Steve LaPha, Vice President, Dytech Group
Having a good backup of your company data is important for all businesses. Is your backup monitored for proper completion daily? Is the backup tested regularly to make sure that you can actually restore the data? Don’t wait until you have catastrophic data loss to find out your backup is not working. Make it a regularly scheduled task. Remember the 3-2-1 rule for backup. Best practices dictate that you have at least three backup copies of your data on two different types of media with at least one copy kept offsite. If your building burns to the ground, then you will be glad that you have that offsite copy of your data to restore. Many businesses backup
both locally and to a cloud backup service. The local backup can be restored quickly when needed and if there is an issue with the local backup then the data can be retrieved from the cloud. Some software programs require a special type of backup. Check your accounting and line of business programs to see if there are special requirements to protect your data. Programs based on SQL databases require a specific backup method. I make it a practice to backup within the software program as well as backing up the server. One thing I have not seen yet is too many backups. I once saw someone with five copies of their backup and when they
needed to restore files from them, all five were corrupt. I have seen people diligently backup every day and then not be able to restore when they needed to. If you do not do it yourself, make someone responsible and accountable. You can also outsource this task to a trusted IT consultant. They should be able to provide monthly reports to document that the backups have been completed and tested.
Many businesses are utilizing cloud services for some or all their computing. Make sure that your cloud service provider has a backup and disaster recovery plan for your data. If they are not protecting your data, then you will want to have a plan to back it up. Some experts suggest that you perform your own backup in addition to the cloud service’s backup. If your email is hosted with Microsoft, there are services that will backup a copy to a second datacenter for redundancy.
If your business relies on computers and they are critical to keeping your business running, then you will want to research Backup and Disaster Recovery Services and Business Continuity Services such as Datto and others. They provide an appliance that backs up your servers and data locally as well as replicating them to the cloud. If there is a disaster, then a virtual replacement server can be created in less than an hour. This will drastically reduce your downtime if something happens to your server.
Hurricane season is here. This is a good time of year to review your Disaster Recovery Plan. If you do not have one yet, then this is a perfect time to start one. It does not need to be complicated. Start with a simple document explaining your computer setup, the backup method, and how to recover from a disaster. Later you can add important contacts and vendors. Your technology support person should be able to assist you with this. All disaster plans should include the possibility of a server crash or data loss. What steps do you need to take to get back online as quickly as possible? What can you do in the meantime? Is there a failover available? At what point do you send staff home? Plans will differ if you have cloud applications vs. an in-house server. In Florida, we also need
to consider the possibility of a hurricane. What do you need to do to prepare for possible hurricane force winds, rain and local flooding? Loss of power is probable. Are you able to work remotely from home or another location? The best time to have these conversations is before the disaster occurs.
You should also review the critical components of your computers and software programs to identify the ones that are important to your business. Which ones are critical daily to keep your business running like your line of business software? Which ones are only needed on a weekly basis like accounts payable and payroll? What about communications, where is your email hosted?
Does your telephone system have a forwarding feature? Identify the redundancies and failover options that are available to you in case of an emergency. Calculate how long you can go with that part of your business not working without adversely effecting your business. This is called a risk assessment. Include these in your DR plan.
After an emergency, you will want to review what worked and what did not work. What can you do better for next time? Having a plan will help make the situation less stressful. Free resources are available at:
https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/IT
https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/recovery/disaster-recovery-plan-strategies-processes-564
Steve LaPha, a thirty-plus year veteran of the computer industry started with Dytech Group eighteen years ago as a Network Engineer. He came from the government computer sales and service industry where he owned his own computer business for fifteen years supplying personal computers to NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. Steve was promoted to Service Manager, General Manager and now Vice President of operations. He works along with Dennis Bell, the President, running the business and supervising ten employees. The primary business is providing Managed Services to small and medium size businesses in Orlando and the Central Florida area under the DytechONE brand.
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