A backup strategy defines what we get to keep or lose when an unforeseen event occurs. In this blog series, I am going to focus on individual strategies for your disk backup, tape backup, and cloud backup. Each category can be run individually or used to complement the other. Depending on the size of your organization, you might decide to implement one or more. If you want to learn more about backup strategies and what they entail, click here. Without further ado, let’s dive in.
Disk is the most popular and simplest way to keep your data backups. You can backup to any type of disk, removable media, NAS or SAN devices, hardware dedupe appliances, you name it. Anything that is hard and can store data could be used. This type of backup provides the right balance between cost, complexity, speed, availability, recoverability, and retention. Does this mean that you can just buy a few hard drives in the computer shop across the street and toss your backup files in there? Well, that depends on how critical the data is for you. In this article, I am going to focus on the right way to backup to disk. I will only look at SME and enterprise solutions.
Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances are the cheapest on the market when it comes to $/TB in a consolidated device. They provide you with a very easy way to start, and most of the time can take on-the-shelf drives. They are very easy to set up and you could be up and running in minutes, literally.
There is a catch though. The typical ones do not always scale very well, meaning as your data keeps on growing you may have to keep buying more NAS devices, creating management silos that can rapidly become a nightmare. Another thing is they do not inherently provide any form of deduplication (the process of eliminating duplicate copies of repeating data on the disk), so every time you perform a backup, redundant data consumes additional space.
To solve the data redundancy problems associated with using traditional NAS, choose a backup software that will perform periodic deduplication of data at rest to ensure optimal space utilization. That said, this form of backup is the most popular and if your data is not that much and does not grow so fast, this could be the right fit for your organization.
I recommend you go with Veeam Backup and Replication, or Veritas Backup Exec for your backup software and lookup HPE StoreEasy (Scalable), QNAP or Synology devices for the NAS system.
Few organizations are ready to use their existing SAN (Storage Attached Network) devices as a backup repository. This practice, although not cost effective, is valid and could be the right fit for you. The advantage is that most SAN solutions are highly scalable, and some will even support compression and deduplication of data at rest.
I recommend you go with Veeam Backup and Replication, or Veritas Backup Exec for your backup software and lookup Dell EMC Unity, HPE MSA or 3PAR for the storage appliance. Your choice of drives should be NL-SAS drives (7.2k rpm) which will give you the best capacity $/TB rate.
This is the recommended option. This is simply because dedupe appliances are specifically built for this type of workload. These appliances provide hardware-based deduplication up to 60:1 ratio (this means that 60TB backup of redundant data would only consume 1TB on disk). Even further, you can optimize the bandwidth and time it takes to complete a backup job by leveraging source-based deduplication which provides an option for the system being backed up to only transfer data that does not already exist on the target backup appliance.
These appliances can also provide you with Virtual Tape Library (VTL) which emulates tape backup behavior on disk.
I recommend Dell EMC Data Domain and HPE StoreOnce. These are enterprise-grade, highly scalable and highly resilient. They provide source-based dedupe solutions such as Dell EMC DDBoost and HPE Catalyst as well as data-at-rest and in-flight encryption.
Backup to disk is the easiest way to store backups. You may look at it for the online backup and fast recoverability part of your strategy. Remember that deduplication is a key component since backup data is often redundant.
We provide free backup strategy discussions and budgeting. Our pre-sales engineers will help you prepare your backup strategy to meet business needs. To discuss this or other data management needs, call us on +233.54.431.5710 or write to sales@apotica.net.
Apotica, headquartered in Accra, Ghana brings together the best information and communications technologies to help clients grow, compete and serve their customers better.
Matilda, a Chartered Accountant, joined Apotica in May 2023. With over 12 years of experience in banking, insurance, pensions, accounting and finance, she is responsible for the company’s financial control, strategic planning, management reporting, and overall financial performance.
She holds a BSc degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Ghana Business School and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the same institution. Matilda is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana.
Matilda has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management at the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars around the world.
Peniel Korley is Head of Marketing for Apotica, designing and implementing comprehensive marketing strategies to create awareness of the company’s business activities.
