Businesses use a whole host of different technology on a daily basis – from hardware to software, computers and printers through to databases and websites, all of this tech has a place in the modern working environment. But while technology has so many uses in terms of businesses, that’s not to say it’s perfect. Like anything, IT infrastructure and services can easily break down.
Unfortunately, faults can happen at any moment, and they can end up being disastrous for companies. For example, if you’re an online-based retailer and suffer an outage that shuts down your e-commerce website, then you can end up losing orders and customers. And if you’re working on an important document and your computer breaks down, you can lose vital work.
This is where disaster recovery (DR) becomes essential. With DR policies and solutions in place, you can get your systems back up and running following minor technical hitches, or indeed major disasters such as a fire or earthquake. But which are the best tools to protect your vital company assets? Read on and find out…
When it comes to software, Microsoft is a veritable titan, and it offers a disaster recovery solution for enterprises. The Azure Site Recovery platform boasts automated protection and disaster recovery in the cloud.
The software automatically replicates your IT environment based on policies you set beforehand, and will suit larger firms well. It can protect Hyper-V, VMware and physical servers, and you can also use Microsoft Azure or a secondary data centre for your recovery site.
Azure Site Recovery fully integrates with System Center and SQL Server AlwaysOn. All communication made within Azure is encrypted, and you can also develop sophisticated recovery plans within the Azure portal.
Zerto’s Virtual Replication aims to protect your data and IT assets. This hypervisor-based replication package has been created to help companies simplify disaster recovery and reduce storage costs.
This is the only disaster recovery solution on the market that provides orchestration and automation of the whole recovery process, and it does this regardless of the storage or hypervisor you use.
Like Microsoft’s offering, the Zerto product comes with some useful integrations. It’ll work with VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and Amazon AWS out of the box. The solution will protect multi-TB SQL, Exchange, Oracle and file server VMs, and you can transfer workloads and assets between public, private and hybrid clouds.
Zetta Disaster Recovery is a DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) offering which has been built to offer the sort of performance and security an enterprise requires, boasting swift ‘push-button’ recovery. The solution replicates your network in the cloud, and you’re provided with VPN access to your recovered environment (at no additional expense).
If your business was hit by an outage, you’d still be able to access applications such as email, SQL and business productivity software. There are built-in security protocols and data encryption here, too, so you don’t have to worry about information getting into the wrong hands.
Carbonite Server Backup, as the name suggests, will let you recover files and entire systems with the click of a button. The great thing about this solution is that it’s so flexible. You have the option to backup anything from a file to a whole business application, either locally or to the cloud – or indeed both. Carbonite can protect system state, OS, applications, files and settings in one pass.
There’s also the ability to restore to existing or new hardware, without the need to install additional software. Using the system, you can create custom backup policies taking into account group, role and device. All this is stored within a central hub, which is handy if you want a more streamlined recovery operation.
It always pays to have a ‘plan B’, and in this case, you literally can. Plan B is a specialist disaster recovery service that’s been tested to application level for instant recoveries. The software will identify outages that hit your business and give you full access to your systems while repairs are made.
Unlike other DR services, your files and systems aren’t only backed up, but you also get access to specialist engineers who can provide all manner of tech support and help. Obviously that’s quite a bonus if you struggle with complex technology like disaster recovery.
The solution creates a snapshot of your data and systems, and they’re instantly turned into virtual environments so you can get work done in the moment(s) of crisis. Your replica systems are tested every day for flaws, and you’re provided with secure VPN access.
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