01
Design and configuration
The agreed engagement can address design, configuration, operating responsibilities and restore validation.
Backup Services
Backup services for information you can recover and use
Information protection is meaningful when the organisation can restore accurate, usable data at the point it needs it. Afrocentric IP helps align backup arrangements with recovery objectives, operating requirements and information governance.
Why this service matters
Protection built around recoverable information
Start with the information and workloads that must be recoverable. We help connect data protection requirements to coverage, capture frequency, retention, copy protection and restoration. Information owners and ICT teams need a shared view of why each policy exists and how its result will be checked.
01
02
Gaps and dependencies
Identify unprotected workloads, failed or unsuitable policies and recovery dependencies such as keys or catalogues.
03
Access and protected copies
Review administrative access and protected copies against the relevant risks.
04
Acceptance and scope
We define the implementation and acceptance work with your team, including the evidence a restore test should produce. Any ongoing monitoring or management responsibility is stated in the service scope.
Our service capabilities
Backup assessment design and restore validation
A backup engagement needs to cover both protection and restoration. We assess the workloads, define copy policies and test recovered information so the organisation understands what is protected, how it can be restored and who maintains the arrangement.
01
Assess what requires protection
Identify the applications, data, configurations and supporting services that require protection. Confirm which restoration methods are appropriate for each workload.
02
Design protected copies
Consider scheduling, storage locations, encryption and access controls. Isolated or immutable copies can be assessed where they support the selected protection strategy.
03
Monitor and review coverage
Backup coverage changes as applications and infrastructure change. Monitoring and review help identify failures, capacity issues and workloads that may no longer be covered.
04
Validate restoration
Restore representative information and validate it with its owner. The result should demonstrate usability and expose issues before a production incident requires recovery.
Backup Services
How we address your requirements
The protection design should support the required Recovery Point Objective and contribute to the Recovery Time Objective. Tests compare observed recovery with the workload’s approved targets.
01
Design backup around restoration needs
Backup creates additional copies of information for recovery from deletion, corruption or other loss, including the dependencies required to restore them.
02
Protect recovery copies against unwanted change
An immutable copy resists alteration or deletion during a defined protected period, subject to its configuration and operating model.
03
Keep retention decisions specific to the information
Frequency affects how recent a usable recovery point may be; retention determines which historical copies remain available.
04
Agree recovery objectives and verify the results
A scheduled hourly job does not establish an hourly recovery point if it fails or the copy is unusable.
05
Understand the information before choosing safeguards
Sensitive records, transaction data and application configurations can have different handling needs.
06
Test the plan and close practical gaps
Restore representative information into an authorised environment and ask its owner to validate the result.
Built for critical and regulated environments
Public sector and regulated organisations
01 / Public institutions
Backup services for public institutions
For a public institution, backup services must be assessed against the service it enables and the institution’s applicable requirements.
Retention and frequency solve different problems. A long retention period does not ensure a recent usable copy, and frequent copies do not establish appropriate long-term retention.
We start by reviewing the current environment, the requirements that apply and the outcomes your organisation needs.
02 / Regulated industries
Retention and handling follow the information
Financial services, retail and mining environments may need different retention, recovery and information-handling arrangements for transactional data, employee records and system configurations.
Example information types
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Financial services Transactional data and employee records -
Mining System configurations
These requirements should be agreed with the information owners.
From assessment to restore
Configuring backup policies and restore procedures
We can connect workload assessment, backup architecture, configuration and restore validation within the agreed engagement. The design considers on-premises, cloud and hybrid options against operating requirements, access and location dependencies.
Workload Assessment
Record what requires protection and who owns it.
Backup Architecture
Compare on-premises, cloud and hybrid options.
Configuration
Apply policies and record them in a workload protection matrix.
Restore Validation
Agree who validates restoration and who monitors exceptions.
Validation, evidence and handover
Restore evidence and ongoing backup ownership
Acceptance compares the configured protection policies with the workload requirements and includes the agreed restore checks. Ask information owners to confirm record usability and document the measured recovery point. Identify which samples were tested and which workloads remain outside that evidence.
ACCEPTANCE EVIDENCE
Evidence can include
- Workload protection matrix
- Copy and access architecture
- Monitoring and exception process
- Restore validation
Scope matters. Deliverables and tests are confirmed in the project scope. Your team confirms business priorities and validates outcomes that depend on how the service is used.
Ownership after delivery
Handover and ongoing responsibilities
Handover should show configured protection policies, access responsibilities and restore evidence. Identify the owner of monitoring, retention decisions and capacity exceptions. Keep recovery keys and sensitive operational instructions under controlled access while ensuring authorised teams can obtain them during a disruption.
FROM CONFIGURED POLICY TO PROVEN RESTORE
Practical insight
A backup gap worth checking
Detecting a gap that ordinary success reports may conceal
Coverage after change
New workloads and established policies
A newly introduced application can be omitted from an established backup policy while older workloads continue reporting successful jobs.
How to check
Compare the protection inventory with the current service inventory. Confirm coverage with application owners after material changes, then validate a representative restore.
What you can expect
What you can expect.
Typical outputs DEPENDING ON SCOPE
BACKUP DELIVERABLES
06 POTENTIAL OUTPUTS
- 01 A workload protection matrix
- 02 Backup policy design
- 03 Configured protection
- 04 Tested restoration
- 05 Clearly assigned monitoring responsibilities
- 06 Restore evidence
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions.
BACKUP SERVICES
Start with the information and workloads that must be recoverable.
Backup protects additional copies of information. Disaster recovery coordinates restoration of ICT services, including infrastructure, access and procedures. Backup may supply recovery data, but it does not independently restore the complete service.
The schedule follows information loss tolerance and workload characteristics. Successful capture and usable recovery points matter alongside frequency. Agree the target with the information owner and validate it through restore evidence.
Options can include on-premises, offsite or cloud storage. Assess location, access, provider responsibilities and restoration dependencies against the actual workload and information handling requirements before choosing the arrangement.
No. Immutability supports copy protection within its configured boundaries. Access separation, isolation, monitoring and trusted restoration also need consideration. The organisation still requires incident and service recovery arrangements.
Yes. Review supported workloads, available capacity, integration and current protection policies. The assessment identifies gaps and appropriate changes rather than assuming that every existing component needs replacement.
Restore representative information and relevant application states, measure recovery and obtain owner validation. Record the scenario, dependencies and limitations so a successful sample is not presented as proof for every workload.
BACKUP SERVICES · 06 QUESTIONS
Related services and solutions
Explore connected capabilities.
Backup may supply recovery data. Afrocentric IP’s integrated business continuity solution connects it to disaster recovery, infrastructure and the services your organisation needs to keep operating.
CONNECTED SERVICE
Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery coordinates restoration of ICT services, including infrastructure, access and procedures.
Explore Disaster Recovery
CONNECTED SERVICE
ICT Infrastructure
Recovery needs capacity, connectivity, access and configuration that suit the restoration sequence.
Explore ICT Infrastructure
Get in touch
Let's build a more resilient tomorrow.
Discuss your backup and recovery requirements. We will align coverage, retention and restore validation with the information your organisation must be able to use.
- Call us +27 11 214 0000
- Email us info@afrocentricip.com
- Book a consultation Discuss your requirements with our specialists.
- Expert guidance
- Practical solutions
- A long-term partner