What is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule?

Backups are essential to ensure business continuity and protect against of data loss, system failures, or cyber attacks – and IT experts often reference the fabled ‘3-2-1’ rule when organising backups into an effective strategy.

The 3-2-1 backup rule states that businesses should have at least three copies of their data, stored on at least two different storage devices, with at least one copy being stored offsite:

 

1. Three Copies of Data
The first part of the 3-2-1 rule states that businesses should keep at least three copies of their data. This means that there should be two backup copies of the original data. Having multiple copies of data ensures that in case of data loss or corruption, and dramatically cuts the risk of complete data loss. As long as there’s at least one remaining backup copy, even giant corporations can always restore their data in a dire emergency.

 

2. Two Storage Mediums
The second part of the 3-2-1 rule states that the data should be stored on at least two different storage devices. This means that businesses should not rely on a single storage device, such as an external hard drive or a cloud server, for their backups. Storing backups on at least two different devices ensures that if one device fails, there is always a backup available from a separate source.

It’s worth noting that this principle also needs to extend to cloud-based environments: where organisations use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace as their primary platform, secondary backups of that data needs to exist independent of that public cloud.

 

3. One Copy Offsite
The third and final part of the 3-2-1 rule states that businesses should keep at least one copy of their data offsite; ideally more! This means that the backup should not be stored in the same location as the original data or the other backup copies. This ensures that in case of a physical disaster, such as a fire, flood, or theft, the backup data is still safe and can be accessed from a different location.

 

While not perfect (cyber security experts argue modern backup solutions should probably specify immutability, for example) the 3-2-1 principle guards against each of the biggest threats to business data – destruction of the original data, failure of the device hardware holding that data, and a disaster at the site where that hardware exists – that most often causes financial losses, legal liability and repetitional damage.

By planning your backups with this rule in mind, you’ll know your business continuity is protected against common emergencies.

 

For IT Support & expertise, please contact our team today.


Veeam Backup for Office 365 reinvents Backup

Recently released in beta, Veeam Backup for Office 365 is a curious idea. Remember the old days of email? A physical server in a backroom somewhere sorting your business mail like a private sorting office?

It’s not really hard to see why that setup became redundant: that trusty piece of hardware, with its installed copy of email handling software like Microsoft Exchange or Kerio, was doomed to fail eventually, whether it be from an office disaster or the finite lifespan of hardware.

Then cloud-based services came along and ensured your email was suddenly resilient to real-world dangers. A cloud backup for your Exchange Onsite was dependable, and if backing up into the cloud wasn’t enough, why not just move there entirely? No service has exemplified this virtual shift more than Microsoft Office 365 – placing your entire Exchange (and operating your inbox client too if your prefer) off-site in the cloud, and letting Microsoft worry about the data centre infrastructure, has frequently been the smart choice for both IT strategy and budgets.

For many, the cloud was backup enough, but in larger organisations or those with special regulatory demands on email retention or availability, users are increasingly wary of certain dangers from a wholesale move to the cloud.

Because internet outages aside, the offline copy you have control over is only as reliable as the client laptop of smartphone it’s stored on, and client devices are frequently even more at risk than your old server. Break your device on the same day as your office loses connectivity for any reason, and your email history is suddenly hundreds of miles away.

Enter Veeam’s newest backup product: Veeam Backup for Office 365 – which turns the concept of a hybrid backup upside down to provide something new, in the form of a local backup for Exchange Online.

Backup for Office 365 replicates a backup of your Microsoft cloud-based email and calendars to a server of your choice (a physical piece of hardware if you wish) on specific backup terms. Users can continue operating Office 365’s wonderfully tactile email service from the cloud, knowing that Veeam will provide you an up-to-date local copy your IT team can immediately seize in event of an emergency.

The actual server architecture holding the backup can be physical or virtual (which potentially makes the entire notion of ‘localised’ hybrid backup a bit abstract, but bear with us) so Veeam’s solution is adaptable in the extreme – re-saving your emails wherever you prefer, to any machine with a Microsoft operating system.

The curious thing is that this hybrid inversion actually makes a lot of practical sense, and re-introduces a critical fail-safe role for a traditional ‘on-hand’ server. Veeam’s mission statement, to always provide ‘availability for the always-on enterprise‘ (a focus on constant, utterly uncompromising uptime of IT services and data for businesses that can’t afford any downtime) is demonstrated with a technical obsession to fulfill even the most demanding business continuity planning.

For business continuity and IT contingency planning, contact Lineal today about Veeam Backup for Office 365


2017: Be Prepared

2017

With data security making national news headlines, 2017 is only likely to put increasing pressure on businesses of all sizes to take sensible precautions.

But with IT moving so fast, what innovations are likely to lead the way through 2017? Exactly what sensible precautions will most tech-savvy companies be taking?

 

Cloud is good…

The worldwide push for ever more cloud-based systems appears to be unstoppable. A recent report from Synergy Research Group has suggested the global market for cloud computing grew by 25% to September 2016, reaching a staggering $148 billion in value.

It’s hard to see this not continuing, with companies relying on the convenience and automation of stashing growing quantities off-site backups in the cloud – using services like Office 365 as their private vault. As we’ve covered before: holding assets like email in the cloud actually gives you better protection than most people’s private server.

 

…..But Hybrid Cloud is better still.

But 2017’s smartest will be looking further ahead to Hybrid Cloud systems. As IT Pro recently noted, many companies report using more than 5 backup systems, but have no planning for speed of recovery should that data actually be needed urgently during 2017.

Getting all that data back may present a problem if your organisation is large, meaning hybrid on-site/cloud services like Lineal’s Disaster Recovery Service are likely to become the most flexible middle option. Keeping both a synchronised backup on-site, and a copy with a relatively local cloud service, leaves even the most vulnerable business with the maximum number of options.

 

Change your passwords

If you don’t already change passwords regularly, the security benefits cannot be overstated. Stolen data can often be circulated on the internet many times, so changing passwords regularly keeps not only your business secure, but helps prevent repeat data theft from being profitable. 

Whilst everyone still has a ‘New Year’ mindset and are prepared to accept a little change, it’s worth updating those passwords company wide. Remember to use a variety of different characters and choose something only you would ever guess.

 

Have a 2017 Plan A…. and a Plan B

Ransomware increasingly appears to be the organised criminal world’s cyber-weapon of choice and shows no sign of abating; expect to see more big UK high-street names get compromised this year by malicious emails. 

Antivirus companies may include ever more sophisticated heuristics to intercept malicious downloads before they begin encrypting your files, but ultimately only safe backups will ensure you can always restore to a clean set of data. Every firm should have a ‘Plan B’ for how to carry this out.

 

It’s all about Recovery Time

Expect to see Disaster Recovery (not just back-up and contingency) become a by-word for preparedness, with companies and organisations in every sector being judged not just by their number of backups, but by their costly hours of down-time. 

So if nothing else, start 2017 with an old piece of technology: a pen and paper. Work out what your business’ data recovery plan actually is, and how long it will take –  should the very worst happen.

 

Lineal can provide a range of IT security and business continuity solutions: contact our team today.


Disaster Recovery, do I really need it?

A Somerset client’s basement was flooded, not, as you might have expected, due to the Levels flooding, but due entirely to a catastrophic failure of a very large nearby water main. If the basement had been used for storage it might not have been too bad, but unfortunately the basement rooms are used as offices, with a lot of IT equipment in use.

0615 Pipe

Lineal was able to provide same day support, with the loan of equipment, network setup and new telephones.  Extra room was made available upstairs, and by the end of the next day, our client’s office was working back to full capacity again.

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