SharePoint Online Backup Strategy Every Admin Needs

SharePoint Online is a significant element of every online business, which simplifies content management and team collaboration. During SharePoint migration, the data is at high risk because there is a chance that the process might go wrong. This is something that you, being a SharePoint administrator, can dodge with a proper data backup in place. However, the confusion literally heightens when you don’t know how to prepare an effective SharePoint backup and restore strategy.

With this article, you can step by step learn how to backup SharePoint server without losing any nook and cranny of your stored data. Let’s start the journey to secure your SharePoint data.

Why should you backup SharePoint Online?

SharePoint backup is crucial to assure data loss prevention and uninterrupted business continuity. Here is why businesses need to invest in data backup:

Save against accidental deletion

When a user accidentally deletes some important files from the SharePoint site, there is a chance of losing data forever. SharePoint backup allows you to get hold of the deleted data even if the retention period is over.

Save against ransomware attacks

With SharePoint online backup available, you can access your business data even if it is infected by the ransomware penetration. It helps you recover complete data and prevents you from paying ransom.

Access complete version history

Even though SharePoint store different versions of documents, it does not save them permanently. There is a risk of losing them if anything goes wrong. Storing regular backups provides access to all the versions irrespective of the circumstances.

Fulfill compliance requirements

Some businesses have to fulfill industry regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, etc., which require storing data for longer durations. You can backup SharePoint data to meet these requirements even without occupying SharePoint storage.

What is an effective SharePoint site backup strategy?

Considering the complexity involved in the SharePoint data, it is essential to prepare a full-fledged backup strategy to avoid errors and disturbances. You can choose to perform a granular, list & library, or full-site backup based upon your requirements. Here is what all you can include in your SharePoint backup strategy:

Identify the backup frequency

Whenever you backup SharePoint site data, it is important to have a clear understanding of the frequency you want to run backup schedules. For example, you can schedule backup jobs to run once or twice a day. With the automated backup solutions that support regular backups, you can eliminate the risks of errors and backup failures.

Invest in a proper storage structure

Storage is a major element that you would need when saving site backups. It is essential to have enough storage space to accommodate and retain your regular backups, both off-site and within cloud storage.

Use incremental backup processes

With the incremental backup practice, you can avoid creating data duplicity in the resultant backup copy. This simple choice in your strategy will make your backup efficient and organized.

Setup regular monitoring

Regular monitoring is something that you just can't miss out. It allows you to detect any unusual activity within time. Once anything suspicious is detected, you can take right action against it and eliminate the threat before it disrupts the complete backup.

Test backups consistently

Site backups don’t just mean to save data to another storage location. There’s a lot more that goes beyond that to assure that your saved data is up-to-date. Make sure to test the stored backups consistently to identify inconsistencies and to keep the data updated. It will also help you with easy restoration and recovery.

Conclusion

To backup SharePoint Online data, you can select the built-in backup feature of SharePoint Online or use a professional SharePoint Migration Tool. We recommend that you use Kernel Migration for SharePoint, which is widely known as a complete package for SharePoint. The tool not only helps to migrate data between SharePoint sites but also allows easy backup of SharePoint sites, subsites, lists, libraries, etc., with the metadata. With this software, you can easily store an offline copy of your SharePoint site data in a structured manner without harming the data integrity. Download the all-purpose tool that supports a wide range of functionalities for Microsoft 365 users.

Xanthe Clay is a highly skilled Technical Content Writer at Kernel Data Recovery, headquartered in New York, USA. With over 6 years of professional experience, she has established authority in the domain of cloud migration technologies.