MSPNetworks Blog

It’s easy to think of IT as a money sink. No matter how much you spend, there’s always some issue that surfaces, requiring a considerable investment on your part. But what if we told you that you don’t have to worry about IT issues?

With the right approach, you can transition from the traditional reactive method of IT maintenance to proactive IT solutions, designed to save you money.

Building a gingerbread house is a perennial tradition in many, many households. Those with experience know that precise, careful preparation leads to a successful, long-lasting final product, while rushing and cutting corners usually leave you with a crumbling, fragile mess.

Much of the same can be said of your business’ data. This essential operational resource is terrifyingly susceptible to a litany of threats and issues that could easily bring your processes tumbling down… hence, why the 3-2-1 Backup Rule is a core element of successful business continuity.

Let’s take a moment to consider the recipe for a reliable, disaster-proof backup, and how it aligns with the process of making a gingerbread house.

Remember tape backup? For some SMBs who have moved on, this form of data backup is a clunky and frustrating relic of the past. But if you aren’t remembering it and are instead still dealing with it, you might be experiencing some operational frustrations of your own. Today, we want to cover a better solution—one that takes the unpredictability out of business continuity.

It is remarkable how much more capacity our data storage tools have than they had upon their initial invention, and how much data we’ve amassed in that time. The first-ever commercial hard drive was the size of two refrigerators, and held a mere five megabytes of data. For context, that’s about five photographs. Today, hard drives hold exponentially more data, and it is critical that you are doing everything you can to protect this data from any circumstance, from fire, severe weather, or cyberattack.

So, are you? Too many business owners aren’t sure… but there’s a way you can be. 

What would you do if your entire infrastructure were impacted by ransomware all at once? Do you have a contingency in place to address this risk, or are you going to “wing it” in the face of such a threat? The smart answer is that you’ll be prepared, and a data backup and disaster recovery solution (or BDR) plan will help you do just that.

You know your business needs data backup, but do you understand why? Simply put, your business is at risk of total annihilation if it doesn’t have a plan in place to recover lost data, and you don’t want that impending doom hanging over your head. If you’re wondering where to get started, here are three types of data that you should absolutely prioritize with your backups.

That said, you want to back up all data if you can, but these are three that we think are especially important to consider.

We need to talk about something that is as exciting as watching water boil, but it might just save your entire business one day: backing up your data.

I know, I know. You're busy doing your thing, closing deals, and you’re busy. The last thing on your mind is where your files are outside of your server. The truth is, it’s not very interesting, but it sure is important.

There are plenty of reasons why a business might lose some or all of its data, ranging from cyberattacks to hardware failure. Unfortunately, there isn’t any real reason your business won’t be one of the unlucky ones.

This makes it imperative that you prepare for this eventuality. Let’s discuss how to do so with the help of data redundancy.

There you are, working on the most important project of your career. You’ve worked through the initial problems and are making progress, and then your computer crashes. Panic sets in. You reboot, hoping that will fix the problem. It doesn’t. This is the nightmare scenario that haunts businesses and individuals alike. If you don’t have a solid backup plan, you’re one spilled coffee or rogue virus away from disaster. 

Running a business is basically a never-ending series of potential disasters just waiting to happen. Some are easy to fix, change a process here, tweak a strategy there—but others? They can completely derail your operations if you’re not prepared. That’s where smart technology steps in to save the day.

Let’s look at some nightmare scenarios that could spell disaster unless you have the right IT in place.

To keep your business running smoothly, even if something goes wrong—like a power outage, cyberattack, or other disaster—you need a reliable way to protect your data. That’s where data backup comes in. It’s important to make sure your backup is thorough and trustworthy so you can recover if things go south.

Have you ever accidentally deleted a file or had your computer crash? It’s a frustrating experience, right? Now, imagine if a major disaster—like a fire or data breach—struck and wiped out all your critical data. That’s where disaster recovery steps in to save the day.

Other than the innovative jump from tape, data backup hasn’t seen too many great leaps forward, so to speak. Sure, businesses don’t have to worry about resource-intensive manual backups anymore, but the standard approach is so rock-solid that innovation isn’t necessarily needed at this point. Today, we are exploring the backup and disaster recovery process and how modern-day solutions have made an effective tool even better.

