The ICT Service has designed a private Cloud Backup service for schools
Remove the need to maintain a local backup solution
The challenge
At present schools have to change data cartridges on a daily basis to ensure their curriculum servers and associated data are backed up effectively. Schools have to consider cover for sickness or annual leave, meaning the process for changing over backup data cartridges can break down, causing backups to fail and your data to be unprotected.
Schools are advised to take at least one data cartridge offsite to be stored in a safe location, in case of a major disaster in school – i.e. fire or flood.
Data cartridges and associated hardware are expensive to purchase and can prove unreliable over time. Existing backup solutions are not encrypted, meaning the safe storage of backed up data becomes more critical.
The solution
- removes the need for a school to retain, maintain and invest in a local backup solution – saving you approximately £1000 on the purchase price of a new server
- remotely backs up your school server every evening to our secure Data Centre in Cambridge over the private CPSN (Cambridgeshire Public Services Network)
- removes the need for on-site school staff to change data cartridges according to a certain schedule
- automates the entire backup process, freeing up staff from managing it and allowing them to focus on core business tasks
- drives down storage management costs, and significantly improves Backup Service Level Agreements (SLAs) internally
- removes the need to take any data cartridges off-site
- provides a scalable solution allowing schools to choose their data retention period
- includes the full management of your data backups including requests to restore data.
You simply log a call with The ICT Service Helpline detailing the file(s) that needs to be restored and we take care of the rest. Or, you can utilise the ‘self-service restore’ feature – one nominated admin person from each school will be given a username and password to perform their own restores.
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How our service works
- We will back up your local server data every weekday.
- No need for local disks / tapes to be changed. (Temporary space equal to your system volume is required to ensure successful backups).
- In the event of a complete local server failure: once you have a working server in place (we can offer additional services to fix your broken server or procure a new one), we will provide you with the most recent backup of all of your data and operating system either over your CPSN connection or via a delivery of encrypted data to your site.
- Recovery of individual files after accidental deletion or data corruption is also covered and requests for retrieval should be logged with The ICT Helpline and we will restore for you.
- We will aim to complete a full data restore within 24 hours (subject to the amount of data).
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Take the Cloud Backup Service WITH our File Server Support Service
You get all the benefits of cloud back-up (as detailed above), plus:
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Frequently asked questions about the Cloud Backup Service
The ICT Service is the sole provider of the Cloud Backup Service and data will be stored in Cambridgeshire County Council’s highly resilient and secure data centre on the Shire Hall site, Cambridge.
How is data restoration requested and what priority will it be given?
Requests for restores will be logged through The ICT Service Helpline; we will then determine the priority of each case depending on impact to the customer.
How easy is it to do a restore data from a Cloud Backup?
All restores can be carried out by The ICT Service on your behalf. In the case of individual profiles / folders, these will be restored over your Internet connection. Where large amounts of data are required to be restored, for example in the case of a full system failure, a site visit may be required.
How is the Cloud Backup process managed?
Cloud Backups will be scheduled and will take place every weekday between the hours of 7pm to 8am.
Will Cloud Backup software or processes slow down normal working environment?
It is unlikely that the Cloud Backup software and processes will affect the user working environment due to the time of day the backup will occur.
What contingency is there for a failed Cloud Backup?
The ICT Service support team will monitor Cloud Backups and take remediation steps where necessary. If there is a sustained problem with your backup we will notify you and inform you of our plan to resolve the problem.
How many previous backups are stored?
The default solutions will store a total of 120 working days of backups on a rolling basis.
Does Cloud Backup work with all operating systems?
The Cloud Backup solution is designed to work with Server 2008 and later operating systems.
