In August 2023, Toyota Motor Corp. was forced to shut down more than a dozen manufacturing facilities in Japan due to a backup failure. The company said an error during server maintenance left insufficient disk space for its production order system. Backup servers replicated the error and could not be accessed. Toyota had to move the data to systems with greater capacity to resume operations.
Sadly, such backup failures are not uncommon — although few generate that much global attention. Industry analysts say many organizations experience backup failure rates of up to 20 percent. One recent survey found that more than half of organizations experience backup failures multiple times a year. Common reasons for failure include:
- Human error. Research finds that nearly 30 percent of failures stem from human error, often involving the inadvertent deletion of data or modifications of command line interfaces.
- Media failure. Although this was more common when tape was the primary backup medium, disk isn’t entirely reliable. A Carnegie Mellon University study found disk failure rates of up to 16 percent.
- Hardware failure. As with all mechanical devices, disk arrays, tape libraries and other backup hardware components have moving parts that wear out. For example, backup servers have a life expectancy of only about three to five years.
- Software updates. Operating system, application and policy updates can create incompatibilities with backup software.
- Cyberattacks. Ransomware and other types of malware commonly move laterally throughout the IT environment, infecting any backup systems attached to the network.
The Managed Backup Alternative
These issues are particularly vexing for small to midsize enterprises (SMEs) with limited IT budgets and staff resources. With data increasingly distributed across multiple cloud platforms, branch offices and remote users’ endpoint devices, backup processes have become so complicated and time-consuming that many SMEs back up their data infrequently, if at all.
Cloud-based Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) has grown in response to these challenges. However, BaaS can introduce complexity in some areas. For example, bandwidth consumption during cloud backups can sometimes impact application performance. Additionally, recovering data in the cloud can be slow, leading to extended downtime.
A managed backup service can be a much better option. In this approach, a qualified managed services provider (MSP) takes responsibility for backup, ensuring optimal data protection. Managed backups also allow you to optimize costs and offload administrative burdens. The MSP can help you implement the 3-2-1 backup model, with three copies of data on two different media with one copy stored offsite. The cloud can serve as an offsite copy, while onsite backup appliances enable rapid recovery of accidentally deleted files.
Benefits of Managed Backup
MSPs are staffed with experts who are deeply familiar with the latest backup technologies. They also have disciplined processes for handling day-to-day administrative tasks. In addition, an MSP will test backups frequently to ensure that they are working properly and your data is protected. The MSP will also ensure that your data can be recovered quickly in the event of a system failure, cyberattack or other business disruption.
A managed backup approach can be especially useful for companies that have remote workers with critical data on laptops, mobile devices and home computers. Lightweight software agents installed on these devices can interface with backup systems to ensure that remote data is protected and recoverable.
The consequences of data loss are well understood, but backup failures remain an all-too-common occurrence. Verteks can help you eliminate much of the uncertainty surrounding data protection with our managed backup offering. We’d welcome the opportunity to demonstrate how we can help you protect your critical data, systems and applications.
