Backup service of Primend for Microsoft 365 services based on VEEAM technology
Data loss is a serious and costly problem, whether for a large or a small organisation. Simple human error is inevitable and even malicious intent is not unheard of. In order to minimise loss caused by gaps in data protection, regular data backup should be applied as a supporting measure, so that mistakes would not lead to irreversible consequences.
Why consider backup service
Most of the customers of Primend use various Office 365 services in their daily work. Such services are Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Teams, PowerBI, etc.
Microsoft does not provide backup for Office 365 and Microsoft 365 services, only a synchronisation possibility that temporarily stores deleted data. A downside of the solution provided by Microsoft is mostly the time factor that is different for different services by default: for Exchange Online it is 14 days and for SharePoint Online and OneDrive it is up to 60 days, provided that a specialist who can recover data from the “admin portal” is available. There is currently no backup service for the Teams app. For prevention of potential data loss, Microsoft encourages people to use the solutions of third parties, in order to protect and manage data essential for work.
Here are a few scenarios as examples illustrating the difference between the synchronisation provided by Microsoft and backup.
Let’s loot at an e-mail: if you delete it from the inbox and also from the mailbox trash folder, it is no longer possible to restore it from any server, as the whole system is synchronised in accordance with the live environment. Backup, however, makes backup copies of the live environment at certain moments and stores the recording in zipped format on storage media separated from the live environment. That in turn gives you the security that if you delete data from one environment, either accidentally or maliciously, it is possible to restore it from a backup copy in another environment. It is possible to set different rules for backup, as required: how often backups should be made and how long backup copies should be stored.
SharePoint Online provides 25TB of storage space, and therefore it is a popular environment for data storage. Second-stage trash files are automatically deleted in 30 days. Those files can still be restored from the third-stage trash within 30 days by selecting “undo”. If it is necessary for some reason to restore just one file from the folder, Microsoft does not support that option. You can only restore one file if you restore the whole folder. It does seem as a simple option but it has its downsides. If it is necessary to restore a particular file and you decide to restore the whole document library, restoring resets all the changes made in the library. That actually means that you will lose all the subsequent editing made in the files and documents, as this option restores their previous versions. The backup service of Primend also allows restoring of single files or even restore different file versions without having to overwrite the whole folder.
More details about the VEEAM Backup for Microsoft 365 service
Over time, Primend has tested various backup providers and their services. Why have we selected namely VEEAM as the partner of our backup service? Mainly because VEEAM is currently ahead of the others with their backup service. We like it that the whole structure is simple and logical, which simplifies management. Licenses can be acquired on a monthly basis, as we are used to for our other Microsoft services.
Another great benefit is that VEEAM gives a possibility to create backups directly on the Azure Blob disk array, which makes the whole backup process significantly more cost-effective than it was possible before. That in turn makes it possible to back up the whole tenant at once (all the Microsoft services in use), as the data volumes zipped with the help of VEEAM technology are very small.
Simple restoring
It is possible to restore the whole tenant at once but also a single file or e-mail – in that respect the VEEAM backup technology is very flexible.
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Most common reasons for backing up cloud services |
- A need for restoring Microsoft 365 services
- Mistakes due to human error or malicious activities
- When a computer breaks down if data is stored in the equipment
- If files are deleted from Sharepoint and OneDrive or folders are overwritten
- Data loss due to cyber attacks and ransomware
- Needs based on corporate policy
It is very important that service structure is reliable and easy to manage. Another very important factor is that we could provide the service on a monthly basis, which unfortunately is not the case with many other providers of similar services. It is important for a client to pay for the actual number of users and only for the actually used data volume. There is no need for binding contract periods – if you decide to stop using the backup service, it can be done immediately.
In order to ensure smooth daily work and backing up of everything necessary, you need a reliable partner to discuss how to back up, what to back up and which period to use. A partner to carry out the initial setup, monitor and manage things, so that everything actually functions as it should, and restore things, if necessary. We will help and support you with that.
Read more about the backup service and pricing of Primend here.
Based on the same model, it is also possible to back up servers – read more here.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.