Nostalgia is a powerful force. It can drive us to look to the past for things we once loved, such as the music we listened to over the years. However, what if the music you loved was lost forever?

This could be the case for many, as older hard drives that archive this music have been discovered to have failed. Let’s examine the situation to see what lessons any small-to-medium-sized business can learn.

In the wake of Hurricane Beryl, businesses have another reason to reflect on data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity. Since the hurricane made landfall in Texas, despite being downgraded to a tropical storm, it still caused over $5 million in damage to islands across middle America.

Data backup is essential for any business, yet many employees might not fully understand how it works or what gets backed up. Today, let's clarify the basics of data backup and its importance.

Business can get messy, particularly when variables outside your control are involved, which could spell doom for your organization. We’re talking, of course, about instances where your organization might be under a particularly large threat—instances where your data is at risk, which could jeopardize your future. Thankfully, there are options to mitigate this risk.

We often discuss data backup and disaster recovery on our blog, and you may even be familiar with some of the terms and practices we throw around. Today, we want to take a closer look at the 3-2-1 rule and how it impacts your business’ ability to recover in the face of a disaster. Let’s dive in and see how the 3-2-1 rule can make or break your company’s data infrastructure.

What is the 3-2-1 Rule?

When we discuss the 3-2-1 rule, this is what we mean:

• Three copies of your data: You should have three updated copies of your data, including the original.
• Two types of media: You’ll want to use two different storage mediums, at the very minimum. For example, you could keep one in the cloud in addition to the original stored on your network.
• One copy off-site: Whether it’s in an off-site data center or stored in the cloud, you should keep one copy isolated from potential attacks against your network.

Of course, this isn’t an end-all-be-all for data backup and disaster recovery; it’s merely a baseline that you can augment in whatever way you need. For example, you might choose different storage sites for various parts of your data infrastructure, or other unique requirements in addition to the baseline established above.

Why Does the 3-2-1 Rule Work?

The 3-2-1 rule is important for businesses no matter the size or industry, and it’s an important part of ensuring redundancy for your organization. For example, if something happens to your on-premise hardware, you will rely on your cloud-based data backups to recover. This is particularly important in today’s ransomware-filled business environment. And don’t forget to test your data backups periodically, too; the last thing you want is to find out your backups are corrupted when you need them most.

MSPNetworks can help your business with our comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution. Our BDR tools can help you ensure that your company follows the 3-2-1 rule while ensuring redundancy. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

When you suffer a data breach, you might wonder how you can possibly come back from such an event, especially if it leads to a network compromise. Can your business rebound effectively, and if so, what do you need to do to make sure that it doesn’t happen again? It all starts with understanding how much data you need to function, as well as how much downtime you can afford to suffer from.

With all this in mind, you need to have a business continuity plan to prepare for the worst. Your business cannot afford to not be prepared for downtime-causing incidents. You can have the strongest security system in existence and still suffer from a data breach; therefore, you need to have contingencies in place that can help you navigate these unfortunate and unlikely scenarios in an effective way.

You should be backing up your data for multiple reasons beyond cybersecurity. You also must prepare for damages to your physical infrastructure that could affect your data, like natural disasters and user error. Let’s go over what business continuity and disaster recovery mean for modern businesses.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Are Two Different Things

Business continuity and disaster recovery are often mistaken to be the same thing, but the fact is that disaster recovery is part of the greater business continuity effort. Business continuity includes far more than just data recovery; it also includes administrative aspects of running your business, including other events that could derail operations. Disaster recovery, in essence, is one part of an effective business continuity plan.

Disaster recovery starts with data backup, and if you think your business can run without it, you’ve never tried to run it without data or applications. Some businesses can suffer from downtime for longer than others without serious ramifications—this much is true—but enough downtime can cripple any business. This is why it’s important to know what standards you are working toward regarding disaster recovery.

What You Must Consider

Proper backup protocols include far more than storing copies of your company files in a safe location. It also means making sure they are accessible when you need them most. Not all disasters are going to hit you hard enough to knock you out of commission permanently, but you should treat each of them as seriously as they could. Even something as simple as a malware attack or a user error could make more work than necessary for your company if you’re not prepared to deal with it.

