If you work in a mid-size business you know the risks associated with an IT disaster. Problems such as server failure, a power cut or a fire can prevent access to your IT system for hours or even days. By the time the system is back up and running, you may have lost commercial data and the goodwill of your customers.
This is why many businesses opt for an IT disaster recovery (DR) plan. When your system crashes, you put the plan into action and recover your IT network. But if your business is unlucky enough to experience a disaster, the recovery process must provide what you need. The following example proves the point.
Ground Control
Ground Control is a landscape design and construction company. It relies on IT to help manage its grounds maintenance operations across theUK. IT continuity is therefore critical, but the company’s DR process wasn’t always up to the job.
Ground Control originally used Symantec-based tape backup for the data on its four servers. The company did not have specific server recovery technology in place.
Ground Control’s Microsoft Exchange server crashed frequently, disrupting the company’s operations. To restore the SQL server data and email records from the backup tape could take half a day or more.
On one occasion, the server crashed and was out of action for two days. The event was particularly frustrating because Ground Control was enjoying a period of business growth. The server’s failure put this growth at risk. As a result, the company decided to take remedial action.
Off-site cloud disaster recovery
Ground Control has now replaced its servers and installed upgraded software, databases and applications. Because it was unhappy with the previous on-site tape backup, it has also opted for off-site cloud DR.
To provide this, Ground Control chose Plan B, the specialist DR experts. By giving Ground Control a device to embed in its hardware, Plan B is able to back up the new servers and upload snapshot images of them overnight. This suits Ground Control’s working practices. The company has just four ADSL lines and doesn’t want to clog these by uploading data to the cloud during the day.
Furthermore, Plan B provides Ground Control with proactive monitoring of its servers. A daily report gives details of any problems and looks at application failures and replication issues. With this information to hand, Ground Control can ensure critical services such as domain controllers and DNS run smoothly.
Effective disaster recovery
Ground Control has also seen first-hand how Plan B copes with disaster. A server crashed, so Ground Control notified Plan B. Within 20 minutes, Ground Control had an image of the server from the Plan B data centre. Ground Control used this image to maintain its IT service until it was able to re-build the in-house server.
Contact Plan B
You need a disaster recovery solution to restore your IT quickly and simply. You also need this solution to give you great value for money. To discuss these and other benefits of cloud disaster recovery, contact Plan B now and ask for your free 30-day trial.
