How Effective is Your Backup Database?

Your backup database may be the only thing that stands between success for your business and utter failure. Business environments today will not and cannot tolerate any delays in the supply of goods and services and a failure of a database can lead to inevitable delays in the supply of these. The integrity and availability of data becomes especially important where transactions are being processed, such as at organisations which play host to financial databases, such as those used by credit card companies.

A backup database can be built using a variety of different approaches. These various approaches include withdrawing the ‘write’ option while the database is being backed up, or using read only ‘snapshot’ technology which allows the database to continue being used while the backup takes place. This technology is especially useful in applications where the database needs to be in use constantly.

A reliable backup database is especially important in South Africa due to a variety of environmental and business conditions. Firstly on the Highveld business is subjected to fierce electrical storms which can potentially damage even the most well protected data. Most businesses will have extremely effective power surge protectors installed, however in the event of a direct lightening strike on a data storage facility, even this protection can be overwhelmed.

The second potentially problematic challenge is that posed by South Africa’s electricity provider Eskom. In past years blackouts, brownouts and other interruptions or disruptions of the electrical supply have taken place on a regular basis. The nature of the electrical supply in the country means that there is a constant threat of damage to data from surges and other electrical anomalies, hence the need for a backup database.

If you want the most professional advice on how to build a backup database then contact us.