IT Recovery Tips for Small Businesses, Officinado Business Help Directory
IT Recovery Tips for Small Businesses
After the flood — or fire, vandalism or email virus attack — is no time for a small business to start thinking about a disaster recovery plan. In a recent survey of more than 200 small businesses conducted by Imation, one quarter of small businesses reported that they do a "poor" job when it comes to implementing a formal disaster recovery program. In addition, 17 percent of respondents admitted to not having a formal disaster recovery process at all.While many small businesses might feel that they are not large enough to implement a full disaster recovery program, every business — large or small — should have a program in place to get their business up and running again, as quickly and painlessly as possible. With these basic tips, a small business can take the first steps toward implementing a sound plan to protect and recover if disaster should strike.
Disaster recovery tips
Think of the possible hazards your business could face. These can range from natural disasters and human error, such as floods or fires to terrorism, hackers or disgruntled employees. Also consider potential exposure from surrounding businesses.
Make a business decision on what level of recovery is required for your business.
Does your company generate critical data?
How often does your business generate data that needs to be protected?
Once you understand why, what and how often your company needs to backup, you can make a decision on what backup plan best fits your business.
Create a contingency plan to remain in operation if your office becomes unusable. Notify your employees of this plan and provide regular updates.
Identify critical files such as accounting records, customer lists, production formulas, inventory, payroll, etc. Store at least one copy of this information onsite (your working files), and one full backup copy offsite.
Perform daily incremental or differential backups and weekly full backups. Most importantly, test your ability to restore data at least once a quarter.
Always rotate and catalog tape cartridges or discs. Be sure to replace tapes or discs on a regular basis to maintain optimum performance.
Protect all computers and phones from electrical surges and install virus protection software on all computers.
Review your business’ current insurance coverage, or get insurance if you do not have any. Verify that your insurance protects against data loss, or other business asset loss.
When planning for business continuity, it's a common recommendation that you store a full copy of your data backup off-site. Off-site storage helps protect against a backup being caught in the same problem that 'takes out' the computers on which you store your business data.
However, for very small businesses, this recommendation can be hard to follow. Vaulted off-site storage may not be financially wise for small backups. Still, one option available to small businesses is the purchase of a fireproof safe to store backups. While a good safe may not be inexpensive, it's a one-time purchase that offers long-lasting peace of mind.
As a general rule, Imation suggests that you store magnetic and optical media in a safe that meets the UL 125 1-hour fire and impact rating. The internal temperature of a safe that carries the UL 125 1-hour fire rating will not exceed 125º F (52º C) after sitting in a 1700º F (926º C) furnace for 60 minutes. Fire safes that are not manufactured to UL 125 may have their internal temperature exceed the safe storage temperature range for magnetic and optical media.
Getting started with a backup plan can seem difficult. It doesn't have to be: Building a successful backup plan is easy when you follow three key principles:
Back up every day, and perform a full backup at least once a week
Test your backup process (and your ability to restore) at least monthly or quarterly
Store one copy of your full backup off-site for security
Removable data storage media helps you create a moveable backup that can be transported off-site or protected away from your computers for increased security.
Choosing your media: Optical or tape?
Some people think they need to choose between optical (CD, DVD) technology or tape. Depending on the amount and type of data you need to back up, you may use either or both! Optical and tape media can be easily transported off-site and archived. If you use tape for your full backups, you may find that you can use optical media for your incremental backups as part of your tape backup program.
Choosing your plan
When choosing a backup plan for your business consider what risks you are willing to take with your data—in particular, what data is most critical and what level of loss you want to be prepared to face. A good rule of thumb is the more often you rotate your tapes, the safer your data is. If you use the same tape two days in a row, you may risk losing the prior day's files.
Think of the possible hazards your business could face. These can range from natural disasters—such as floods, fires, hurricanes or tornados—to terrorism, hackers or disgruntled employees.
Make a business decision on what level of recovery is required for your business.
Do you generate data daily that needs to be protected?
If your business is destroyed in a disaster, could you start up in a different location
if you had your critical business data?
If appropriate, create a contingency plan to remain in operation if your office becomes unusable. Notify your employees of this plan and provide regular updates.
Each of these three backup regimens can be implemented with either tape or optical technologies. If you have more data than fits on a single cartridge or disc, you can multiply the amount of media needed to plan your budget and media inventory.
Some definitions that will help you understand these backup plans:
Incremental Backup — backup of all changes since last incremental backup, therefore, the first day follow your full backup will include the changes for that day. The second day’s incremental would only include changes that day.
Differential Backup — backup of all changes since last full backup. The day following the full backup would include changes that day. The differential backup for the second day following a full backup would include the changes the first day and the second day since the full backup.
Full Backup — backup of all files in your critical file set
On-site storage — Onsite storage of tapes should be far enough away from your system so that if you system is destroyed in an accident, your backup copy will not suffer the same fate. Fireproof safes are often a good option.
Off-site — Off-site storage of tapes should be a separate physical location (different office building, safe-deposit box, home storage, etc.).
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