Mission Critical Data?

[Mr_Jiminy]

Hi all,

 

Need some advice/ guidance re offering a cloud based offsite back to our client schools.

 

At present we're offering the ill-fated onsite/ offsite encrypted portable hard disk solution, using two portable disks, which rotate weekly. I label this ill-fated because we request the clients take the disks offsite, which generally get forgotten about, lost, or damaged in transit.

 

Needless to say we needed a more viable solution, something which instilled peace-of-mind with both us and the clients.

 

My question is not which company to use, out of the myriad numbers of cloud based backup suppliers, as that part has already been accomplised... My question is what mission critical data do we advise backing up... Given that data costs money!

 

The obvious default data to backup, includes all administrative work and staff folders, including any staff shared areas. So I'm therefor guessing that hard quotas should be put in place to ensure these folders to not exceed there set limit, thus escalated the cost of the offsite backup.

 

We're also not sure what to advise re pupil work, and whether this should be accounted for.

[psydii]

Information Management System

Finance Systems (including any systems that may 'hold' money e.g. cashless catering)

AD

Special Educational Needs and disability records

Human Resources records, including emails.

Document Management System

Senior Leadership Team and Admin Mailboxes

Library Management Data

Building Management Data

Customer Relationship Data

Managed Learning Environment

Staff and Student Data - If you can you should.

 

The tools (documentation, install images, licence keys and passwords) to do a bare metal recover of the above

 

 

I'd suggest VEEAM Cloud edition if your clients are virtualised. The only commercial organisations I know that take actual disks off site are IT firms where there is (in theory) a guarenteed level of competency in those handling the disks.

 

If you need to pair it right down, talk to the head and finance directory and ask "if the school burned down, what is the minimum set of information you would need access to not to lose your job?" Also the school's insurance company may have a view on what they wont insure against (i.e. if the school were sued for loosing it)

Edited June 5, 2013 by psydii

[Mr_Jiminy]

Excellent, thanks for the info.

Not virtualised.

We're looking at using Redstor, they seem to have a good track record.

[featured_spectre]

Redstor are not bad, and they have a reasonable price scheme.

 

I would recommend the following (broken down into how often it should be done):

 

Daily

Information Management System (IMS data can be a pain if you haven't got it done, and losing student records of allergies etc can come to haunt you)

Finance Systems (including any systems that may 'hold' money e.g. cashless catering, FMS, AXIM/Summit)

Human Resources records, including emails.

Senior Leadership Team and Admin Mailboxes

Special Educational Needs and disability records

 

weekly

Active Directory

Exchange Directory

Staff Emails

Library Management Data

Building Management Data

Customer Relationship Data

Managed Learning Environment

Staff Data

 

monthly

System state

Student Data

Student Emails

Proxy/banned website lists (if running ISA or another windows based proxying system that has no UTM)

[Mr_Jiminy]

Brilliant thank you.