We want you to take this major point away from this blog. You should store multiple copies of your data in various locations, both on-site and in a secure, off-site data center (or the cloud). With these contingencies in place, you should be prepared for any situation that could derail your operations, whether it’s hardware failure or a hacking attack. A BDR solution from MSPNetworks can prepare you to restore your data as quickly as possible following a disaster through a temporary server which can keep operations moving while IT repairs or orders a replacement server. On top of that, our BDR solution is much faster at restoring a backup onto a new server compared to traditional backup methods, saving you a ton of time and labor.

To learn more about how a BDR system can be just the right proactive solution for your business, contact us today at (516) 403-9001.

A disaster recovery plan is a strategy that allows a business to return to normal after a disruption of some type. Some data disasters are brought on by outside attacks, some are the result of a natural disaster or environmental issue, and some are simply a return to normal after an internal problem interferes with business operations. Today, we’ll take a look at a few things you need to know about disaster recovery to help you mitigate the negative effects of a data disaster. 

In IT, disaster recovery is focused on the safeguarding of data and information systems, but for the business it is a wholesale strategy that protects a business’ ability to function after it has dealt with an often avoidable issue. With companies now dealing with much more data than ever before, as well as customers who don’t respond positively to data breaches or downtime, having a comprehensive disaster recovery platform in place is essential to getting through tough situations that may affect your business. Let’s take a look at three things you need to know to properly manage your disaster recovery plan.

Planning is Imperative

The first misconception that most people have about disaster recovery is that it is a massively complex strategy that has a lot of moving parts that need to be handled before you can go on business-as-usual. This isn’t the case. For most smaller businesses, it could simply be a strategy highlighted by a comprehensive data backup and recovery plan. As organizations get larger, however, more detail will be necessary about how to recover systems, applications, and working conditions. 

Regardless of what type of organization you run, you need to understand that if you are enacting your disaster recovery plan, there are some serious issues that are affecting your business and you need to confront them head-on. Planning out scenarios can help your team be ready to do what needs to be done to get your business back up and running fast after a disaster. You will need to know how your backup system works, who is in charge of the different parts of your DR platform, and set a responsible recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) to pinpoint how far back your recovery needs to go to get stable applications and data back and how much time you have to get that done. 

Test Your DR

One of the biggest problems organizations have with their disaster recovery platform is that they haven’t tested it. In fact, nearly a quarter of businesses have never tested their disaster recovery plan. Failure to test opens up a litany of issues, including the DR platform falling on its face and leaving your organization clutching at straws. You don’t have to test the platform monthly, or even quarterly, but ensuring that your DR platform is tested at least once a year can help you avoid a lot of would-be headaches. 

Since testing your DR strategy can disrupt your business and cut into productivity, some business leaders won’t want you to do it. It’s this reason that IT administrators have to push back and ensure that the system is tested at least once annually. Any time you test any system, you will inevitably find problems with it. It stands to reason that your DR strategy will have some issues, but every test provides an opportunity to fix problems. As a result, updating the DR plan with lessons you’ve learned during testing will be invaluable if the real thing needs to be enacted.

The Human Element

You may think of your disaster recovery strategy as an IT issue, but your entire DR platform is handled by humans. A comprehensive DR strategy has to include contingencies for employees. For instance, if your business’ location is compromised for whatever reason, do you have the ability to get them access to company data they need to do their jobs? 

Take the COVID-19 pandemic for instance. Not many businesses had “global pandemic” on a list of their DR contingencies and it cost many organizations greatly. With governments handing down shelter-in-place mandates in the early part of the pandemic, many businesses had to invest a lot of capital, often capital they didn’t have, to ensure that their businesses could continue. Regardless of what you do with your technology, businesses are mostly human endeavors and ensuring that your policies cover eventualities like work-from-home strategies can make all the difference between being profitable and closing up shop.

Don’t get caught in-between. If you would like to have a conversation about business continuity or disaster recovery with our IT experts at MSPNetworks, reach out to us today at (516) 403-9001.