SharePoint is one of the collaboration platforms most used by companies and organizations around the world for document and information management. As the adoption of this solution grows, it becomes critical to ensure the security and continuous availability of archived data. The SharePoint backup is therefore an essential element in making sure that the contents, configurations and permissions are protected against accidental loss, human error or cyberattacks. In this article, we'll explore the best practices for backing up SharePoint, the different options available, and the key considerations for keeping business data safe, helping to improve the resilience and business continuity of your business.
Microsoft SharePoint is one of the most common platforms for corporate intranets, and it is estimated that more than 200,000 organizations worldwide use SharePoint, with a base of more than 190 million active users. These numbers include companies of all sizes, from government bodies and multinationals to small and medium-sized businesses, that use SharePoint both in the online version (part of Microsoft 365) and on-premises to build intranets, collaborative portals, document management systems and other business solutions.
SharePoint's native integration with Microsoft 365 makes it a popular tool for collaboration and content sharing. Organizations often find themselves storing, organizing and sharing large amounts of data on SharePoint Online or on an on-premises SharePoint server, making it essential to back up the platform regularly.
It's easy to overlook SaaS-based tools when planning a backup policy, but these tools often represent a larger part of daily workflows than you might imagine.
So why not take a closer look at them to get to know them better?
Companies are constantly looking for ways to improve their communication strategies and incorporate workflow and data sharing procedures. Microsoft offers communication and collaboration solutions to organizations through its cloud-based application SharePoint Online and the localized version SharePoint On-Premise.
However, many companies struggle to determine which of these applications is best suited to their needs and how it may affect business operations, while trying to keep their important data in a safe place. So, before we analyze the available backup options, let's take a moment to review the different versions of SharePoint currently in use.
SharePoint Online is a cloud-based collaboration platform and document management system offered by Microsoft, used by many companies. It allows you to quickly and easily store, organize and share files from anywhere in the world.
As we know, cloud services are cheaper and offer more practical and convenient tools, and Microsoft SharePoint Online offers three paid plans to choose from, based on the needs of your organization, thus providing the scalability necessary for your business.
You can then choose the plan that best meets your needs and that best suits your budget. Let's see what these plans offer:
SharePoint On-Premise is a version of SharePoint installed on local servers. SharePoint Server On-Premises offers complete control over the environment, including the ability to customize and add new functionality.
While SharePoint on-premises requires initial configuration and ongoing maintenance, it can be an excellent choice for organizations with specific needs or who want complete control over their data to customize it to their needs.
The plans to choose from are:
Backing up Microsoft SharePoint data is critical for every organization that uses this platform. Without a backup plan, businesses could lose information and experience costly periods of inactivity if data is accidentally deleted, damaged, or corrupted by hardware malfunctions.
Investing in a backup solution for SharePoint ensures that information is secure and can be easily recovered. If your organization has backup software, you can protect it against accidental deletions caused by human error, cyberattacks, hardware problems, and other unforeseen events that could put business data at risk.
So let's not wait until it's too late to understand how important it is to back up the SharePoint system. Let's start taking action by providing the company with a reliable backup system, designed for the organization's specific needs, to effectively protect its valuable data.
A SharePoint backup protects data stored on a SharePoint site, ensuring that it is easily recoverable in the event of data loss. SharePoint includes features to protect against unauthorized access and accidental deletion, but the risk of data loss remains. For example, you may lose data if the following scenarios occur:
SharePoint faces security risks similar to Microsoft 365, and backup and recovery systems help mitigate these risks.
Because, as we know, unexpected scenarios happen even more frequently than we imagine, in these cases, you can lose your precious data in a flash, but if you have a backup solution, you can rest easy knowing that, whatever happens, you'll be able to restore these important files.
Therefore, if you want to ensure the continuity of your activities and processes without interruption, it is essential to have a backup solution available, which is a lifesaving solution in case of cyberattacks, natural disasters or hardware failures. By using this service, you will be able to avoid many problems and headaches.
Effective backup solutions for SharePoint are critical to ensuring data protection and maintaining business continuity. The right backup solution will protect your organization's critical information and ensure trouble-free recovery in the event of data loss, file corruption, or any other unexpected event.
But what are the characteristics of a backup solution worthy of the name? Let's take a look at some key features to look for in effective SharePoint backup solutions:
By choosing a backup solution for SharePoint with the key features mentioned above, your organization will be able to protect its data, reduce risks, and improve overall operational resilience. A solid backup strategy not only provides peace of mind, but it also ensures that the SharePoint environment remains secure and reliable.
Now let's talk about the possible consequences of not having a SharePoint backup, which can expose organizations to risks such as:
Establishing a backup strategy for SharePoint is crucial to protect your data, ensure business continuity, and reduce risks associated with data loss and system failures. With regular and scheduled backups, organizations can protect their SharePoint platform, meet obligations, and maintain levels of productivity, while preserving customer trust.
