Cloud Backup Solutions for Small Businesses: What is Microsoft Azure

The majority of us are familiar with the topic of Backup and Recovery.  It is a hot topic in the prevention of total data loss for any organization, as well as providing a level of assurance that if your network was attacked by one of the copious types of Ransomware out there, we could restore your data without having to pay the perpetrator.  Of course, it requires near continuous reporting, monitoring, and recovery testing to provide any level of comfort.  It is why Microsoft Azure is being considered a solid solution to streamlining the process, primarily for businesses who use Microsoft Windows products.

A Complete Solution: Simply put, Azure Backup Service is a fast and cost-effective way to have disaster recovery protection for your organization.  After initial service setup, the only requirement is to review status reports and have regular testing of your restores conducted, both of which should already be a part of any solid backup regimen.  Azure Backup Service also eliminates the concern over filling up tapes or reaching backup storage quotas with essentially automated and unlimited offsite cloud storage.

Multi-Layer Protection: There are two components to the Azure Backup solution.  The first is a free software installed on-site called Microsoft Azure Backup Server, which is essentially a local backup “vault” that provides fast on-site backup and restores.  This software links to the Azure Backup Service to replicate a copy of your vault backup to the cloud for additional redundancy and protection.  This approach offers multi-layer protection, the first line of defense being locally backed up data using Microsoft’s free backup server software, while the virtually unlimited storage offered through the cloud delivers piece of mind with secure replications of your data.

Final Thoughts: Maximizing Azure Backup Service and Azure Backup Server software brings together a simple approach to a complex necessity for any business.  The days of building complex redundancy and recovery plans can be easily alleviated using this product.  It is important to note storage and power on your server is required in order to build the on-site vault backups which are later replicated in the cloud.  However, the level of protection, long-term return on investment, and ability to utilize an enterprise level product at mere pennies on the dollar to the competition is an easy choice.  To learn more on how the Azure products could improve the way you are doing backups contact us!