Off-site backups are backups that are stored externally, away from the core IT infrastructure of an organization or hosting servers. They are similar to normal backups, except that in this case, you keep a copy of your files and folders in a physical location that is separate from your website’s main storage place.

The benefit of having off-site backups, compared to backups stored on the same server as the website, is to serve as security insurance when something goes wrong, as it enables reverting to a clean version. This is not only helpful when a site is hacked but also when the editors or admins make an error and you want to restore a previous version. When a site is hacked, chances are that the backups stored on the same server will also be infected.

Main reasons to have off-site backup

• Prevent downtime

A business can suffer major downtime in cases of natural disasters, such as fires, floods and earthquakes. But with recent backup copies, downtime can be minimized. This can end up saving the business millions of dollars as it will still be able to carry on with its usual operations.

• Data recovery in case of security breaches

With off-site backup, you can easily recover your data in case of a security breach. This will prevent you from permanently losing your data or from having to pay a ransom after a ransomware attack.

• Prevent you from forgetting to back up your data

You can set up your data to be automatically backed up. This ensures that you always have a backup and that there is no chance of you forgetting to back up and finding yourself in trouble in case of onsite data loss.

• Prevent logical data disasters

In the case of a networked system, both the original file and its onsite backup can get damaged in logical file damage. However, with an offsite backup, such a situation can be prevented.

For instance, a virus attack on a system or the computer could damage all the files stored in it. This form of data loss is the most common way in which most individuals and businesses lose information.

• Peace of mind

Having a good and reliable backup plan will give you peace of mind. Whether you have lots of data to store or just a small amount of data, you can choose a cloud-based service.

What’s more, most service providers will use software that automatically uploads any changes that have been made on a file from a user’s computer. This happens at least once a day. The data will be encrypted in most cases. This ensures the safe transfer of files.

Types of off-site backup

• Over the Internet – You can use backup services online that automatically back up copies of your files to a remote server which you have control over or a cloud service like DropBox, GDrive or OneDrive.
• Physical devices – In this case, you back up your files using physical devices like flash disks and hard drives but store them in a different physical location.

All in all, automatic backups are the best option since they happen automatically and you don’t have to think about it.

Conclusion

If you are just storing your data in an external hard drive and then leaving that hard drive next to your computer or in the same building as your computer, what happens in case there is a fire or a flood? Or what if someone steals that hard drive? Any security beach to your home or office could lead to that data being compromised or getting lost. That is why it is important to have off-site backups.

Having an off-site backup will protect you from loss of data and also enhances security when it comes to protecting your website and the data it holds.

The Importance of Web Monitoring and Maintenance

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As a business owner, when you want to set up a new website and you do not know much about web design and domains or hosting, it can be quite tempting to let someone else handle your domain name registration for you. You are likely to leave this task to a trusted employee or your website designer. Unfortunately, this is a wrong move that could end up costing you a lot down the line.

Now imagine that your employee leaves your company on an unhappy note. Or let’s say that the relationship between you and your website designer gets frosty and you decide to find another designer. That could be the start of your troubles. In Cambodia or anywhere else.

A disgruntled employee can easily decide not to hand over the domain name credentials to your company. Or your website designer might choose to frustrate you by taking control of your domain name. They might even fail to renew the domain name and let it expire. It will leave you in an awkward position, to say the least.

That is why it is vital that as a website owner, you should register your domain names on your own, using your own email, address and passwords. Please do not delegate this task to someone else, as they might list it in their own name and refuse to hand it over to you later on.

Furthermore, a change of domain’s name ownership is not a simple task as just changing an email address. The previous owner has first to “unlock” the domain at his registrar and then wait for about one week before the process is completed. In addition, there are some rules such as the registration has to be older than two months and not being less than 30 days close to its expiration.

Since you pay most of your bills on your own, there is no reason why you should not be able to register your domain name. It is a straightforward process that can be done online within a few minutes. It is quite easy to register a website for a business on your own.

Some agencies will try to lure you by offering cheap bundles: website design, domain registration and hosting all together: never ever accept such offers!

3 Golden Rules:
Rule #1: never let others buy hosting or domain registrations on your behalf
Rule #2: never buy domains and hosting at same company
Rule #3: never buy website design offers that are bundled with hosting and domain registration – NEVER!

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the unique address of your website, like mydomain.com.
A domain name is like your property’s or land title: only yourself or trusted partners should have their name on it. Especially if your domain name is your company’s brand or name!

The domain’s name is actually what stands before the dot (mydomain). After the dot is the domain’s extension (com). In the early days there used to be only a limited amount of extensions (.dom, .org, .net, .edu, etc) in addition to national ones (.com.kh, .co.th, .co.uk, etc) but this has been significantly extended some time ago by adding hundreds of new extensions that are either related to specific sectors (.travel, .store, .tv, etc) or regions/cities (.asia, .osaka, .taipei, etc).

Domain name registrations are handled by companies called “registrars” who are licensed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a department of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in order to manage the commercial sales of domain name registrations.

Prices are always annual but vary a lot among registrars and also depend of the extension. The standard .com registration is usually around $10/year while other more sought after extensions might cost over 10 times that amount.

Key essential things to have in mind when registering your domain name are:

• Register the domain name in your own’s or company’s name
• Ensure to provide a current and valid contact address
• Buy privacy rights (often included for free). It will prevent other people from knowing who owns your domain name.

Once you register your domain name, please do not freely share your account information with anyone, not even your website designer. It is best practice to let the designer guide you through whatever process you want to do to your domain name than to allow the designer to have access to your account.

Conclusion

By registering your domain name in your company’s name or your name, it significantly reduces the chances of someone holding you hostage and taking control of your domain. In the same way, please buy your website hosting with a different company (never register your domains name and buy web hosting at the same company!) on your own and just give temporary access to your web designer for setting up your website. When done, don’t forget to change your passwords!

We always ask our clients to register their domain names by themselves and buy the best available hosting according to their needs and budget by providing them with guidance and recommendations, but we never proceed with those purchases by ourselves on their behalf.

If you have more questions about our services, please read our FAQ.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have you been in such situation where you struggled recovering your domain name back?
We always welcome your comments at our Facebook page.

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