On-Premise Backup Solutions

On-premise backup is a data protection approach where backup infrastructure and storage reside within your organisation’s own facilities. Unlike cloud backup, which stores data on third-party servers, on-premise solutions keep your data under your direct physical control. This includes backup servers, storage devices (NAS, SAN, DAS), and management software deployed on your premises. On-premise backup offers advantages including faster recovery, complete data control, and independence from internet connectivity.

Organisations choose on-premise backup solutions for several compelling reasons: lightning-fast recovery speeds unconstrained by internet bandwidth, complete control over sensitive data, predictable costs for large datasets, compliance with data sovereignty requirements, and reliability during network outages. On-premise backup is particularly advantageous for organisations with terabytes of data, aggressive recovery time objectives, or strict regulatory requirements mandating local data storage.

The 3-2-1 backup rule is an industry best practice for data protection that recommends maintaining three copies of your data (production plus two backups), stored on two different storage media types, with one copy kept offsite. This strategy protects against multiple failure scenarios including hardware failures, site disasters, and cyber attacks. Covenco implements the enhanced 3-2-2-1 rule, adding an extra layer of redundancy for mission-critical data.

Immutable backups use Write Once Read Many (WORM) technology to create backup copies that cannot be modified, encrypted, or deleted for a specified retention period, even by administrators with full system access. When ransomware attempts to encrypt your backups, immutable storage prevents any changes, ensuring you always have clean, uninfected data to restore from. This makes immutability the most effective defence against ransomware attacks that specifically target backup systems. Covenco uses the Object First Ootbi appliance to deliver ransomware-proof immutable backups.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) defines the maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time, essentially, how far back you can afford to restore from. Recovery Time Objective (RTO) specifies the maximum acceptable downtime—how quickly you must restore operations. For example, an RPO of 1 hour means backups must run at least hourly, while an RTO of 30 minutes requires infrastructure capable of restoring systems within half an hour. These metrics guide backup frequency, storage architecture, and disaster recovery planning.

Yes, our solutions provide comprehensive virtual machine backup for both VMware vSphere/ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V environments. We use agentless backup technology that integrates with hypervisor APIs to capture VM snapshots without impacting guest operating systems. This includes support for Changed Block Tracking (CBT) and Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) for efficient incremental backups, instant VM recovery capabilities, and protection for both standalone hosts and clustered environments.

Yes, properly configured on-premise backup solutions can fully comply with HIPAA, GDPR, and other regulatory requirements. Our solutions include necessary controls such as AES-256 encryption, audit logging, access controls, retention management, and secure backup verification. For HIPAA, we provide Business Associate Agreements (BAA) and implement technical safeguards for PHI protection. For GDPR, we support data subject rights including right to erasure and maintain detailed processing records.

Storage requirements depend on your data volume, retention policies, and backup methods. As a general guideline, expect to allocate 1.5-2x your production data capacity for backups when using incremental backup with deduplication. For example, 10TB of production data typically requires 15-20TB of backup storage. Covenco provides free backup assessments to accurately calculate your storage requirements based on your specific infrastructure, retention policies, and recovery objectives.