There is one principle that remains paramount amongst businesses and IT professionals, data protection. The 3-2-1 backup strategy provides a framework to ensure that your data retains its integrity and availability, whilst protecting against potential data loss.
What is the 3-2-1 backup method?
The 3-2-1 backup method consists of 3 primary principles:
- 3 Copies of Data: You should maintain at least 3 separate copies of your data, including two copies of your primary data.
- 2 Different Storage Media: Store these copies over at least two different types of storage (local disk drives, optical discs, cloud storage etc.)
- 1 Offsite Copy: This refers to the fact that one of these copies of your data should remain offsite.
Why the 3-2-1 backup method?
3 Copies of Data: Redundancy
Redundancy is a core tenant of data protection. Redundancy means having extra copies that may not be strictly necessary to function but are useful to have in case of failure. Having 3 copies of your data ensures that if one copy ends up lost or corrupted, you have 2 other copies available. Redundancy is your first line of defence against data loss that can arise from hardware failures, loss due to a virus, software issues and accidental deletion.
2 Different Storage Media: Offset Hardware Failure Risk
By storing data on two different storage media, different storage media types can include:
- Local & external hard drives
- Network Attached Storage (NAS)
- Cloud storage
- Optical discs
- Tape backups.
This helps protect against associated failures with certain hardware. For example, commonly used hard disk drives can be prone to hardware failure. But this hypothetical hardware failure would not affect another backup of your data that’s stored on an optical disc, or a copy that’s in the cloud (cloud data will likely be stored on hard drives also, but cloud providers will often do their own backups of your backups for redundancy purposes.)
1 Offsite Copy: Disaster Recovery
Offsite backups are essential for disaster recovery. In the event of a disaster happening on-site such as a fire, flood, theft etc., without an offsite backup, the chances are this data would be compromised. Keeping at least one copy of your data offsite protects your data from physical threats.
Implementing the 3-2-1 Backup Method
Step 1: Identify Critical Data
The first step in implementing the 3-2-1 backup method is to identify your critical data, as not all data is equal – so prioritising can help focus resources on your most valuable information. Examples of critical data can include:
- Customer data
- Financial records
- Business documents
- Software source code
- System configurations
Step 2: Primary and Secondary Backups
Once the critical data is identified, the next step here is to create primary and secondary backups. A primary backup will be often stored on-site, whilst the secondary backup will be stored on a different media type, usually offsite.
Primary backup options:
Local hard drives: Convenient, cheap and quick for regular backups.
Network Attached Storage (NAS): Offers centralized backup for multiple devices within an organisation.
Optical discs: Cheap, reliable and easy to store.
Secondary backup options:
Cloud storage: Provides easy access and scalability.
External hard drives: Portable and can be easily transported to an offsite location.
Step 3: Establish an Offsite Backup
As mentioned prior, the offsite backup is critical for disaster recovery.
Potential offsite options:
Cloud Services: Services like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Microsoft Azure provide robust solutions for offsite backups.
Physical Relocation: External hard drives or tape backups can be physically transported to a different location.
Best Practices for the 3-2-1 Backup Method
Regular Backup Schedule
Establishing a regular backup schedule is essential to ensure that your data is consistently backed up and up-to-date. Depending on the nature of the data, you can set the backup schedule to be daily, weekly, or monthly.
Automate Backups
You can go one step further and reduce the risk of human error by implementing automatic backups. There are many solutions on the market to automate backups with a wide variety of features.
Test Your Backups
Testing your backups to ensure that they are complete and can be restored is always a good idea, a backup is only as good as its ability to be restored successfully when needed. Regular testing can help identify potential issues before any critical problems arise, which could lead to data loss.
Encryption and Security
Making sure your backups are encrypted and secure is a great security practice, especially if your data is stored offsite or in the cloud. This will protect your data against unauthorised access and will ensure compliance with data protection requirements.
Documentation and Monitoring
Be sure to provide documentation for your backup processes, configurations and schedules. It’s handy for your own use, as well as if you need to pass on instructions/guides for how it all works to other trusted individuals. Monitoring tools are handy to track the status of your backups and can alert you to any issues that arise – ensuring backups go through without a hitch.
Benefits of the 3-2-1 Backup Method
Robust Protection Against Data Loss
The main benefit of the 3-2-1 backup method is that it provides robust protection against data loss. By maintaining multiple copies of your data across different storage mediums and location, you significantly minimise the risk of data loss.
Flexibility and Scalability
With the 3-2-1 method, you have a large amount of flexibility and scalability, making it suitable for organisations of all different sizes. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, the 3-2-1 method can be tailored to fit your specific needs and resources.
Cost-Effectiveness
Whilst the 3-2-1 backup method does involve the initial outlay of investing in storage and services, it becomes more cost-effective in the long run. Whatever the costs of maintaining backups, you can guarantee that the costs associated with data loss, including lost revenue, downtime and reputational damage will be far greater.
Common Challenges and Solutions
Data Growth
As the data you store grows, managing backups does become more challenging. Implementing compression technologies as well as data deduplication can help mitigate this, by optimising the current storage space you have which will in turn affect the size of your backups.
Managing Different Media
As denominated by the ‘2’ in 3-2-1, you need to use 2 different storage technologies, which comes with all the headaches that come with it such as ensuring compatibility as you move forward. Standardising the backup processes and using integrated backup solutions can help reduce complexity and streamline management.
Offsite Backup Latency and Speed
When transferring backups to an offsite location, specifically over the internet, this introduces latency and speed issues when it comes to the rate at which your data is backed up. Utilising high-speed internet connections (such as fibre) and incremental backups can help alleviate this issue.
Closing Thoughts
The 3-2-1 backup method still remains a key concept in the IT world for safeguarding data. Its simplicity and effectiveness make it a natural choice for organisations aiming to protect their critical data from various threats. By adhering to these principles, you can achieve a resilient and reliable backup system.
By investing in a robust backup strategy, you’re not only protecting yourself against data loss; you are ensuring business continuity, and maintaining trust with clients and stakeholders. The 3-2-1 backup method, with its use of redundancy, diversity, and geographical distribution, provides an effective, all-encompassing solution to modern data protection challenges. By implementing the 3-2-1 backup method, you’re taking a step towards securing your organisation’s most valuable asset: its data.
Now, More Importantly, How Can We Help?
Here at Edmondson’s IT Services, we are here to help businesses across West Yorkshire and beyond, to implement secure and reliable data backup solutions tailored for businesses of all sizes. We use the core principles of the 3-2-1 backup strategy to make sure that your data is fully protected from data loss and corruption. Our solutions will make sure that your data will be fully monitored so you can be certain your data is safe and always accessible in the event of an emergency.
Our services:
Server backups:
Whether it’s one physical server or hundreds of virtual servers that power your business, we can provide you with secure backups to keep your business safe. We provide on-site and off-site backups, as well as implement a full disaster recovery plan in case the worst should happen.
Microsoft 365 backup:
Microsoft 365 offer a range of robust security and backup features, to help keep you protected whilst you’re using your favourite apps. We’ve also taken it one step further to we've teamed up with Acronis to enhance your Microsoft 365 security even further. Acronis brings advanced anti-malware and anti-virus protection, safeguarding your Microsoft 365 and OneDrive data from cyber threats. This unique integration allows our expert team to quickly restore your data without any downtime.
File & folder:
There’s no doubt that your business will rely on files and folders to be shared between staff members daily. By partnering with Netgear, we offer a sophisticated file storage and backup solution using their ReadyNAS technology. Enabling businesses to share files easily, whilst knowing they’re fully backed up.
