If you have a hosted server that resides on the Internet, there are a couple of managed services that are absolutely critical for protecting your hosting environment and your data. If you want to sleep at night, not worry about handling the embarrassment (or legal ramifications) that comes from losing customer data, and be able to keep your sanity when you lose a server or a key data file, get these managed services.
It makes sense that, the two most popular managed services that NetSource sells to customers are:
- firewalls for security
- data backups to protect data.
Let’s start with firewalls.
I am not joking when I say that a server on the Internet is like a lamb to the slaughter. I can guarantee that any server not protected by a firewall will be compromised; not if, but when! I can also guarantee that the attempts to compromise a server will literally begin within the hour. Without firewall protection your server will be hacked. The troubling part of this is that you may not know for months. Hackers will penetrate your server, move onto other servers on your network, and then lay dormant, maybe for months. The FBI, secret service, and other such organizations become very interested in your server before long. Trust me – you don’t want that call!
Once a server is hacked, the best thing to do is wipe it and start over. Don’t rely on data backups, this time, since they are holding the intrusion safe and sound. Or you can hire a security consultant to do a complete forensic analysis for big bucks and hopefully they can help you.
Given all these potential troubles, customers almost always use a firewall in front of their network. Firewalls prevent unwanted visitors from reaching your server. Firewalls can detect and block attacks. Firewalls are the lowest cost way to increase security to your server. Firewalls are just the beginning of security, but that is another story. You will have a great start.
Now turning to data backups …
Has your PC at home ever stopped working? Did the disk drive or power supply fail? Or did you just delete that really important file? It happens! And in a data center with hundreds or thousands of servers, I see it every day. If the data on your server is important, then you need data backups. The best way to understand the advantage of data backups is to ask yourself what you will do if you lose some or all the data on your server. Think about it. If you get that sick feeling in your gut, then backups are for you.
The data backups that NetSource provide give you a web portal to make it easy to restore your own files or directories (or NetSource can do it for you). The backups make a complete copy of your server so that the server can be completely restored when you need it, down to the data bit. And best of all, like the firewalls mentioned above, it is extremely cost effective.
So, make sure you are securing your servers behind a firewall and backing up your critical data.
P.S.
NetSource provides a wide range of managed services like the two talked about here, from total security, backups, disaster recovery, to just plain helping. Contact us if you would like to learn more at sales@netsource.com or by calling 866-778-1212 (630-778-1212).