PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

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Aswellasdoublyprotectingyou
againstunexpectedfailures,ahybrid
approachtobackupgivesyouthebest
ofallworlds.Youronsitebackupscan
beaccessedveryquicklyifyouneed
torecoverlostitems,whilethecloud
providesconvenientremoteaccess,
soyourdataisneveroutofreach.

Humannature
Adata-protectionstrategythatrelies
onindividualsbackinguptheirown
files–oranyoneelse’s–isdestinedto
fail.Youneedaproductwithfull
schedulingfacilities,allowingitto
runjobsautomaticallyatthe
appointedtimes.Alltheproductsin
thisbuyer’sguidewilldothis;by
default,mostwillcyclebetweenfull
andpartial backups foreachsystem.
Partial,orincremental,backupsare
onesthatonlystoredatathathas
changedsincethelastbackup.This
savesstoragespace,and reducesthe
amountofdatathatneeds to be
uploadedtoyourcloudserver.
Foran easy life,lookfora product
thatallowsallyourbackupfunctions
tobemanagedfromoneconsole.
Keepingeverythinginoneplace
makesiteasytoensurethatall
backupjobsarecorrectlyconfigured
andrunning,minimisingtheriskthat
a problemwillgounspotted.
Ifyourbusinessusesvirtual
machines,it’s alsoworthchecking
whetheryourchosen backup
systemcanprotect these.Almost

“Keepingeverythingin

oneplacemakesiteasy

toensurethatallbackup

jobsarecorrectly

configuredandrunning”

TheNetworkBusinessFocus

TOPWeranNakivo’s

Backup&Replication

softwareonaQnap

NASappliance

cansaywith

confidencethat

youdon’twant

tofindyourself

atthemercyof

theattackers.

Backupsoftwarewon’tblock

ransomwareattacks,butitcansave

thedayifyougethitbyallowingyou

torestoreunencryptedversionsof

yourfiles–onceyou’vethoroughly

removedthemalware,ofcourse.The

bestbackupproductsofferextensive

versioningoptions,soyoucanchoose

howmanypastversionsoffilesto

store,andhowmanyweeksand

monthsofhistorytoretain.

Foralmost bulletproofprotection,

considerwritingyourbackups to

permanentstorage,wheretheycan’t

bechanged,overwrittenordeleted.

Thisiseasierto implementthanyou

mayimagine: many localNAS

appliancesletyoucreate WORM

(writeonce,readmany)volumes

whosecontentscan’tbedeleted

withoutjumpingthrough

considerableadministrativehoops.

It’salsopossibletoprovision

immutable cloudstorage: we tested

thismonth’sfourcontendersusing

AmazonS3 bucketswiththeObject

Lockfeatureenabled, whichblocks

filesfrombeingdeleted untila preset

retentionperiodhasexpired.

Mastersofdisaster

Onceyourdata-protectionsolutionis

upandrunning, youmaybereadyto

breathea sighofrelief– butdon’t

congratulateyourselftoosoon.It’s

vitalto regularlytest your backupand

restore facilities,notjustforfilesbut

forapplicationsandsystems,too.

Thiswillhelpyouspotanyproblems

ormisconfigurations,

givingyouanopportunity

toironthemoutbeforea

realdisasterstrikes.

Thefourproductswe’ve

chosenforreviewareall

availableasfreetime-

limitedtrials,allowingyou

totestalltheirfeaturesandensure

thatyourchosenproductoffersthe

protectionyouneed.Upgradingyour

backupsystemsmaynotbethe

sexiestprojectinIT,butitgoes

withoutsayingthatdatalosscanbe

catastrophicforanSMB– so readon

toseewhichbackupproductwill

ensureyou’repreparedforthenew

worldof hybrid working.

everyvendorhasa solutionfor

duplicatingandrestoring files

withinhypervisor platformssuch

asVMwareandHyper-V,butthis

isn’talwaysincludedwiththe

standardbackupproduct.

Standanddeliver

Inthepastfewyears,we’veseena

worrying growthinransomware

attacks. Thetotalcosttobusinesses is

incalculable,asmanycompanies

choosetoquietlypayup,for fearof

damagetotheir reputation–butwe

LEFTAmazonS3’s

ObjectLockoption

enablesimmutable

cloudstorage

ABOVERetrospect’s

webconsoleprovides

anoverviewofyour

backupenvironment,

includingallhosts