Learn More About Server Backup Software
What is Server Backup Software?
As businesses go digital and build their digital presence, they increasingly rely on servers as a key part of daily function. Servers are, in essence, computers with massive storage and processing power that centralize data or computing resources. Businesses use servers to consolidate key data and information for both access and security reasons.
Imagine, though, that a business’ server—or one of their servers—crashes. A hard drive might fail. The entire stack could lose power. Worse, the server might get subjected to a power surge and fry the hardware. If that data wasn’t duplicated somewhere, it could be lost permanently, which could mean serious issues for the business.
Server backup tools are specifically designed for these situations. These solutions can back up all data and files that sit on a server, and some can even be used to directly restore that data to the server after an issue is resolved. At minimum, server backup solutions act as a safety net for businesses, giving them recovery options for their data after an issue occurs. Backups can be kept on a different server on premises or remotely; just don’t keep them on the same server you’re backing up.
Key Benefits of Server Backup Software
- Copy and save key data
- Manage backup scheduling at different levels
- Scale with data requirements
Why Use Server Backup Software?
Have you ever worked on a project on your computer for hours, just to have the program or your computer crash and lose everything? Imagine that happening, but instead of just with that one project, it was with all of your business data.
Server backup—like any other kind of backup—is not valuable for when everything is working normally but, instead, for when something goes wrong. Server backup solutions help to ensure that even when your storage location fails, there’s another location that still has all the data you need. How much of that data is retained depends on how your backups are scheduled. There are valid arguments for making your backups incremental vs. differential, as well as for how often you choose to back your server up. Generally though, the more data you have, and the more important that data is, the more beneficial it is to back up your server as often as possible.
It’s important to note that server backups are different from server replication. Server replication is often constant and live, and can replicate to several servers simultaneously. Server backup, on the other hand, is typically scheduled, run manually or automatically, and goes to one place. Server replication is also built to be an immediate failover, whereas server backup software focuses more on recovering what might have been lost.
Given the benefits, let’s look at why businesses specifically use server backup tools.
Capacity — Other kinds of backup software aren’t built to handle the same volume of data as server backup software. Servers can potentially store hundreds of terabytes (hundreds of thousands of gigabytes) of data, while standard backup solutions cannot.
Peace of mind — It can be incredibly reassuring knowing your key business data is protected. Server backups are essentially a second copy of your servers, which means that as long as the server data was backed up, any of it can be recovered. Plus, with some server backup solutions capable of tracking the history of your backups, you may be able to recover your data to certain historical points beyond the most recent backup, just in case there was data in the most recent backup that is incorrect or could be problematic.
One important thing to note though, especially with server backups: Be aware of whose responsibility it is for the backups themselves. With a cloud backup where your business doesn’t own the server, the onus of responsibility will be on the backup server owner. However, if backing up to another one of your business’ own servers, the responsibility for your server backups is completely in your hands.
Who Uses Server Backup Software?
Any business with a server should be using server backup software for their data. That said, typically, server administrators will be the only ones interacting with the server backup software itself. Verifying server health is part of their daily workflow, and backing up server data is part of that process.
For especially large or complex companies, however, there may be a few more teams or people that would interact with server backup solutions. Some companies have dedicated data teams that might take the backup responsibility off the hands of server administrators as a part of their responsibility to the company’s data. It’s also possible that security teams might be involved with server backup solutions to safeguard the data being duplicated.
Kinds of Server Backup Software
The following are some ways that server backup software distinguish themselves from other solutions.
Free vs. paid — When dealing with server backup software, free backup software can be limited in functionality compared to its paid counterparts, or it might have more limitations around data handling than paid versions. Also, free versions of server backup solutions might be great for giving the software a try, but free versions often gate either the functionality or the data volume the software has available. If looking into a free server backup solution, be sure that it has the capabilities your business requires. Otherwise, look into paid options.
Local vs. cloud vs. hybrid — Server backup solutions are generally built for backing servers up to one of three places: a local server, a cloud server, or some combination thereof. Solutions focusing on one particular option—local or cloud—have been popular in the past, but it’s likely in the future that more products allow the option to back your server up to a mix of the two, as there can be value in balancing cloud and local resources. Some products already offer this functionality through their backup location selection.
Open-source vs. proprietary — Unlike proprietary server backup solutions, open-source server backup software can be modified at the code level to change the functionality of the solution. Open-source software can be stronger from a customization standpoint, but it may struggle in base functionality because it’s generally less expensive or free as compared to its proprietary counterparts. Be sure, if opting for an-open source solution, that any changes you might make don’t alter the security parameters of the solution as well. It would be worth consulting with your data security team when making code changes to the solution to make sure it doesn’t leave your data vulnerable to attacks or leaks.
Server Backup Software Features
While not an exhaustive list, the following are the features you will typically find in server backup software.
Diverse file type coverage — Server backup solutions should not exclude data from backup based on file type. Critical data can be a variety of types—documents, spreadsheets, and more—and an effective server backup solution can handle copying any file type.
Backup location determination — An important aspect of any backup is making sure your data will be preserved somewhere that best fits your company’s needs and security standards. Server backup solutions should allow your company to select their most suitable backup location.
Scheduling and automation — Manual backup can be nice in a pinch, but forgetting to run a backup can make a huge difference in the amount of critical data that is lost in a server failure. With scheduling and automation features, server backup solutions allow you to run your server backups automatically, whenever you need them.
Backup management — Server backup software should allow your business to manage the backups that have been made. While the software may not allow holding backups beyond a certain point, your business should still be able to manage any recent backups, either as reference points or to remove.
Partition selection — Partitions—isolated segmentations within a hard drive that can be independently managed—can be valuable assets for businesses. They help ensure that certain information or data can be separated from the rest to prevent corruption or other issues. Server backup solutions must be capable of handling backing up each distinct partition from a drive so that important data is not lost in a failure.
Data compression — As previously mentioned, servers can store huge quantities of data. Compressing that data while backing up your servers can help reduce the amount of storage space needed for the backup itself, which can potentially save your business money.
Backup type selection — Full backups are often time-consuming, which makes them impractical to run regularly. Server backup solutions should offer the capability to run both differential and incremental backups as ways to keep your data duplicated and safe, without needing numerous hours to run a full-out backup.
Scaling — Some businesses have more server data than others, and regardless of business size, the volume of data your servers have can change rapidly. Server backup solutions should scale with your data needs to ensure your data is always backed up.
Potential Issues with Server Backup Software
Security and encryption — Few server backup solutions come with active security features. When using a server backup software, be sure to work with your data security team to lock down your data backups as much—or more—than the server itself. You don’t want to leave your business’ data vulnerable and up for the taking.
Support — This issue may present itself more with free or open-source tools. When something goes wrong with a software product itself, it’s helpful to be able to reach out to a company’s support team for assistance. Many free or open-source products don’t offer the same kind of support structure as proprietary, paid solutions. Your business may end up consulting open forums of existing users for free or open-source solutions, whereas with proprietary, paid solutions, you’ll likely be consulting with a member of that software company’s support staff.
