The Quality Council for Trades & Occupations (QCTO) has been using the Redstor Backup Pro solution as the means to protect its important data spanning several servers. Now in its fourth year of implementation, the testing and reporting functionality of Redstor has empowered the QCTO to maintain its focus on operations while its backup and storage needs are taken care of.
About the Quality Council for Trades & Occupations (QCTO)
Established in 2010, the Quality Council for Trades & Occupations (QCTO) works to oversee the design, implementation, assessment, and certification of occupational qualifications on the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF).
The QCTO is one of three Quality Councils responsible for a part of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). Collectively, the Quality Councils and the South African Qualifications Authority work for the good of both learners and employers. Additionally, it provides guidance to service providers who must be accredited by the QCTO to offer occupational qualifications.
Problem
With the QCTO moving to new premises in 2013, it identified implementing a data backup strategy as a strategic priority. It did not use any backup or storage solution at the time, resulting in significant concern for the council.
“We were very worried what would happen in the event of a data loss or failure,” says Tafadzwa Ramhewa, Director of IT at the QCTO.
Its service provider suggested implementing Attix5 Backup Pro (which was subsequently acquired in 2015 by Redstor) as a viable backup and storage solution to meet its business requirements.
Solution
The solution, rebranded as Redstor Backup Pro, would protect the mission-critical data of the QCTO SQL database, Exchange server, and file server against potential loss.
The council implemented Redstor on eight servers. This, in turn, would see backups run locally to a network device that would be mirrored offsite using Redstor.
Result
“Redstor not only provided us with a cost-effective way to run our backups, but also offered a quick solution in recovering data in the event of a loss. Furthermore, we have been able to test our backups monthly to ensure that we are covered if the worst should happen,” says Tafadzwa.
With Redstor, the QCTO has been able to automate its backups so there is less of an administrative burden to making sure it runs properly.
“Managing backups manually is just too time-intensive for the council. Thanks to Redstor, we have a streamlined solution in place that allows us to focus on our core business while our backup and storage needs are taken care of.”
Additionally, Redstor also provides the QCTO with quality reporting into the backup processes and highlights any potential problems.
“At a glance, we can refer to the emailed reports without needing to run the application. This gives us a good view of the progress of our backups and the state of our files. Redstor has also provided us with great support in terms of implementation, training, and any other questions we might have around the processes,” Tafadzwa concludes.