Peniel joined Apotica in April 2019 and has helped build our market presence through an adept combination of traditional marketing and digital marketing techniques, executing and monitoring corporate promotion campaigns, and conducting market research to help us stay abreast of trends.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ghana and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Ghana Business School. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
As Head of Projects, Sylvester Kyeremeh is responsible for coordinating people and processes to ensure that our client projects are delivered on time and produce the desired results. He leads this function within the confines of our quality management and information security management systems.
Sylvester joined Apotica in 2017 as a Systems Engineer, before moving on to join our project management practice a year later. His calm and collected approach to interpersonal engagements, impressive sense of planning, and excellent communication skills continue to receive the plaudits of our customers.
Sylvester received his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s a Certified Information Systems Auditor, a Cisco-certified professional, an ISO 27001 Lead Implementer, and a member of the Project Management Institute with PMP and Scrum Master qualifications.
At 25, Millicent is currently the youngest head of department at Apotica, taking up this role in August 2020. She’s responsible for managing all aspects of risk to the organization, employees, clients, assets, reputation, and interests of stakeholders. Millicent also works with the leadership of the organization to embed and maintain a risk-aware culture in the organization.
Before joining Apotica, she worked as a broadcast journalist at Radio Universe – a popular media house in Accra. Millicent holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has attended the Executive Education course in Personal Leadership at the Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands.
She’s a Certified Governance, Risk, and Compliance Professional (GRCP) and a qualified ISO 9001 Lead Implementer.
Elom Kutsienyo is the Chief Technology Officer at Apotica. A technology enthusiast and Apple nerd, he is responsible for the development and maintenance of our excellent technical services capabilities and enabling our engineering teams to become adept at industry best practices relating to enterprise solutions design, deployments, and support.
Since taking up the CTO role in August 2019, he has strategically grown our product offerings through strong channel partnerships with leading ICT vendors. Elom’s extensive experience in product sales, project management, service delivery, and field engineering also helps as he oversees company webinars, product demos, proof-of-value activities, and technical proposals for clients.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Telecom Engineering from Ghana Technology University College and has attained several professional qualifications including the coveted Cisco CCIE certification as well as certifications from Microsoft, VMware, NetApp, HPE, and Nutanix.
Clifford leads the Customer Experience practice at Apotica which encompasses our consulting, technology, support, and learning services.
Prior to his position at Apotica, Clifford was the senior manager of IT Infrastructure at Stanbic, a leading commercial bank in Ghana. He has also previously held roles in field engineering, service delivery, and customer support at organizations including Huawei, IBM, Tech Mahindra, and Zenith Bank.
Clifford is PMP-certified and holds a Bachelor’s in Information Technology, as well as several industry certifications from Microsoft, VMware, and Amazon.
Dzigbodi Amekoudi oversees company business in Benin and the countries in French West Africa. As Country Manager, his primary responsibility is business development, which involves helping to define and introduce the right go-to-market strategies and making sure our business operates profitably in the territory. He’s also responsible for establishing operating budgets and managing company employees in his region.
During his tenure, Dzigbodi has led Apotica’s expansion into other countries including Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Mali, and Niger. Additionally, he works with our technical services leads to ensure successful post-sales delivery of customer projects.
Dzigbodi started his career in engineering and project management, before joining Apotica as a key accounts manager in January 2020.
He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Telecommunications from Ghana Technology University College and a Master of Science degree in International Management from Franklin University Switzerland. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
Emmanuel Nketia is responsible for managing all sales functions at Apotica and oversees other departments, including marketing, operations, and client renewals. An excellent salesman and negotiator, he brings with him 20 years of experience in logistics, accounting, business development, and customer relationship management.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and an MBA Marketing candidate at the University of Ghana Business School.
Emmanuel has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars in the USA.
At Apotica, we are on a mission to help clients grow and serve their customers better. As CEO, Felix Nkansah works closely with our Sales, Services, and Operations leadership to identify customer and industry transitions and determine our strategies to address them.
Felix joined Apotica in January 2017 and brings more than 18 years of experience across executive leadership, systems engineering, customer support, and sales functions with some regional conglomerates and information technology companies.
He has a background in computer science and holds expert-level professional certifications in networking, security, and systems design.