Backups

Regular backups are an essential element of any IT system. In many companies backups are not implemented until after a disaster has occured and brought to light how much damage can be inflicted on a business which could have been easily reduced to a minimum had a basic backup system been in place.

The backup solutions included with Plexus are not 'basic' by any means. We have put a lot of work into developing our backup solution to suit our clients needs both from a disaster recovery point of view, and to cover day to day issues such as accidentally deleted files.

Since the requirements differ between the 'disaster recovery' and 'day to day' scenario's, we have actually implemented two backup solutions that operate in tandom.

Disaster Recovery

The ultimate goal of any backup solution is that it forms part of a disaster (eg. Crime, Flood, Fire, Severe Fault, etc) recovery plan that should be put into action should the unthinkable happen. This is also very often a requirement made by many insurance companies. The Plexus backup solution generally satisfies and exceeds backup requirements imposed by insurance companies.

The Disaster Recovery element of the system is designed to maintain an offsite copy of all your data. The data is stored in a secure facility within Manchester Science Park and is transmitted there using a secure communications link. This backup system does not have a 'frequency' where it backs up daily or weekly. The solution is often known as a Continous backup solution. Each time a file is added, modified or deleted within the network storage area; it is automatically added to the queue for the changes to be sent off-site. If the file is small then the offsite copy is likely to be updated within just a minute or two. For larger files, it may take a little longer for the file to be sent. The actual amount of time it takes for a file to transfer depends on the size of the file and the available bandwidth on the internet connection at your site.

This element of the system is closely monitored to ensure that an extended backlog does not develop. Should a disaster occur on the clients site, a replacement server can be installed and the off-site backup will automatically download once the secure link is up and running.

Local Backups

The local backup element of the system is to provide an easily accessible backup system to satisfy day to day backup needs. This system completes a backup every 2 hours throughout the working day (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday) of any files that were added or changed since the last backup.

Each user can then very easily access backups of their own files from their own workstation, without the need to speak to support. They can restore deleted files and browse through previous versions of any existing files that may have become damaged i in some way or accidentally overwritten. These backups are stored on the local site server for quick and easy access to the backup history. The system will keep a minimum backup history of 2 weeks.