We live in a data-based world. So it comes as no surprise that data protection is of the utmost importance for businesses. The question is: How do you safeguard your data? Backups are your salvation, but be sure to make the right move and choose automated backups in order to steer away from human errors and unfortunate mistakes. Luckily, multiple software possibilities can be found on the market who are able to help you do just that. Commvault is among them and with its Metallic offering it guarantees automated backups for cloud workloads as well, so you can focus on your core business without worry. Many start-ups and more mature companies rely increasingly on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications in their day-to-day activities. While they reduce costs, free up resources and simplify IT management, danger lurks behind the corner… It is often forgotten that the cloud service providers who host these SaaS applications are not solely responsible for the data created and stored within these applications. A solid backup plan is thus a shared responsibility and highly necessary in order to avoid disasters in the wake of human errors, ransomware, corruption or internal attacks.
WESTPOLE jumps in to ease the establishment of a trustworthy backup architecture. We’re active in many fields, such as managed services and cloud computing, but we also make sure your data is backuped safely. For each situation, we look at the most ideal solution and software choice. One of the possibilities is Commvault. This data protection software, with its Metallic offering, delivers enterprise-grade, industry-leading data protection with the simplicity of a SaaS model. This goes hand in hand with our idea of unburdening companies in order for them to focus on their own core business.
Think before you act
So, what is the first step to secure your data? Well, it’s all about analyzing your needs and requirements: Which workloads and processes are to be found and what is the best way to secure the data used and generated? More than half of the work in a backup environment is to reflect on and analyze your environment in the first place. To think before you act will lead to the desired outcome of a point-and-click solution to roll out automated backups. It is highly recommended to call on an external partner to carry out this preparatory work to perfection rather than presenting it as an additional task on an internal employee’s plate.
At WESTPOLE, we understand that companies want to focus on their core business, which most of the time is not data protection or even IT. For us however, it is, so we can help you further. We build a data backup architecture and offer advice on the best choice for supporting software, while you retain the freedom to choose. A traditional IT situation consists of using your own servers to run your day-to-day applications while relying on your own or external data centers as a first backup option. A necessary second backup can then be stored on one of three of WESTPOLE’s data centers on another location, at least 30 kilometers away from the other data center, to definitely be in the safe zone at all times.
Don’t forget your mailboxes or containers
To assure an easy backup process not only on-premise but also in the cloud, we can count on Commvault Metallic. The software provides a welcome overview on which apps and workloads are running in the cloud. For example, think about your Office 365 tools and mailboxes which are regularly overlooked to backup securely. It’s not up to Microsoft to protect these data, but it’s up to you. Luckily, Commvault Metallic makes this easy, especially as it runs on Microsoft Azure and is fully aligned with Microsoft.
Another example is the use of containers. Experiments with these ‘virtual machines in the cloud’ are quickly set up in a test environment. Once these tests turn out successful, the containers are put in production yet no one bothers to construct backups as well. Unfortunately, the lack of backups is only noticed when it is too late… And adding backups at a later phase isn’t as easy of a task as setting up these containers was in the first place. Moreover, it quickly becomes very expensive. As an external partner, WESTPOLE can build a backup environment with Commvault software beforehand to limit your costs and relieve you from worries.
Uniformity across backups
Last but not least, you should strive for uniformity across your backups. This is especially important once workloads are mixed, when you have a new project where your database can be found on-premise while your website is in the cloud, for example. Commvault has got you covered, as it provides a link between your on-premise and cloud data and its backups. And at WESTPOLE, we make sure that a Commvault integration is accomplished. We can even go further and manage it entirely. The choice is up to you, so feel free to give us a call.