Suggestions? Cloud Backup Solutions

[AnimatedCarrots]

Hi all,

 

Looking for some recommendations around a cloud backup solution for small schools.

 

Environment:

• 200–300 users
• Typically 1 host with 2–4 VMs
• Standard on-prem server setup (AD, EntraSync, file, print, etc.)

Requirements:

• Server-to-cloud backup is the priority
• Cloud-to-cloud (e.g. M365) is desirable, but secondary (I know Barracuda is highly regarded for this)
• Straightforward setup and management
• Simple, transparent licensing (no overly complex tiers or bolt-ons)
•  

We’ve briefly looked at Druva for server to cloud and barracuda for cloud to cloud. Ideally would like to stick to a single solution. Keen to understand what others in the education space are using day to day.

 

Key considerations:

• Ease of deployment and ongoing management
• Predictable cost model
• Estimated Pricing
• License type? (user/device/GB used)
• Should I become a Partner or use a reseller?
• Reliability and restore performance
• Suitability for smaller school environments (not enterprise-heavy)
   

Any recommendations or real-world experiences would be useful.
 

Thanks in advance.

Edited March 23 by AnimatedCarrots

[fs171]

Just had redstor be approved - can do both solutions in 1. Depending on the product selected also can be used for key devices (we have some buildings management systems running on PCs). 

[TheHyperTechie]

+1 Redstor

[AnimatedCarrots]

11 minutes ago, fs171 said:

Just had redstor be approved - can do both solutions in 1. Depending on the product selected also can be used for key devices (we have some buildings management systems running on PCs). 

We have some schools that use Redstore for their MIS servers but this is handled separately to us. Although the pricing seems pretty steep and is based on GB use. 

 

How do you find the pricing? competitive? and how do you find the setup and licensing? 

[fs171]

The bundle we are in is, in theory, unlimited (i.e. no GB/user/device limit). We opted for full cloud (workspace and M365) plus in theory unlimited devices/servers, through their 'Restore Education'. There are bounded costs at 0-25/251-500/501-1000/1001-2000 (and presumably higher) but this came out much better than our current provider. Equally, if you were to do all devices I'm sure that this picked up on. We're also in the process of moving our storage to the cloud, so this would reduce the 'double' of the data onsite and in cloud backup. I've seen a school get hit by this limit in the past. 

 

Setup has been really easy, just an installer on the servers/device and connection via a service account for the M365/Workspace (I'm not techincal these days but did some myself). 

Edited March 23 by fs171

[itskdog]

2 hours ago, AnimatedCarrots said:

We have some schools that use Redstore for their MIS servers but this is handled separately to us. Although the pricing seems pretty steep and is based on GB use. 

 

How do you find the pricing? competitive? and how do you find the setup and licensing? 

Redstor now have their "Total Education Bundle" that gives you unlimited storage for PCs/Servers, M365, Entra/Intune, and Google Workspace, priced based on the number of students.

 

LGfL have branded it "Gridstore Unlimited" and offer it free with a 5 year broadband commitment (which also includes Sophos, Senso Safeguard, MalwareBytes, Netsweeper (branded as HomeProtect & SchoolProtect), among other discounted services and addons such as VoIP).

Edited March 23 by itskdog
Rodstor

[andy_b]

We got Redstor Education via Converge (Stone) and it works out very competitive for our low population schools.

[FN-GM]

7 hours ago, AnimatedCarrots said:

We’ve briefly looked at Druva for server to cloud and barracuda for cloud to cloud. Ideally would like to stick to a single solution.

 

Druva offer cloud to cloud backup for Office 365. We use it.

Edited March 23 by FN-GM