NAKIVO Saves a Non-Profit 4 Hours a Week
Business Challenge
Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV is an non-profit that provides support to people with disabilities and integrates them into society. The organization offers people with disabilities support in the areas of early learning, daycare, living, work, and leisure. As a non-profit, it generates income from donations or inheritances. The organization’s mission is inclusion, support, and promotion of people with disabilities in all their life situations.
The non-profit consists of a headquarters location and 14 other branches, where 10 locations have physical servers and virtual machines. The virtual machines store file servers with Microsoft Active Directory, print servers, services for computer telephony, and Windows Server Update Services. The organization aims to protect its data in more than just one way: VM replication and a three-step backup are a part of its data protection procedure. Since data loss is expensive for a non-profit, the organization closely adheres to these data protection methods. In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, more commonly known as the GDPR, and other special regulations for non-profits in the EU, all data must be kept secure in-house and cannot be backed up to the cloud. Moreover, it is mandatory to back up and store redundant data.
Previously, Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV relied on a backup product that was designed specifically for protecting physical infrastructures. However, when the organization decided to virtualize part of its environment, it was time to look for a new product. The main disadvantage of the previous product was that the organization could not centralize the backup management for all its branches and had to log in constantly in different interfaces. The organization ultimately wanted a solution designed specifically for virtual environments, offering pricing options for non-profits, and delivering the needed functionalities.
Solution
Salutec, a German service provider recommended NAKIVO Backup & Replication for Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV and performed all the necessary installation and configuration steps. NAKIVO Backup & Replication is an agentless solution that provides backup, replication, and recovery for virtualized environments. Moreover, NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers data protection for physical environments as well. The product provides several installation options that were convenient for the organization, including installation on Windows and Synology NAS.
The organization backs up its VMs to a Synology NAS and to tape. Installation on a Synology NAS provides Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV with higher performance, smaller backups, and faster recovery. “The nightly incremental backups for our headquarters usually require less than two hours, while daily backups in our branches just need 5 to 30 minutes. NAKIVO Backup & Replication delivers savings in storage space for backup activities and decreases other costs. While implementing NAKIVO Backup & Replication, we were able to save 87% on our storage space, meaning that we save money that otherwise would have been spent on disk drives,” says Dirk Bierwirt, IT Administrator at Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication also offers recovery capabilities, including instant file recovery. “Our users may often delete simple files and need to wait hours for the file to be restored because files are not always very critical. Instant file recovery works great for us, especially the option where the recovered file can be sent by email. We specify the user’s email and the user then receives the recovered file and chooses what to do with it. Thus, this functionality saves our IT department significant amount of time,” says Dirk.
Lastly, NAKIVO Backup & Replication provides integration with Microsoft Active Directory to simplify user management. “Our GDPR/ISAE 3000 regulations require that a technician who accesses the web interface must use personal login credentials. With Microsoft Active Directory integration, we can provide access to NAKIVO Backup & Replication. The functionality saves us time every time the technician log ins,” says Dirk.
Results
With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV centralized all the organization’s branch offices under one management interface. The organization achieved high performance and fast file recovery, saved money on storage space, and saved time on backup administration. With the help of instant file recovery, users no longer need to wait hours for file recovery, but rather can receive their files within minutes to their emails. With global data deduplication, the non-profit saved 87% on storage space. Microsoft Active Directory integration also helped save time and simplify user management. “NAKIVO Backup & Replication saved us so much storage space so that we are able to utilize that space for other things. Our previous backup product was difficult to manage and was not centralized. While NAKIVO Backup & Replication was able to deliver simplicity, and centralize all our branch offices in one management interface. Finally, with NAKIVO Backup & Replication we saved approximately 4 hours a week on backup management,” says Dirk.
About Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV
Since its establishment in 1961, Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV has been the point of contact for people with disabilities and their relatives in all matters of social interaction. The association has around 1,400 members and around 800 employees. Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg eV is committed to ensuring that people with and without disabilities in the Lahn-Dill district and in the Limburg-Weilburg district live, learn, and work together - live life with all its beautiful facets, but also with all the challenges. For more information, visit www.lhww.de.