So you’ve decided to invest in a backup solution
You’ve crossed the “Why backup?” bridge. Given the rise in cybersecurity incidents and the increased security vulnerabilities of a remote workforce, it’s a smart decision to protect your business-critical data. As you zone in on your backup solution, let’s understand the types of backup based on two key aspects of backup – how and where data is backed up.
Here we will discuss:
Types of backup based on how data is backed up
There are three common ways that data is backed up:
Full data backup
As the name indicates, this is a complete clone of all the data that you have selected to be backed up. This includes files, folders, applications, and data.
Pros: Backs up ALL your data
Cons: Takes time to backup/restore and storage space
Incremental data backup
This type only backs up the changes to data since the last backup (of any type). Incremental backups are faster, and consume less storage space. However, as only the changes since the last full backup are stored, the recovery takes longer as the full backup has to be restored first, followed by restoring the delta changes. Typically daily incremental backups have low API utilization, as the number of API calls are based on the number of incremental changes on any given day.
Pros: Faster backup and less storage space
Cons: Recovery can be time-consuming
Differential data backup
The differential backup also copies all the changes made, but only since the last full backup.
Pros: Easier recovery than an incremental backup.
Cons: The space consumed by the backup steadily increases
Types of backup based on where the data is backed up
Here there are two main locations offered by third-party tools: on-premises (cloud/local storage) or SaaS backup which is typically on the cloud.
On-premises backup
With an on-premises type of backup you can use your existing storage. However, any perceived cost savings are negated by hardware, support, customization, and training costs. Moreover, the onus of the backup servers – installing, securing, updating, and maintaining them, and fixing backup/recovery errors – lies with you. Thus further overloading your IT admin teams. All the cost benefits that made you move to the cloud such as saving on infrastructure costs, outsourcing maintenance, scaling effortlessly – are nullified if your backup is on-premise.
With on-premises backup, the end-to-end penetration testing of the hardware infrastructure and the software is owned by the customer. Miss one Intel security patch or if an employee clicks on a phishing link and your backup, and consequently your data is compromised. Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigation Report found that 22% of breaches involved cloud assets and on-premises assets were in 71% of reported incidents.
SaaS backup
With this type of backup, data is stored on leading third-party cloud systems that are stringently secure and in a location of your choice. A dedicated team typically monitors the health of your data and servers. Considering that you have selected a secure backup provider, cloud backups would be the optimal data protection choice – low maintenance, out-of-the-box installation, zero storage costs, error-free recoverability, and free customer support.
Here is an in-depth comparative analysis of SaaS backup and on-premises backup based on objective data points from the IT Manager/Admin’s point of view.
How and where does CloudAlly back up your data?
Based on cost, security, and performance benefits, our “type of backup” is incremental and SaaS-based. CloudAlly’s solutions back up data using automated incremental backup once a day (that can be increased based on your preference). These are the advantages of our incremental SaaS backup:
- As with every incremental backup we only store the delta changes, backups are faster. It also helps us to index the data better leading to faster granular or point-in-time item-level recovery.
- As our backups are stored on high-performance Amazon S3 storage, we subvert the slow recovery typically associated with traditional incremental backup.
- Our backup and recovery workflows are also designed to limit API calls thus improving backup scalability and enhancing security.
- Incremental backups, lastly, but surely not the least, reduce storage space leading to cost savings.
- We backup your data on stringently secure Amazon S3 secure storage with AES 256 bit encryption at-rest and in-transit.
- With a 99.99% SLA, we take the full onus of all backup server issues including upgrades and patch updates.
- Our SaaS backup includes unlimited storage and unlimited retention. Thus you save the hassle and cost of continuously expanding storage expenses to add servers and load balancers to have enough space to backup all your data.
- Tier 1 365x24x7 customer support from our team of backup experts ensures that we’re always there to resolve any backup/restore challenges.
Our backup suite has solutions for all SaaS platforms – Microsoft 365, Sharepoint/OneDrive, Suite (Google Apps), Salesforce, Dropbox, and Box. The backup comprehensively includes all their sub-solutions, accounts, metadata, folders, and files. Your business-critical SaaS data requires comprehensive protection without worrying about storage, backup errors, and patchy recovery. Start a free CloudAlly trial and experience the best kind of backup – one that comes with peace of mind.
