Reliable Disk Base Backup Solution

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

In an effort to enable remote backups and make the process more efficient, Hide-Away Storage replaced its tape solution with a disk-based data protection strategy from Kaseya, leveraging a new Backup and Disaster Recovery (BU/DR) module in its existing IT automation solution. By integrating remote disk backups with the Kaseya management framework, administrators have the ability to monitor, maintain, update, secure and now back up any server or workstation from a single, Web-based management console.

This integrated and proactive approach to IT management ensures that Hide-Away Storage is able to protect all corporate and customer data—regardless of where the data resides, even on the edge of the network. As a result of the more reliable backup strategy, the company’s point of sale application and the secure gateway that regulates traffic in and out of its facilities are available 24x7.

"The Kaseya backup solution is not only more reliable, more efficient and easier to manage than our old tape backup system, but it’s safe to say that we wouldn’t have been able to protect all of the customer data out on the edge of the network. "The Kaseya BU/DR module is provided through a strategic partnership with Acronis. The company’s Acronis True Image family of disk-based backup solutions leverages powerful incremental and compression technology to reduce the physical amount of data backed up each night, easing bandwidth requirements and dramatically shorting the backup cycle. The low-footprint agent backs up six Intel-based servers in the Sarasota data center as well as 10 workstations deployed in the company’s remote facilities.

These workstations provide reliable access to vital customer data stored centrally in the data center and operate the local gateway system that regulates traffic in and out of the facility. Williams also uses the backup module to conduct Exchange backups, folder backups of corporate files (human resources, accounting, accounts payable , etc. ) and backups of executive laptops. "The key to a successful backup and disaster recovery plan is being able to restore the backup to any hardware, be it physical or virtual, " said Stephen Lawton, senior director of strategic marketing at Acronis. "The Kaseya BU/DR module, which incorporates Acronis Universal Restore, ensures that Hide-Away Storage’s data can be moved, managed and maintained on any server, even dissimilar hardware, should the need arise, providing the bare minimum of downtime. "

As a result of the compression technology and incremental strategy, the Hide-Away Storage corporate network—consisting of 5TBs of storage—is backed up each night in less than two hours and can be restored to any snapshot in time. Kaseya then migrates the data each week to an off-site disaster recovery facility to protect the company from a loss of its data center or regional disaster.

"The integrated Kaseya IT automation framework enables us to implement a preventative, proactive IT management strategy throughout our environment, "Williams said. "Our old tape backup solution was indicative of an out-dated break-fix model that was inefficient, didn’t provide the level of service we needed and really limited the impact IT had on the business. "

The more efficient and reliable Kaseya backup solution gives Hide-Away Storage the ability to protect all corporate and customer data—a major upgrade over its previous limited data protection strategy. If a system goes down or data needs to be recovered, an administrator can conduct a bare metal restore of any server or executive laptop, rebuilding the system from the operating system and applications to installed drivers and network settings in less than an hour.

"Employees who twiddle their thumbs are not productive employees, so we need to make sure that IT does everything in our power to ensure access to business tools and reliable customer data, "Williams said. "Kaseya allows us to recover downed systems quickly and extend the same robust data protection and IT management services that our corporate

offices enjoy to the remote facilities. "

As a result, customers have reliable access to their storage units—regardless of the time of the day or week—and can conduct business with the local facility manager, including

renting a new unit, extending a contract or paying their bill. On the operations side, Kaseya

makes the IT staff much more efficient, helping to streamline IT maintenance and eliminate

much of the repetition associated with administration. Kaseya’s alerting features enable a

more automatic and hands-off management strategy, providing transparency throughout

the distributed environment and acting as the eyes and ears of the IT staff.

The efficiencies of the Kaseya solution are so great that Hide-Away Storage is able to out-source its IT operations to other local businesses, helping to diversify the business and bring in additional revenue. Recently one of these clients suffered an outage of a server running AutoCAD. Through the Kaseya BU/DR module, Williams was able to use the bare metal Universal Restore feature to reboot the server software on a workstation—a temporary

solution that got employees back up and running quickly. Restoring to the workstation,

setting up a new licensing file to activate AutoCAD, configuring the Exchange Mail Server,

along with the network took only a few hours. Williams was then able to do a bare metal

restore on a new server when it arrived several days later—again, in a few hours over the

weekend with little impact on business continuity or employee productivity.

Key Benefits

• Incremental backups are completed every night with full backups conducted eekly, ensuring that all data is fully protected and can be recovered

• Fast recoveries and remote bare metal restore capability reduces downtime associated with system outages, improving application availability

• Proactive IT management strategy provides consistent service levels throughout the organization while automating maintenance

• Disk-based backups are more reliable and more cost-efficient, reducing hands-on administration and eliminating tape expenditures

• The efficiencies of the Kaseya solution enable Hide-Away to outsource its IT operations to other local businesses, bringing in additional revenue

About Kaseya

Kaseya is a global provider of IT automation software for IT Solution Providers and Public and Private Sector IT organizations. Kaseya’s IT Automation Framework allows IT Professionals to proactively monitor, manage and maintain distributed IT infrastructure remotely, easily and efficiently with one integrated Web based platform. Kaseya’s technology is licensed on over three million machines worldwide.

"Kaseya allows us to recover downed systems quickly and extend the same robust data protection and IT management services that our corporate offices enjoy to the remote facilities. "

--ToddWilliams, network administrator, Hide-Away Storage

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