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There are a myriad of software options out there to back up Exchange and any other type of database.

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Of course the correct answer is to prevent Exchange from failing in the first place. You could cluster servers or use a fail-over system. But if you budget doesn’t stretch that far, then you need a restore solution. I say ‘restore’ because anyone can backup, all we are interested in is restoring, right?

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So now you go and buy a tape drive, tapes and backup software. This lot could easily cost you £2K for a typical small business solution.

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Or.. You could use our FREE software (which doesn’t require any hardware) and you backup to our N+1 data centres in the UK. All you pay for is the data you backup to us.

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This is how we do it for you.

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1. We remote onto your server and install our software for you.

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2. We set up the Exchange backup on the mailstore and the mailboxes.

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>The mailstore backup is a full backup designed for full disaster recovery situations and contains not only your emails, but also your Exchange configuration such as distribution lists and auto attendants.

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>The mailbox backup is more of a day-to-day backup and allows you to quickly restore single emails in a few mouse clicks.

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3. We perform a test restore.

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4. We configure the backup schedules and retention periods to suit your business requirements. We can backup Exchange once a day or once every 5 minutes if you prefer.

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Future backups will only backup the modified data you have created, which keeps your costs down and restore times as fast as possible.

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Now that’s sorted you can relax knowing you never have to change a tape again or worry about your Exchange backups. Now you can spend that £2K on something useful!

Bare metal restore support was embedded into Microsoft’s release of Windows 2008. The tool used is called ‘WBAdmin’ and works from the command line.

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In our experience it takes a bit of practice to restore perfectly and it’s also important to find a suitable disk (we had issues with some USB disks). One of the bugs we found is posted here https://www.openticket.eu/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=5

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Once running and tested it gives great peace-of-mind to the Sys Admin. Imagine being able to restore a failed server with Exchange and SQL in a few hours. If you had to install from scratch and restore from tape that could take even the most experienced Sys Admin up to 24 hours.

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Here at WorldBackups.net we have added the functionality for bare metal restores in version 3.2 which we released in June 2010. Now not only can you back up your server to a local disk you can also back it up online to our UK based data centre. That should protect you from fire and theft!

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All of our software is free and you only pay for data you back up to us http://worldbackups.net/pro_user.php .

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Feel free to download the latest version of our software and contact us if you need help to set it up.

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Different online backup providers provide different features and customers’ requirements vary. The ultimate decision depends on the features the customer requires. To help you work out which company will offer you the best service we have listed a few considerations that are a ‘must ask’.

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1. Select your back up solution carefully, time spent now evaluating the services on offer will pay dividends when you need to restore.

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2. Anyone can backup but only heroes can restore!! It’s an old cliché but rings true every time. Make sure the solution allows you to restore your files and databases easily and quickly.

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3. Don’t think about ‘how do I back up’, think about ‘how do I restore’?

a. Look at it this way… if you back up 500GB of data online and you need to restore it following a disaster, that will take 5 days on a fast 10MB internet    connection.

b. If the service provider hosts their servers behind a link that is slower than yours, you could be waiting a lot longer for the restore to complete.

c. Ideally the service provider should own all of their own servers and have a dedicated rack or suite of racks. That way they can access your data directly and courier it back to you in a timely fashion rather than waiting for an restore over the Internet.

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4. Can the service provider install the software remotely on your server or desktop. Exchange, Active Directory and SQL databases can be difficult to back up on any platform. Do you want to struggle with software you have never seen before? If they can’t help here, will they help when you need to restore?

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5. Will the service provider allow you to back up any size and type of file?

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6. Will the service provider retain your data for longer than 30 days?

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7. Are there hidden charges for agents or a long term contract?

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8. Don’t be fooled by gimmicks such as a million pound insurance guarantee. Will the insurance company really pay off your mortgage and buy you a Ferrari if you can’t restore your iTunes?

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9. You could try asking your independent IT Support Company, chances are they will already use and trust an online backup service they can recommend and implement for you.

