A timely and properly configured backup is a must-have for modern business. No one is protected from sudden data loss, especially in today’s conditions. Data backup must be carefully planned, performed regularly, and continuously monitored. Only then can a company confidently speak about data security. By choosing reliable backup software, you can work calmly and not worry that something will go wrong.
When creating a backup in the IT field, it is common to follow the “3-2-1 rule”. This is one of the most widely used backup strategies. What does this rule mean?
- Have at least 3 copies of data: the primary data and two backup copies.
- Store the copies on at least 2 different media: the more copies you have on different storage types, the lower the risk of losing them.
- Keep 1 backup copy away from the main IT environment. Ideally, it should be stored in a cloud environment that you can access from any location with an Internet connection.
To simplify backup creation processes, it is recommended to use reliable and proven software that allows these tasks to be performed automatically.
Veeam software (hereinafter referred to as VBR) is designed for centralized management of backup processes for physical and virtual servers, individual files, and databases in a protected environment. For companies that need ready-made infrastructure for these tasks, services such as Veeam Backup and BaaS may be especially relevant. Backup storage can be based on the following solutions:
- Storage directly attached to the VBR server (direct attached storage);
- Network-attached storage (NAS);
- Deduplicating storage appliance (Dell Data Domain, ExaGrid, etc.);
- Object storage (S3 Object Storage).
VBR allows you to manage backup processes for an entire infrastructure located in the cloud directly through the VBR console on the main server, through a separate Veeam Enterprise Manager portal, or through installed plugins, for example in the VMware Cloud Director portal. For VMware-based infrastructures, VMware Cloud can also be relevant if a business needs a controlled and scalable environment for hosting critical services.
If you need to back up a separate server, a special agent must be installed on it depending on the type of operating system, and the backup schedule must then be configured in the agent settings. This approach can be used for both physical machines and virtual servers, including dedicated servers.
The most common backup schedule is a chain of tasks consisting of one full server copy once a week and additional incremental backup copies (“deltas”) once a day. This mode significantly saves free storage space, in addition to the data compression algorithm used in the storage itself. However, users can create their own schedules depending on current needs. All backup copies in the storage are kept in an immutable state, which prevents them from being changed at their location during the period specified in the VBR console storage settings. For security, it is best to set this period within the range of 7-30 days.
The algorithm for restoring a server or its individual files works as follows:
- A temporary storage is created with an instance of the latest full server copy and the “delta” for the date selected for recovery;
- A virtual server is created with virtual disks from the temporary storage attached to it in read-only mode. All current changes are written to the temporary storage. The server can already be used as a restored one;
- When the user has confirmed that the backup copy for the selected date is operational, they choose the server recovery mode. All data from the temporary storage is transferred to the new server, and once the process is complete, temporary changes are also written to the restored server environment;
- At the end of the recovery process, all temporary storage is disconnected from the new server, and it is ready for use.
In the case of physical server recovery, a separate disk image with the recovery program must be created. In the recovery environment, you need to specify the connection details for the VBR server and wait until the data is restored.
Both virtual and physical servers can also be restored “from scratch”. In other words, if a physical server fails, all data can be restored on another one, with only one important requirement – the size of the new disk must be no smaller than the old one.
To summarize, the use of the VBR service makes it possible to quickly restore lost data on a server, the server itself, or even the entire enterprise infrastructure in just a few clicks. Flexible settings of the backup infrastructure environment provide broad opportunities for organizing these processes. If a business needs to plan disaster recovery scenarios in advance, it is also worth considering DRAAS as a separate approach to infrastructure recovery after failures.
Hostpark is an official Veeam partner and offers turnkey backup services. Our managers will answer all your questions about backups and help solve any issue related to backup and data recovery.
Entrust the preservation of important data to reliable providers of specialized services!
