Data backup is just like insurance. It’s one of those things you hate to pay for and hope you never need, but love it when its needed – in this case – to restore lost or corrupted data.
A couple years ago we deployed an all-new R1Soft Continuous Data Protection (CDP) backup and restore system for Linux and Windows environments. This flexible system is fairly complex, and I find myself explaining often how it works and why its features are so beneficial to clients. So, I’ll post it here for future reference.
Understanding the backup system:
All of our backup plans allocate a minimum 100GB of backup storage space. This 100GB is after up to 400% compression of your raw data, so it is possible to backup up to 400GB of raw data onto 100GB usable storage space. Compression ratios vary based on the type of data.
As the backup system copies disk blocks of data, backups can be limited to a specific disk partition, but not specific folders or files. However, specific files or folders can be restored individually, as needed. And while restores from us are always FREE, this system also allows for “bare-metal restore” to a new server in the event of a catastrophic loss of data.
All backup and restore data transfer is encrypted for security of your data and takes place over our Private Backend Network utilizing a second network interface in the server. This is to keep the data secure and so data transfer does not apply against your monthly allocation of Internet data transfer over the public interface.
The initial backup creates a complete “seed” of all data. We have set the backup system to a default number of three (3) recovery points (initial seed plus two incremental backups). As such, in addition to the initial seed, which is saved as the oldest recovery point…
• 2-weekly incrementals are retained with the weekly backup option
• 2-daily incrementals are retained with the daily backup option
• 2-hourly incrementals are retained with the hourly backup option
…plus the initial seed.
The number of recovery points can be adjusted based on space used and available once the initial seed plus two incremental backups have completed. This allows you to:
• maximize available backup storage space
• allocate space for additional, new data
• be assured you have as many recovery points as you desire
(The last point is the most important.)
If you have a need to backup more data, or want greater retention with more recovery points, additional 100GB blocks are available to meet those needs.
Be smart and protect your data with a very affordable backup service plan.
You’ll love it!
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Tags: backup, bare-metal restore, Private Backend Network, R1Soft CDP, restore