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10. Perform a test restore every six weeks.

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One last thing…. make sure you can restore your data!

Restoring single emails.

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Most IT Admins will only ever have to restore single emails or occasionally an entire mailbox. How does WorldBackups.net achieve this?

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WorldBackups.net allows you to restore an email or mailbox as a PST so it can be attached directly into Outlook, or if you are using Exchange the restore will go straight back into the mailstore.

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With version 3.2 we launched our new portal which allows you to restore a PST and download it directly to your desktop without having access to the original machine. Within a few minutes you can get an email back from any point in time.

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Imagine if you had to find that tape from 3 years ago!

Bare Metal Restore of Windows 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. WorldBackups.net can back up the entire image of machines running Windows 7, Windows 2008 & Windows Vista Business (Enterprise, and Ultimate editions). The backed up image can be restored to the same machine or to a machine with very similar hardware as the original machine.

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Exchange Server 2010 Backup.WorldBackups.net can now back up an Exchange 2010 mailstore and mailboxes. This is the first version of WorldBackups to use VSS to back up Exchange, previously ESE API was used.

SharePoint Server Backup. WorldBackups.net can now back up the site collections of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

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SQL 2008 back up. WorldBackups.net can now back up MS SQL 2008 databases.

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Backup and Restore from local drives. WorldBackups.net can now back up to a local drive and also restore from it without having to connect to an online backup server.

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How to upgrade

You can download the update from here (do not uninstall your current version).

Or we can upgrade your installation free-of-charge. Click here to view our article on how we will connect to your server.

Perform a backup and test restore.

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Further support is available within your local client >> help > user guide.

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Online backup service providers target small to medium sized businesses that do not have the resources or adequate backup schedules. However, due to any natural calamity or physical damage there is a strong chance that an on-site backup would be destroyed. To avoid risks and protect company data it is recommended to move to online backups.

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Most organizations are dependent on their staff to perform backups on a central server located in the office. In most situations the backups are made at regular intervals and copied to CDs or external hard drives. Using an online backup service will enable you to leverage the benefits of disk-to-disk backup avoiding the complexity of hardware or software installation.

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In case you have multiple users, frequent data changes, etc you should consider a regular backup to avoid loss of important data. It will be an expensive event to recreate all the data. Hardware can have a long life but human error can create a lot of issues when you have important files. Even after eighty five percent of users are concerned about losing important information due to a number of reason, only one is four regularly creates a backup. In fact, out of every five PCs only two are backed up properly and are able to access their data.

If you sign up with a reliable online backup service provider you can avoid the misfortune of data loss and transfer your files to a safe and secure storage centre.

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At WorldBackups, we’ve certainly found that the convenience and security of online backups appeal to SMEs because they provide guaranteed automatic backups and store data safely off-site, but with almost everyone using desktop and laptop PCs, we’re also finding online backups appealing to every size of organisation.

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Online backup is naturally attractive to SMEs with limited IT staff and resources because it gives them the high level of security provided by automation (no danger in forgetting a backup), remote storage (vital protection against fire or theft) and the facility to restore data fast (minimal business interruption).

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But a report by Forrester (Market Overview: Backup Software-As-A-Service) confirms WorldBackups’ experience that larger organisations are looking to use online backup, not to replace their data centres, but to back up corporate PCs or small servers at remote offices. Enterprises with smaller data capacities could also back up PCs and critical servers.

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Many statistics are bandied about regarding the impact of data loss on a business, although so few are referenced, probably because most businesses do not want to talk openly about weaknesses in their processes or how their critical business processes have been affected by losing data.

Ultimately, every business is at risk from data loss.

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A business relies on customer data, sales and financial information to thrive and the longer it cannot access these, the greater the threat to its survival. This applies to a sole trader as much as to a partnership, family business or larger enterprise and WorldBackups’ clients come from all these groups.

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Online backup can provide the same reassurance and security to every size of business in every sector that uses one or more PCs or laptops.

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How many businesses don’t use a PC?