Managed Services: Virtual Machine Backup
Our Virtual Machine Backup managed service is designed for clients like you who desire a proactive approach to your backup strategy. Engaging Bluelock Client Support experts to manage your day-to-day backup operations allows your IT professionals to focus on higher priority or strategic objectives.
SERVICE DELIVERY
Our disk-to-disk-to-tape process backs up data to a disk for a defined period of time, after which it is moved to tape. This strategy can reduce the backup window and improve RTO.
Ongoing Data Protection
- Incremental backups are executed Saturday through Thursday
- A synthetic full backup is executed every Friday night
- Each full backup is written to tape on a Saturday/Sunday schedule and is subsequently sent to secure offsite storage the following Thursday
Tape Retention
- Weekly backup tapes kept offsite on a four week rotation
- A monthly backup is executed the first Friday of the month
- Monthly backups are kept for one year and are stored in a secure offsite location
Quality Control
Bluelock runs a daily report to check the completion status of all backups.
GETTING STARTED
- You initiate a service request
- Bluelock Client Support conducts an initial discovery discussion to understand your goals, requirements and budget
- Bluelock Client Support contacts your team to set up an installation date
- Bluelock Client Support configures and verifies that the backup service is scheduled for the appropriate virtual machines
- Regularly scheduled backups and monitoring are executed
SMART TECHNOLOGY
Continuous Protection
Completing frequent backups on a regular basis can mitigate the risk of significant downtime and data loss.
Low Overhead
Our backup service does not require any software agents to be installed on the virtual machines. This makes memory, CPU and storage space available for more important items.
Full & Incremental Backups
Backups of applications and data are performed using fast and efficient disk-to-disk technology. This allows the backups to be completed quickly, without performance issues.
Secure Storage
The disk-to-tape process begins 30 minutes after the full backup completes. While within the physical datacenter and not connected to the backup system, all tape media is stored in a hardened vault.
Offsite Archival
Once per week tapes are moved from the vault via secure courier to an offsite archival facility managed by Iron Mountain. As the data is written to tape for offsite archival, it is encrypted.
Recovery
Bluelock offers two recovery methods:
- Full Machine: Bluelock can restore a full virtual machine by overwriting the current production image and restoring the VM with an alternate name to preserve the original. Alternatively, Bluelock can restore the VM to disk as files.
- File Level: Bluelock can restore the necessary files to a drive and are provided via FTP.
Crash-Consistent Backup
Your operating system and applications are not interrupted or powered down when your backup occurs. Bluelock also suggests that databases are backed up with a secondary solution for further protection.
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE
- 24×7 emergency response
- Emergency virtual machine recovery
- Urgent backup snapshots
- Email and phone support access
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating Systems Supported: All Operating Systems supported by VMware vSphere 4.1 can be backed up and restored using this service.
Virtual Machine Backup managed service is an optional offering. If you elect to manage your own backup, Bluelock Virtual Datacenters are compatible with all leading backup software solutions.
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