IronTree backup focuses purely at file and folder level while IronTree disaster recovery as a service (DRaas) is a backup of the entire system. This includes operating systems, accounting software programmes, files and folders. We can mount these backups to a virtual machine (VM) in the event of a disaster so you can continue operating as per your last backup in our virtual environment offsite.

Yes, you can. Restores can be done by yourself, or you can have your backups restored and couriered to you, or you can collect them from an IronTree office in Cape Town or Johannesburg. However, this is disruptive to your business as other components of your IT still need to be restored before the data can be used.

A fully operational offsite business facility, as per your last known good backup. Quarterly simulations of disaster recovery (DR) events to emulate and check validity of your IT environment. A quarterly detailed audit report. Full failover to IronTree’s dedicated DR environment.

The RTO is the time taken to get your operations functioning. This is determined by the storage medium you select at sign up, the amount of data you’re backing up for restore and the type of applications/OS system you’re backing up.

The RPO is the point-in-time you’d like to restore from. This is determined by the frequency of the backed up data sent to IronTree.

You can still use the disaster recovery application to restore at file and folder level from within the application.

IronTree offers disaster recovery support during normal business hours on 087 943 2278 and after hours on 072 595 1066. After hours support charges apply.

Yes. Due to the level of this service, IronTree will produce a financially backed SLA agreement for any disaster recovery account.

NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCI) is a logical device interface specification for accessing non-volatile storage media attached via a PCI Express (PCIe) bus. a.k.a SUPER FAST STORAGE!

Your current IronTree backups will fall away on the machine you choose to run the disaster recovery from. We’ll merge the two agents into one, making sure we back up the same data you selected before.

When you register with us, we’ll ask you to create your own data encryption key. Without your encryption key, the data cannot be decrypted once it’s been backed up. The backup encryption technology is Military Grade, AES 256 encryption.

We recommend any fast broadband.

No it won’t, and you won’t need to increase your monthly cap. But if you have an extremely large amount of data to backup, the initial data backup may use a lot. It’s possible to arrange for us to collect this initial backup on an external drive. We’ll then create the first ‘back-up image’ on our servers. Subsequent daily backups will contain smaller amounts of data.

You need to be aware that the first backup could contain a large amount of data and thus will use up a portion of your monthly cap and could take some time. If the data files that you require to be backed up are extremely large, it’s possible to arrange for us to collect an initial data backup on an external drive. We’ll then create the first ‘back-up image’ on our servers. Subsequent daily backups will contain smaller amounts of data.

In this case, we offer a service whereby we write the data to an external hard drive and courier the data to you overnight, or make it available the same day if your company is located in the same city as one of our data centres. (This is a major advantage of using a South African based service provider!) If you have a fast, stable connection, you can download your data to an external drive or your desktop.

Our data platforms are hosted with Vodacom Business, one of South Africa’s largest hosting providers. Our infrastructure is replicated and mirrored so all data is stored in two locations.

Once you’ve completed the installation and selected the folders and files you wish to back up, simply select the ‘Size’ button on the toolbar in the IronTree interface. The software will then calculate the size of the selected data and display the result on-screen.

The IronTree solution can backup any data that’s selected by you at any time, i.e. you can vary your data selection by adding or deleting files and folders.

Because we utilise Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Copy Service (or VSS) to manage open files the data should reside on the machine housing the data. We’re able to back up across a network, but VSS does not work over a network (a Microsoft limitation, not an IronTree one), therefore open files on another machine on the network may be skipped during the backup process, thereby compromising the integrity of the backup. To resolve this, we allow you to install a site license at a marginal cost, which will allow your additional machines requiring backup to utilise their own Operating System’s VSS functionality, thereby ensuring those machines’ open files will be backed up.

The IronTree application can be configured to automatically report either an unsuccessful backup (exception reporting) or a daily report on whether the backup was successfully completed or not. Our recommendation is to configure the option for exception reporting, i.e. backups that were unsuccessful.

IronTree will create separate accounts for each machine requiring disaster recovery as a service. If you have multiple servers we’ll determine the boot-up schedule of these servers during the take-on process.

Original and changed data may be restored, either by the client or by IronTree, to your newly provisioned IT environment.