Backup & Disaster Recovery

RJ2 Technologies is a managed IT and cybersecurity provider headquartered in Deer Park, Illinois, and has handled backup and disaster recovery for businesses across Chicago and the Chicago suburbs since 1998. We cover two separate jobs that get confused with each other: backup, which is making sure a clean copy of your servers, workstations, file shares and Microsoft 365 data exists and can be restored, and disaster recovery, which is the written plan for getting a company operating again after a server dies, a pipe bursts, or ransomware encrypts a file share on a Friday night. Most of our clients came to us with backups running and no idea whether they worked. Jeff Dann founded the company in 1998 and it has been in the northwest suburbs the whole time.

What server backup does RJ2 Technologies set up for Chicago businesses?

RJ2 sets up image-based backup, meaning we capture the whole server (operating system, applications, configuration and data) rather than copying files off it, so a restore rebuilds a working machine instead of handing you a folder. Those images are kept in two places, a local copy on site for speed and a second copy off site in the cloud so a fire or a flood at your building does not take the backup with it.

• Local appliance on site. Holds recent recovery points and does the fast restores. When a server fails at 2pm on a Tuesday, this is the copy we use.
• Off-site replicated copy. The same images pushed to cloud storage on a schedule, so the building is not a single point of failure.
• Immutable retention. Recovery points that cannot be altered or deleted for a set window, which is the specific control that stops ransomware from encrypting the backups along with everything else.
• Virtual boot from a backup image. Standing the failed server back up as a virtual machine off the backup copy, so people can work while the original hardware is being repaired or replaced.
• Microsoft 365 backed up separately. Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams are not backed up by Microsoft in the way most people assume. Microsoft protects the service. Your data inside it is your responsibility, and the built-in retention windows are short. This is the single most common gap we find on a first assessment.

What does disaster recovery planning with a Chicago IT provider actually involve?

Disaster recovery planning is the exercise of deciding, in writing and before anything breaks, how long each system is allowed to be down and how much data you can afford to lose, then building the backup design to hit those numbers. RJ2 runs that as a sequence, and the plan is a document your team can execute, not a folder on our server.

The sequence, in order:

1. Inventory. Every server, application, file share and cloud tenant, and which ones the business actually stops without. Payroll, the ERP and the phone system usually outrank the marketing file share.
2. Set a recovery time objective (RTO) per system. How long that system can be down before it costs real money. This is the number that decides the design, and it is different for the accounting server than for the conference room PC.
3. Set a recovery point objective (RPO) per system. How much data you can afford to lose, measured in time. An RPO of one hour means backups run at least hourly.
4. Design backward from those two numbers. How often we snapshot, where copies live, and how a restore is executed all follow from steps 2 and 3. Anyone who quotes you a design before asking for those numbers is selling you a product, not a plan.
5. Write the runbook. Who is called, in what order, who can authorize a failover, and what people do in the meantime. Including the part nobody writes down: how staff work when email is down and the phone tree is the only channel left.
6. Test it, then test it again. See the next section.

How do you know the backup actually works?

You know a backup works because someone restored from it recently, not because the job reported success. A backup job that says “completed” every night and produces a corrupt image is the most common failure mode we see, and the only way to catch it is to perform an actual restore on a schedule.

What that looks like in practice: automated verification that boots each recovery point and confirms the operating system comes up, a periodic full test restore into an isolated environment, and a review with the client of what came back and how long it took against the RTO set in the plan.

What happens if ransomware encrypts our servers?

Recovery from ransomware is a restore, not a negotiation, and it works only if a clean recovery point exists that the attackers could not reach. That is why the off-site copy and the immutable retention window described above matter more than backup speed.

The order of operations when it happens: isolate the affected systems from the network, identify the last recovery point taken before the encryption started (which is usually earlier than people expect, because the intruder was in the environment for a while before triggering it), stand clean systems back up from that point, and only then reconnect. Notification, insurance and law enforcement run in parallel and are their own workstream.

Detection, endpoint response and email security are covered on our cyber security page. Backup is what makes the recovery possible, and the security stack is what keeps the recovery from being necessary.

Do you cover Chicago and the Chicago suburbs?

RJ2 Technologies serves businesses in Chicago and throughout the Chicago suburbs, working from our headquarters at 21660 W. Field Parkway, Deer Park, IL 60010. We are in the northwest suburbs and have been since 1998, which means most of our client sites are inside a short drive when hardware has to be touched in person.

The space at 333 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 2700 is a working space our engineers use when they are downtown for a client, not a staffed office.

What does it cost to get backup and disaster recovery in place?

What backup and disaster recovery costs depends on how many systems you run and how fast each one has to come back, and the assessment is where the number comes from.

Related: Cybersecurity Services | Cybersecurity for Regulated Industries | Managed IT Services | Frequently Asked Questions

Further reading: Cyber Insurance Compliance Requirements for IT | IT Compliance in Chicago: What Actually Applies to Your Business

Frequently asked questions

What should I look for in a server backup service?

Look for three things rather than a brand: an off-site copy that is separate from your building, an immutable retention window that ransomware cannot reach, and a documented test restore the provider performs on a schedule and reports to you. A provider who cannot tell you when your last successful test restore ran does not know whether your backups work. RJ2 Technologies has handled server backup for Chicago-area businesses since 1998 and can tell you where all three of those stand in your current setup before you change anything.

How much does disaster recovery planning cost for a small business in Chicago?

It depends on how many systems you run and how fast each one has to come back, because the recovery time objective is what drives the cost of the design. A company that can be down for a day pays less than one that needs the ERP back in an hour. RJ2 starts with an assessment of what you have and what the business actually needs, and the number comes out of that.

What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery?

Backup is a copy of your data. Disaster recovery is the plan for getting the business operating again, which includes the backup but also covers what order systems come back in, who makes the call, and how people work in the meantime. Plenty of companies have backups and no disaster recovery plan, which is why an outage that should last two hours lasts two days.

Does Microsoft 365 back up our email and files already?

Not in the way most people assume. Microsoft keeps the service running and protects against its own failures, but data you delete, data an employee deletes on the way out, and data ransomware encrypts is your responsibility, and the built-in retention windows are short. Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams all need separate backup, and this is the most common gap we find on a first assessment.

How long does it take to restore a server after a failure?

That depends on the recovery time objective set in your plan and the design built to hit it, which is why the number is agreed in advance rather than discovered during an outage. A server that can be booted virtually off a local backup image comes back faster than one that has to be pulled down from cloud storage. RJ2 sets that target with you per system before anything is built.

Can you recover our data after a ransomware attack?

If a clean recovery point exists that the attackers could not reach, yes, and that is what off-site copies and immutable retention are for. Recovery is a restore from before the encryption started, followed by rebuilding clean and reconnecting, and it is not the same thing as decrypting the files. The prevention side, endpoint detection and email security, is covered on our cyber security page.

How often should backups run?

As often as your recovery point objective requires, which is the amount of data you are willing to lose measured in time. A business that enters orders all day usually lands on hourly or better for the systems that hold those orders, while a file share that changes weekly can run nightly. Different systems in the same company can have different answers, and that is normal.

Do you work with businesses in the Chicago suburbs?

Yes. RJ2 Technologies is headquartered in Deer Park and works with businesses throughout Chicago and the Chicago suburbs. Call 847-303-1194 or email sales@rj2t.com to set up an assessment.