Defining Frequency for Server Level Backups – Explained

If your company has grown and you’re no longer a small business, then you’ve reached the point where you need a business server. You save lots of files and data to this server every business day, which means you should be regularly backing it up. How often are server backups necessary?

Server-level backups should occur at least every 48 hours if not daily. If possible, it’s a good idea to prioritize server backups anytime you add, move, or delete large chunks of data from your server, even if you have to back up the server a few times in one day.

You may have more questions about your business server, and we’re here to answer them. Ahead, we’ll discuss business servers in more detail. Then we’ll delve deeper into how often to schedule server backups and who you can rely on for this work.

Understanding Business Servers

Let’s begin by defining business servers. A server refers to a computer that transports information to a network of related client computers. You can use the Internet to connect to the server or a local network such as a business network.

Servers don’t have to be a computer the size of a mountain. Any well-working office computer can be your server if it’s in the vicinity of the client computers. If anything, this solution is more financially viable for small businesses and startups. Not only can you save money using a computer already in your possession as a server, but you won’t need as much space to house a large server.

However, as your company grows, you must expect that your server needs will change. You’ll hire more employees, which means more client computers. A regular computer used as the server won’t suffice. You might have to use a larger device as the server or double up, maybe even triple up on the number of servers.

To determine how many servers are appropriate, consider the following factors.

Your Disc Space and Memory Needs

Your server must have the appropriate amount of disc space and memory to write, transport, and receive data from the client computers. If it doesn’t, then the communication between the server and the client computers stops, putting everyone’s work progress at a standstill.

The Server’s Data Processing Speed

Speaking of starting and stopping, you’ll expect reliable data processing speed from your server. If it drags along in sending and receiving information, then again that reflects in halted productivity from your staff.

Your Software Requirements

Think long-term about the software your company might need. If you expand your software requirements or take on a bevy of new types of software, is your server equipped to handle it? If not, then what kind of server would it take to support your software needs?

Expected Employee Growth

Although you can never predict it with 100 percent certainty, you need to have an idea of what level of company growth you might experience over the next several years. Then you should get a server with the capacity to handle it.

How Often Does Your Company Need Server Backups?

Equipping your office with a server that meets the needs of your business is only half the battle. Backing it up is the other half.

Yours is a storage server, which means it contains files and data such as photos, videos, documents, and more. When you save something to your client computer, it goes to the storage server.

Let’s set up a disaster scenario for you to show you the importance of server backups. You’re in the middle of a big project with a tight deadline. So far, everything is progressing swimmingly, yet if you experience any slowdowns, you won’t get the project done on time.

You come into work the next day and you can’t connect to your server. You’re not sure what it is, maybe an Internet issue? So you reset the Internet, but nothing. You decide to reset the Internet again just for good measure, but it still doesn’t help. Maybe it’s the client computer? You try several other computers, but none will connect to the server.

Maybe you were hacked or a technical issue occurred, but your server isn’t working. You call your IT team, and when they get the server on again, it’s wiped.. All your data is gone, possibly forever.

Backing up your computer can be a time-consuming process, and it’s something that people don’t do often enough. A 2018 survey from backup company Backblaze found some scary results when they asked their audience how often they backed up their computers.

Around 40 percent of respondents said never, 20 percent said annually, about 15 percent said once per year, and between five and 10 percent answered daily or weekly.

You and your team must follow a better server backup schedule. Just how often should you schedule backups? Try to get into the habit of doing this every day. If that’s too much for your company now, then schedule your server backup every 48 hours. Waiting once per week or once per month is too seldom.

Some companies will even do several server backups in one day. This is a good idea for your business if you’ve made major changes to the server today. For example, did you upload a large chunk of data? Maybe you moved a lot of files and it took hours. You could have even done a computer cleanup. Don’t lose all your hard work; back up the server!

The Importance of Finding Server Backup Pros You Can Trust

Daily server backups are a big responsibility. That’s true even of backing up your server every two days. The good news is that your company doesn’t personally have to take care of these backups.

With Dallas IT managed services, you can get a variety of servers backed up, from email servers to offsite servers. Hiring a professional IT team to take care of server backups is beneficial for the following reasons.

Consistent Server Backups

You were supposed to take care of your server backup today, then you got pulled into meetings all afternoon. By the time you were done with the meetings, the day was over so you went home. Then the next day you had to play catch-up for all the work you missed with yesterday’s meetings.

It’s a familiar story, right? Yet this kind of busy schedule means your server backups can fall by the wayside. Not so with the help of IT managed services. Your managed services provider, or MSP’s, job is to maintain your business servers. The MSP won’t get so busy that your server isn’t updated on the agreed-upon schedule.

This is one less task to worry about so your company can focus on progressing your business objectives and not who’s looking after your servers.

Expertise Your Company May Lack

Your company is certainly experts in the niche or industry you work in, as that’s how you’ve gotten to this point. Yet there are still always things you can afford to learn, such as how your business server works.

One mistake when transferring data to and from the server could lead to the accidental deletion of crucial content. Then you and your staff are left scrambling trying to get back what you lost. It’s much better to entrust services like these to the experts at your Dallas IT managed services company.

Included Disaster Recovery Services

Should worst come to worst and your server happen to be completely wiped, this doesn’t always mean your data is gone for good. Your MSP might also offer data recovery assistance. Although there are no promises, your MSP may be able to restore the data that was deleted or wiped due to server failure.

Conclusion

Server level backups should occur every 24 to 48 hours and in some cases several times per day depending on the extent of the data being sent or moved. A Dallas managed IT services company can take care of this task so more of your company time is freed up. You can even get disaster recovery services for peace of mind!