Glen Jaffe here….I am often asked what is the difference in today’s backup solutions. There have been so many changes over the last 10 years. The two main systems that we sell at San Diego Computer Consulting is the Server Image Backup and the BDR Backup. Both backup systems have specific purposes and costs. The best backup solution depends on cost and value based on your business needs and requirements.
Server Image Backup
- Backups are typically nightly with some interval through the day.
- Quick to restore files (from external drive or web)
- Will typically take 24 hours to restore a server
- No extra hardware needed
As a majority, we sell Server Image backup. This solution is easy to implement, and we use it for most all of our customers servers. It is very economical and provides a daily backup of your Microsoft Windows Servers into a cloud, colocation facility. This type of backup is quick to restore files. However, if you need the whole server restored, it will take about 24 hours.
BDR Backup Mirror Image
- Backups are always occurring. Images are always being made
- Total Server can be restored from appliance/server on premise
- Server restore time is very quick
- A secondary server or Appliance is needed to mirror the backed up server
The BDR (Backup, Disaster, Recovery) Is a combination of a on-premise and cloud solution. The two backups work together ensuring that your server infrastructure can be restore very quickly and within minutes.
The BDR Backup is typically a little more expensive on the cloud backup. However, much of the expense come with the additional of a secondary server or appliance that is used to mirror the server.
Server Image Backup via Cloud —–Solution provided by Solar Winds.
San Diego Computer Consulting offers workstation and server backup via Solar Winds, Inc. backup services.
Solar Winds is a public company. Their backup is VERY RELIABLE. We have been using this backup solution for about 5 years. The backup services provided by Solar Winds is very comprehensive. We are able to backup entire Windows Servers and Workstations in full each night. The backup of data goes to a secure cloud data center in the United States.
Solar Winds Backup Solution is very customizable. We can set bandwidth parameters for backups during the day and into the night. We can throttle bandwidth during the business day and open the floodgate in the evening and weekend. The interface allows for many options.
With the Solar Winds Cloud backup, we are able to connect an external drive and use it as a speed vault. The Speed Vault drive allows us to restore data much more quickly and locally without depending on the data that is in the cloud.
Solar Winds Backup is reasonably priced and is very capable of restoring an entire server in full.
Backup includes:
- Full File Structure
- Active Directory
- Partitions
- User Profiles.
Backup, Disaster, Recovery (BDR)-Solution provided by Datto
The BDR (Backup Data Recovery) system is the most comprehensive backup system. This type of backup requires an appliance on site. Your servers are snapshotted to the appliance on a regular interval.
Backups provided by Datto can be restore immediately because the appliance has a full operational copy of your server at any moment. The Datto backup is designed for most any emergency situation. The Datto appliance is always ready to boot a backed-up server and go live. The appliance can be purchased from Datto direct. Though you now use your own server/appliance, Datto works best on its own platform.
Datto also provides a cloud option so that your servers are backed up locally to the BDR appliance. It is also is backed up to the Datto Cloud This option provides total disaster recovery solution. In case of a fire or any act of GOD this solution will always keep you safe having your servers backed up out of the area.
Datto Backups are very nice in that they provide and email with the snapshot of the stand-by virtual server. This is a excellent option as it shows a screen shot of the server that is ready to restore.
Immediate Features
- Full, Total image of your servers in real time
- Stand by restore of servers via the Datto appliance
- Off-Site Cloud Backup
