Backup: Four questions to ask your IT admin

Data is the real capital of every company. If they are – for whatever reason – not available or even damaged, there is a threat of painful losses due to downtimes, error-prone and costly reconstructions as well as image damage. In addition, there are liability risks for managing directors as well as contractual penalties. In many cases, even the business operation itself is at risk and this can even mean the end for a company.

A backup is therefore mandatory for companies of all sizes: With it, they „conserve“ the current state of the information to be able to restore it in an emergency. The aspect of time plays the central role here. On the one hand, the time intervals between backups must be defined, and on the other hand, it must be determined how long it may take to restore the data in an emergency. However, it is not enough just to use an appropriate backup solution. It is important to test whether the backup files are also readable. Only those who check this regularly are on the safe side and prepared for emergencies

We have put together four questions for you to ask your IT admin on the subject of "backup" (the questionnaire is available for download below):

1. Do we create backups of our data?

Backups are not technical bells and whistles! If, for example, during an audit by the tax office, the required digital documents are not available in an audit-proof manner, the managing director is personally liable with his private assets if the tax office makes a large estimate. Contractual penalties are also not uncommon if data cannot be transmitted without gaps upon request.

2. At what intervals do we perform our backups?

To what extent can you tolerate a loss of data without affecting the continuity of business operations? This depends on the frequency of the backups, also called Recovery Point Objective (RPO). You are free to choose whether this should be weekly or hourly. The following applies: The restored data is only as up-to-date as it was during the last backup process. If a backup is only carried out once a week, the data of an entire working week is at stake. For example, in the IT industry, there is usually 24 hours between file backups.

3. How long does it take to get our data back in an emergency?

In addition, it also takes time to restore the last backed up system state – the „Recovery Time Objective“ (RTO). The duration depends in particular on the performance of the data storage. Therefore, determine how much you want to invest in the resumption of IT operations and match the hardware components of your backup solution to it.

4. Have we ever tested whether the backup works in an emergency?

Subject the solution to a field test. Often companies only discover that the backup data is unreadable in an emergency. Regular testing ensures that business operations can resume quickly in the event of an emergency.

Langmeier Backup & Data Protection for Business

Langmeier Backup 8.1 creates consistent Windows data backups on the fly. In addition to the classic file backup, the software also creates bootable images (files/images of the PC) and thus backs up complete operating systems. If the computer is infected by a virus or has software problems, the system is quickly restored and brought back into sync with a bootable emergency medium – such as a hard disk or USB stick –. With just a few mouse clicks, the program also backs up contact data, e-mails and Internet favorites. Even active databases can be easily backed up with Langmeier Backup.

Langmeier backup software at a glance

• Langmeier Backup 8 Business meets business data security requirementswith selectable encryption level, backup logs via email and backup data to compressed zip archives or tape drives.
   
• Langmeier Backup 8 Server realizes the most diverse data backup concepts on clients as well as on servers and enables a fast disaster recovery thanks to createable and bootable emergency media. With its high level of functionality and scalability, the solution is suitable for companies of any size.
   
• Langmeier Backup V-flex unites data backup, replication, recovery and disaster recovery for virtual environments in one solution. Langmeier Backup backs up any number of virtual servers.