Today, data protection is invaluable in the digital world in which we live. Every reputable organization must have a backup and recovery option in case of unexpected scenarios. Having that option is truly a salvation when our business suffers a hardware failure, a cyberattack or a natural disaster.
Data stored on SharePoint can be easily backed up and restored whenever needed. Organizations use SharePoint to manage and store important files, document libraries, and photos, but knowing how to create a backup of content is essential to be able to restore SharePoint data when necessary. So let's see how to do it in the next section.
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As far as SharePoint Online is concerned, there is no backup system available 'out of the box'. At least not in the sense of what we mean by a real backup. In most cases, when we talk about backup, we are referring to the following:
Therefore, compared to what was described above, SharePoint Online does not have an integrated backup system.
Instead of a real backup, SharePoint Online has the following options/alternatives:
SharePoint On-premise, on the other hand, offers the possibility of creating native and third-party backups of SharePoint site data, but some of you may be wondering how exactly the backup process works.
In this section, we are therefore going to examine and explain different ways to do it, and it will be as easy as drinking a glass of water. Let's not waste any more time and let's see them right away.
This method involves manually downloading or uploading site content through SharePoint Online's central administration interface platform.
It's one of the easiest methods to create a backup of site collections and critical data, but it takes time, as you'll have to select the files you want to save one by one. However, the process is pretty simple, and we'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to do it:
It's really simple, but you have to consider that manually backing up SharePoint On-prem data allows you to recover information up to 10 GB at a time. This method is primarily used for backing up specific files, not the entire site or collection of sites. You could therefore find yourself in the situation of having to divide lists or sites if they exceed 10 GB.
Another thing to keep in mind is that, unfortunately, manual backups are not always guaranteed. We're not saying that this always happens, but there are reports of users complaining of error issues with this type of backup. If you are afraid of such a scenario, we recommend looking for a third-party tool to perform the backup, which will allow you to benefit from automatic backups instead of doing it manually.
Through Windows PowerShell, you have another option to save your important data quickly and easily. Follow these steps:
One of the main advantages of PowerShell backups is that they offer efficient monitoring of SharePoint backups; then, you can compress them for storage and retrieval.
Securing backup options with SharePoint is a key element in solving your organization's data protection problem.
When outlining your backup strategy, you need to consider some key practices to achieve the best results. Let's look at them one by one:
SharePoint is a vast product, and it's easy to overlook a few things when planning backup jobs.
Some of the common issues include:
The methods for recovering data from a SharePoint backup depend on whether the SharePoint site is hosted on-premises or as a SharePoint Online site. Recovering data using Microsoft backup solutions is simple:
Safeguarding and protecting your data is more important today than ever. Beyond issues related to cybersecurity, your digital infrastructures may be threatened by a whole series of external circumstances that may compromise their operation and contents.
Taking into account these external factors (which are sometimes completely out of your control) is crucial, and having a solid and comprehensive backup strategy is just as important as having the best digital protections and security infrastructures.
Fortunately, SharePoint's features dedicated to backing up and restoring data can come to our rescue in this case and, combined with appropriate data preservation strategies, can make the difference between peace of mind and disaster. So let's not get caught unprepared and dedicate the importance and time they deserve to back up our data on SharePoint. In the future we may be relieved to have done so.
Backing up SharePoint is essential to ensure the security and availability of business data. Backups protect against accidental loss, human error, and cyberattacks, allowing you to maintain business continuity and preserve business resilience.
SharePoint Online is a cloud-based solution provided by Microsoft, which allows you to store, organize and share files wherever you are, offering flexibility and paid plans with different functionalities. SharePoint On-Premise, on the other hand, is a version installed on the company's local servers, which guarantees greater control over data and customizations, but requires infrastructure and internal management.
To back up SharePoint, you can use different approaches. One is manual backup, which consists of exporting data and content directly. Another is the use of the built-in backup capabilities provided by SharePoint or Microsoft 365. Finally, there are third-party solutions that offer advanced tools for backup and recovery.
Among the best practices, it's important to schedule regular backups to continuously protect your data. Periodically verifying the integrity of backups is crucial to ensure that they are complete and working. Maintaining multiple versions of backups helps restore data from different points in time, while backup security must be a priority to prevent unauthorized access.
Among the most common problems are backup errors, often caused by misconfigurations or network problems. Regularly monitoring and testing backup processes can prevent them. Long recovery times are another challenge, which can be solved by using efficient and well-planned backup solutions. In addition, it's critical that backup processes comply with data protection regulations to avoid penalties and ensure legal compliance.
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