, long term contracts are not required. For these reasons, Public Cloud Data Backup is growing in popularity.

So What’s Wrong With Public Cloud Data Backup?

  1. Security is Suspect

There are three concerns with backing up data to the Public Cloud. The first and most important concern has to do with security. Public Cloud service providers operate based on a “Shared Responsibility Model”. The Cloud provider is responsible for the security of its infrastructure but not for the workloads that run on its resources. This shared responsibility model can lead to confusion and ultimately can create security gaps that can be exploited. Misconfigured cloud data storage is frequently the way criminals compromise data backups. For example, a recent survey of over 600 U.S. companies found that 78% reported they had accidentally exposed sensitive data stored in the cloud in the past year.

Public Cloud, because it is growing so quickly, has become a primary target for cyber crooks. The number of breaches of Public Cloud data backups has increased dramatically in the past few years.

  1. Technical Support

Public Cloud services do not include ongoing technical support. Online documentation and training videos are available but technical support must be provided by an organization’s own team or by an outside technical support team (IT consultant or Managed Service Provider). Given the rapid changes in the market and the complexities of offerings, it is very important to have professional and knowledgeable technical support to assist in Public Cloud data backups. Many companies do not have experts in house and are not sure if they are getting the best advice from outside consultants.

  1. Unexpected Costs

Public Cloud egress fees are charged whenever data is moved out from the cloud. This is exactly what happens every time there is a data restoral or whenever an organization wants to test its ability to successfully restore the backup. The costs can be significant depending on the amount of data transferred out of the cloud. For many, the variability of billing each month due to data transfer fees can make Public Cloud Data Backup less attractive. It is hard to budget monthly expenses and easy for fees to grow dramatically.

CAPS’ Local Data Center Alternative

Offsite data backup to a local data center offers several advantages versus the Public Cloud alternative. First, security can be better. The security professionals at a local data center such as CAPS can configure customized security solutions and continuously monitor operations. Incorporating advanced tools such as Veeam SureBackup, the CAPS team can proactively test backups to assure they have not been compromised.

Data Centers like CAPS provide ongoing technical support to address each client’s unique needs. Even clients that get support from an IT Consultant or MSP can benefit from a second pair of eyes to help solve problems and optimize solutions. Clients who backup their data at CAPS also receive ongoing Remote Hands Support as part of their service.

Data backup to the CAPS data center is done for a fixed monthly charge. There are no egress fees or changes in the negotiated monthly rate. This makes planning possible and keeps costs within budget.

For those companies in Connecticut and the Northeast, CAPS provides optimal locations for offsite data backup. Superior data security, personalized services, and fixed monthly charges make the CAPS’ solution the best choice for offsite data backup.

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