IPitomy Disaster Recovery
Introduction
The IPitomy 'Pure
IP-PBX' is a state of the art system which boasts a robust open standards
platform that has an array of the latest business telephony applications. With
regular software and application development, we keep our product on the
cutting edge of technology. This means that the typical IPitomy customer is
sure to have the system for years to come since technology is not going to pass
them by. However, like any electronic device, failures are inevitable. At some
point in the future weather it is 5 years or 10, something is likely to fail,
the most common component failure being the hard drive. IPitomy offers many
solutions to ensure that you do not suffer a lengthy communications outage. I
want to address these solutions in this article.
Disaster Recovery and Redundancy
Disaster recovery and redundancy are elusive targets. There are many things to consider and many
facets to the cause and solution. The
primary reason for having a Disaster recovery Plan is business continuity. Avoiding any down time and loss of
communications with employees or customers is the goal. There are varying degrees of disaster from
losing the ability to make calls during a minor hardware failure to a complete
weather disaster resulting in the inability to occupy your building.
Hardware Failure - Hardware failure can occur anywhere in
the cabling, PBX, data switches and Routers, just to mention a few.
Internet Outage – This occurs with less frequency but
accommodations must be considered for this potential problem.
PSTN Line Failures – Occasionally carriers have equipment
and network failures these can be annoying and costly to your business.
Physical Disaster – Weather, Fire Earthquake and other major
disasters can leave your business homeless.
Steps can be taken to develop a plan to minimize business loss during
these unfortunate events.
Not all of these contingencies can be covered for all
business without some planning and decisions on how much money to spend on
business continuity. What is it worth to
your business to stay up and running 99% of the time without business
disruption? The following is a list of
options that can be implemented to assist your company in developing a disaster
recovery plan that fits your budget and business continuity requirements.
Making
IPitomy Database Backups
Once your system has been properly installed you can set up
your IPitomy to make regular system database backups. It is recommended that
you FTP it off site somewhere as well as keep a backup on site. This will give
you accessibility as well as redundancy. It is also not a bad idea to keep
backups going back several months in case one file is corrupted for some
reason. Your backup file is relatively small and can be saved on any number of
storage devices or servers so don’t be shy when it comes to saving multiple
files. In the event your hard drive needs to be reformatted, you can simply
load your backup right back on it and recover your system fairly quickly. This
is a built in feature of your IPitomy system, so be sure to utilize it.
RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disk)
Solution
The first formal disaster recovery solution is the RAID
solution. Your IPitomy will have two hard drives installed with this purchased
recovery solution. Speaking in general terms, the average life expectancy of a
hard drive is around 5 years, with most failures occurring during initial burn
in, and then after 5 years of constant use. The primary hard drive of your
system will perform every day operation of the system as normal. The second
drive is cloned by RAID software and keeps your backup hard drive ready to take
over in the event that the first fails. Our RAID is hot-swappable, meaning you
can remove the bad hard drive and replace it while running on your backup.
Having the RAID solution presents an easy and inexpensive on site recovery
option to keep your telephone network intact in the event your primary hard
drive fails.
Redundant Power Supplies
Power supplies are a hardware component that can be
implemented at a relatively low cost that can prevent this hardware
failure. Redundant power supplies
automatically keep the system up and running in case one side of the power
supply fails.
Uninterruptable power Supply (UPS)
Installing an uninterruptable power supply can prevent
annoying business interruptions due to short duration electrical power
loss. Be sure to acquire a UPS that is
capable of integrating with IPitomy.
This can protect the IPitomy hardware from sudden power loss and power
spikes at by allowing IPitomy to gracefully shut down when the UPS is about to
run out of power.
IPitomy Cloud Recovery
There are a few instances where RAID is ineffective, having
a backup solution in a Cloud is a compelling recovery solution from IPitomy. In
the event that your system is severely damaged or impaired where your RAID
solution and redundant power supplies will not suffice, the Cloud recovery
would allow your system to run even though your local system may be completely
inoperable.
Depending upon the nature of the disaster, several options
are available to use the Cloud Recovery Solution. Using a mobile configuration
you could still make and receive calls without your local system or local
desktop phones using mobile phones. In the event that you still had an internet
connection, your IPitomy phones would look to a secondary IPitomy system in the
Cloud, and continue running your business until you have replaced or repaired
your damaged system.
The Cloud recovery feature can be implemented different
ways. The first being a maintained Cloud backup where you would be instantly
routed to the Cloud when your system fails. The second would be where IPitomy
can set you up in the Cloud by request in the event of a system failure. The
first option is obviously the most desired since downtime is minimized. The
emergency Cloud setup is also an option provided you can tolerate a bit more
downtime while your database is uploaded and activated. There will also be other
variations of this application. The
choice is up to each business owner how much money they want to dedicate to a
workable disaster recovery plan. The
most important thing to know is that IPitomy has your back when you need it
most.
Conclusion
Disaster recovery is an important component of your
telecommunications network. From a hard drive failure, a fire, flooding, a
tornado, hurricane or an extended power outage; if you follow the simple steps
presented in this article you will be well prepared. If you have made regular
system backups, have onsite RAID, and you keep a Cloud recovery option open,
you will not be caught off guard should a failure or disaster occur. IPitomy has developed several cost effective
solutions that will surely keep your telecommunications network up and running
so that you will stay in contact during emergencies, and not lose valuable
business should an outage occur.
To learn more contact your local IPitomy dealer or you can
contact IPitomy directly so that we can put you in touch with a dealer.
IPitomy Communications, LLC- 941-306-2200 or Toll Free:
1-800-IPitomy (800-474-8669)
Email: info@ipitomy.com
Written by Matthew J. Bellisario 2013
IPitomy Communications
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