Q01Do you backup my server’s data?
As a managed infrastructure provider, we do not backup the data on our customer’s servers by default. Taking back-ups of data and configuration is the responsibility of the client, but with this being said, we do have a number of backup solutions you can choose from.
See below in the “What back-up options do you offer?” section for more details on what back-up options we currently offer; or please contact us with your requirements and we will assist with choosing the best backup solution.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.
Q02Should I back-up the data on my server?
Yes, we strongly encourage all our clients to always back-up any important data or configuration that they would not want to lose, on a regular basis, to a device that is external from their primary server(s).
Due to the nature of hardware, there is always an unavoidable possibility that a component of your set-up may become faulty; which may lead to data loss. We will always replace any faulty hardware that we are alerted to, however, we cannot recover any data that may be loss due to this hardware failure. As a managed infrastructure service provider, we are not responsible for any data loss; so it is our client’s responsibility to make sure any data of theirs is backed up in a manor that minimises the chances of their data being lost.
If you have any questions about back-ups or need help with a back-up solution, please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.
Q03What back-up options do you offer?
We offer a variety of back-up options, to cater to a variety of needs. Which one would be best for you, depends on your requirements. Please read through the following options, to see which one best meets your requirements:
Additional server – One option would be to have an additional dedicated server set-up with us; working as a back-up / fail over server.
Both your main server and your additional backup sever would have a VLAN connection, connecting the two servers together. The additional server would be entirely managed by yourselves; so it would be up to you to configure your new dedicated backup server to your requirements, and to setup and install any backups/failovers between the two servers.
The benefits of having an additional server are that the additional server can have as much storage space as is required; if your primary server were to fail, you would have complete server redundancy, and you would always have access to your configuration and data through your secondary server (or vice versa); and you can have multiple servers connected to the back-up server, through the single VLAN, meaning you could have one back-up server for multiple devices.
The pricing of this option would depend on the required hardware specifications of the additional server; but you can use our shop to judge pricing based on specification. Having an additional server set-up is often the most cost effective option and is one of the most popular options amongst our clients.
Shared NAS Space – Another option would be to have space allocated from one of our shared NAS device platform; and have this space connected to your server as a network drive. This is only an option if 2TB or less of back-up space is required. Also, this option is currently only available at certain data centres within our infrastructure. If this is an option you may be interested in, please get in touch to see if this option is available at the data centre your server is hosted at.
Our shared NAS devices are an off-site backup option, which is relatively affordable for low amounts of storage space (2TBs or less). The NAS space would be mapped to your server as a network drive; so it would be easy for you to access from your server. As the NAS device is off-site, your backed-up data would be protected from either network or power failures within the data-centre your server is hosted in. However, this can often be more expensive than taking out a second dedicated server with us when you need to backup multiple devices, as multiple servers cannot see the same shared NAS backup space; which means if you have multiple servers with us, each server would require its own NAS space.
A Dedicates NAS Device – A third option would be to have a dedicated NAS device hosted within our data-centre.
A dedicated NAS unit would be a storage device, independent from your main server, which has a large amount of scalable storage space. This option is best for client’s who require a very large amount of data to be stored; but is one of our more expensive options. It is often more cost effective to have an additional dedicated server set-up with us; with large amount of storage space. If you would prefer a dedicated NAS device, please let us know and a member of our team will be happy to discuss this with you.
The benefits of having a dedicated NAS device are that multiple devices can be attached to the NAS device through a vLAN, it has the largest amount of storage capacity out of all our back-up options and the amount storage space within the NAS unit is continually scalable, as most NAS chassis allow for expansion units to be attached.
Avamar Backup Solution – Our last backup option is our Bare Metal Restore (BMR) RapidStore Avamar backup package.
The Avamar backup package is our complete enterprise level backup solution. It takes off-site backups, so your backed-up data would be protected from either network or power failures within the data-centre your server is hosted in; allows multiple servers to be backed-up to the same RapidStore account; puts you (the client) in control of the back-ups, allowing you to manage your own back-up account, take any back-ups or restores that are required, on-demand; it works quickly; and can store as much or as little data as you want. The storage amount is set by a monthly allowance, but you can go above your monthly allocated storage allowance if required; however, overage charges will be allocated when this occurs. This option is best for client’s who require less than 2TB of data stored and require an easy-to-use solution; but, due to its nature, is a more expensive option. Please note, Avamar is not compatible with Debian or Ubuntu operating systems.
Please contact us with your requirements and any questions you may have about our back-up options, and we will assist with choosing the best backup solution.