How to choose a backup solution?
Are you looking to identify an optimal backup solution for your business or end clients, but due to all the options, are having difficulty selecting the one that best fits your needs?
Don’t worry….
We have your back on this. An Expert Team here at ProVal Tech brings some of the best backup solutions to you and provides an overview of the solution and its features from their experience managing 25+ different solutions for various MSPs. We are sure this article will help you make the right decision when choosing the most critical aspect for your business.
Best Backup Solutions for MSPs From Medium to Enterprise Business
Consider your data as if it were money. (It is; if in doubt, consider how much your rivals would pay for it.) You place your money in a vault and remain tranquil; nevertheless, you should periodically check to ensure that your money is still there and will be available if you need it quickly.
The same is true for data. Your enterprise data backups must be as secure as a vault, and you must be certain that, in the event of a disaster, you will be able to recover your data quickly and resume operations as if nothing had occurred. That is what a strong backup plan, combined with a decent collection of backup tools, must deliver.
These are just a handful of the questions your backup plan should address. And the answers will define which tools you should utilize because not all tools are appropriate for all strategies.
When systems fail, the most important factor is how soon you can restore service and protect the security of your digital assets.
Reading the product descriptions below will provide you with an overview of the solutions available to satisfy various data backup needs.
1. Veeam
2. Acronis
3. StorageCraft
4. Datto
5. MSP360 Backups
6. ProVal’s Assessment
Veeam
Below are the top features and functionality that makes Veeam an exclusive solution amongst the fleet:
- Continuous Data Protection (CDP)
- Automate Data Lifecycle Management
- Ransomware Protection
All your data is yours to own, control, backup, and recover anywhere in the hybrid cloud.
- Ensure impenetrable ransomware defenses
- Speed up your transition to hybrid cloud computing.
- Comply with the RTO / RPO for recovery. Cost and complexity should be reduced.
Users like Veeam's solution due to its dependability and transparency since they seldom experience failures and know precisely what is being backed up and where it is going. The system can quickly backup hundreds of virtual computers and physical devices, with the backup medium being either a local NAS or a Veeam Cloud Connect repository.
Veeam's job run options provide a high level of flexibility in terms of backup settings, copies, and replication, allowing you to tailor backup operations to meet the demands of any size organization. Without the need for customization, the alerting and reporting features offered provide a wealth of information about the backup status.
In addition, the user interface is quite informative and simple to use.
Acronis Backup Solution
Acronis backup software provides a variety of solutions, ranging from basic file backup on workstations to application-based backup on servers. Key features to look for:
- Its unique backup
- Anti-ransomware
- Disaster recovery
- Storage, and business file sync and sharing solutions
- Acronis Backup also delivers cyber security and hybrid cloud storage.
The product is appropriate for small to medium-sized businesses seeking a hybrid cloud solution that delivers robust and dependable backup as well as a high degree of technical assistance. Acronis falls short when operating in larger systems and networks, and an alternative solution for larger businesses should be considered.
Aside from safeguarding important systems, Acronis also generates images for migrating individual systems to new hardware and builds virtual hard drives for usage in VMware or Hyper-V.
StorageCraft Backup Solution
StorageCraft software is intended to assist you in developing customized solutions for your unique network. Your systems are swiftly backed up and restored with minimum disruption to work. This backup software allows you to manage your disaster recovery plan from a single dashboard. You may now:
- Configure several backups at the same time.
- Manage storage resources; and
- Verify backups function properly.
- Receiving and managing notifications
StorageCraft provides three options for local backups of servers and virtual machines (VMs):
- Shadow Protect SPX - software for SMB clients that are deployed in the client's data center.
- ShadowXafe – software placed in a client's data center that provides enhanced capability for mid-sized and corporate clients.
- OneXafe — a backup appliance for local use
StorageCraft Cloud Backup is a web-based backup and recovery tool for cloud-based apps including Microsoft Office 365 and Google Suite. The data is replicated to Amazon S3 or Azure cloud destinations. The adaptable, user-friendly interface is accessible via the StorageCraft Partner Portal. You may recover a file, a folder, or a whole user in a matter of seconds. You have the option of restoring to the original cloud location or exporting and downloading individual or bulk files to your PC.
To preserve or recover your crucial SaaS application data, Cloud Backup does not require an agent or any other StorageCraft solutions.
Datto Backup Solution
This is a business continuity solution that offers total Data Protection.
- Optimally designed to meet SMB’s requirement
Small and medium-sized enterprises generate more data than ever before. Datto's cloud backup and recovery solutions are specifically intended to assist SMBs in maintaining uninterrupted access to their data and ensuring business continuity.
- End-to-end recovery - Datto provides end-to-end recoverability and single-vendor accountability whether your data is on-premises on a physical or virtual server, or in the cloud via SaaS apps.
- Instant virtualization – A key feature available in Datto's flagship Siris solution, enables backups of on-premises servers to be virtualized and launched either locally on the Datto appliance or remotely in Datto's secure Cloud, allowing your solutions to run your business even while your servers are offline.
- Automated verification of your backups would ease the sleep for your Executives. Are you worrying about something potentially going wrong with your backups? Datto addresses that worry with an advanced automated verification of your backups periodically ‘Screenshot’.
MSP360 Backups
MSP360 Managed Backup Service (MBS) offers a data backup and restore solution for managed service providers and IT departments that require centralized task administration, monitoring, reporting, and licensing.
MSP360 Managed Backup is a straightforward backup solution that features centralized management, monitoring, and reporting.
Key features one would aim for with MSP 360:
- Designed for Managed Service Providers
- Flexible Licensing
- Cross-Platform Backup and Recovery
- Bring-Your-Own-Storage Approach
ProVal’s Assessment
We have provided a brief overview on five major backup solutions that are commonly used by the SMBs. Now, deciding the one that is best for you depends on a lot of factors, some of those to consider are:
- What environment are you looking to introduce the backup solution along? i.e., More Physical Nodes than Virtual/Cloud hosted, OR more Virtual than Physicals, OR a Hybrid environment with a combination of all types.
- How would you like to scale or handle the hardware requirements? i.e., Primarily Storage devices OR would you like to eliminate handling or procurement of Storage devices.
- Would you like to consolidate the backup streaming through a localized channel to your Datacenter or would prefer a Cloud hosting provider?
- Are you focusing more on Business Continuity where downtime isn’t affordable OR could you leverage DraaS OR BaaS Services focusing more on retention of your backup data?
- How would you like to handle the RTOs or RPOs?
- Does your backup solution offer you advanced features to test your created backups for consistency and reliability?
If you need assistance in deciding which backup tool would work the best for you, feel free to contact us.
We also do a thorough audit of your infrastructure and suggest the Best Backup Solution for you along with handling backup incidents, Capacity Planning, DR testing, assistance with recovering from downtimes or data losses, etc.
Written by: Puneet Vijayvergi - Director of Service Delivery