Backup and Disaster Recovery Southern California | WCC Tech
Backup & Disaster Recovery · Southern California

Backup and Disaster Recovery
Southern California.

WCC Technologies Group delivers backup and disaster recovery design across Southern California — Veeam, Rubrik, Cohesity platform implementation, immutable backup architecture, 3-2-1-1-0 strategy, cloud DR via Azure Site Recovery and AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery, DR testing programs, runbook development, and managed backup operations. Ransomware-resilient design.

Why Backup & DR

Backup and disaster recovery in Southern California — the control that decides whether ransomware is survivable.

Backup and disaster recovery in Southern California is the security control that determines whether a major incident is survivable. Most California ransomware incidents ultimately succeed or fail based on backup posture. Immutable, tested backups make incidents recoverable — costly and disruptive, but recoverable. Missing, compromised, or untested backups make incidents existential — businesses that can't recover often don't survive the incident. This is the control most California mid-market businesses underinvest in until they need it, at which point it's too late.

Modern backup follows the 3-2-1-1-0 rule — 3 copies of data, 2 different media types, 1 copy offsite, 1 copy immutable or air-gapped, 0 errors verified through restoration testing. Immutability is now table stakes — modern ransomware deliberately targets backups before triggering production encryption. Cloud DR via Azure Site Recovery or AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery has largely replaced traditional secondary datacenter approaches for typical California mid-market workloads, delivering better RTO/RPO at significantly lower TCO.

This page covers WCC's backup and DR scope. For broader data center scope, see data center services hub. For SOC monitoring that detects incidents before they require recovery, see managed SOC services. For incident response when recovery is needed, see incident response.

Five Practice Areas

Backup and DR — five practice areas in every engagement.

Backup and DR covers more than just configuring software. Five practice areas apply to every engagement, scaled to fit project size.

RPO/RTO & Business Impact Analysis
BIA · Tiering · Targets

What we're protecting and how fast we must recover

Business impact analysis (BIA) drives backup and DR targets. Each workload classified into tiers: Tier 1 critical (revenue-generating, customer-facing) with RPO under 15 minutes and RTO under 4 hours; Tier 2 important (internal operations) with RPO 1-4 hours and RTO 8-24 hours; Tier 3 non-critical (dev, archive) with longer targets. Universal RPO/RTO targeting wastes money on non-critical workloads while under-protecting critical ones. BIA-driven targeting protects the right workloads at appropriate cost.

Platform Selection & Design
Veeam · Rubrik · Cohesity · Druva

The backup software underneath everything

Backup platform selection depends on workload mix, existing infrastructure, and ransomware resilience requirements. Veeam: broad market leader, strong VMware integration, growing cloud support, flexible deployment. Rubrik: enterprise-grade with native immutability and cyber recovery features, strong M365 support. Cohesity: similar to Rubrik with consolidation focus. Commvault: enterprise standard with broadest workload support. Druva: SaaS-delivered for cloud-native customers. WCC selects platform against actual requirements rather than vendor relationships.

Immutable Backup Architecture
Object Lock · Hardened Repo · Air Gap

Backups that ransomware cannot destroy

Immutable backup architecture protects against ransomware that targets backups. Implementations: S3 Object Lock (compliance mode for non-changeable retention, governance mode for adjustable), Azure Blob immutable storage, Veeam Hardened Repository (Linux with immutable XFS), Rubrik secured archive, dedicated immutability appliances. 3-2-1-1-0 strategy implementation pairs production backup with offsite replication and immutable copy. Without immutability, modern ransomware compromise typically destroys backups before encrypting production.

Cloud DR Design
Azure ASR · AWS DRS · Veeam Replication

Disaster recovery without secondary datacenter

Cloud DR has replaced traditional DR sites for most California mid-market businesses. Azure Site Recovery replicates VMware, Hyper-V, and physical workloads to Azure with RPO of seconds. AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) provides similar capability for AWS DR targets. Veeam Cloud Connect and Rubrik cloud replication offer platform-specific cloud DR. Pay-as-you-use during normal operations (storage only), full compute spin up during DR events. Significantly lower TCO than secondary datacenter approach with better RTO/RPO.

DR Testing & Runbook Development
Tabletop · Partial · Full Failover

The difference between DR plan and DR capability

DR testing converts written plans into proven capability. Quarterly tabletop exercises (facilitated discussion testing process and communication). Semi-annual partial failover tests (specific workloads to DR environment, validated, failed back). Annual full DR test (complete failover with sustained operations). Each test documented with findings and remediation. Runbook development codifies tested procedures for repeatable execution. Most California businesses without recent DR testing have significant gaps revealed during real incidents — testing prevents this.

FAQs

Backup and disaster recovery in Southern California — frequently asked questions.

Common questions about backup and DR — covering scope, cost, 3-2-1-1-0 strategy, platforms, immutability, cloud DR, testing, RPO/RTO targets, and managed services.

WCC's backup and disaster recovery scope covers RPO and RTO requirements analysis per workload (how much data loss is acceptable, how fast must we recover), backup platform selection (Veeam, Rubrik, Cohesity, Commvault, Druva), immutable backup architecture (critical for ransomware resilience), 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy implementation, DR site design (hot, warm, cold including cloud DR options), DR testing schedules and runbook development, regulatory compliance alignment (HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2), and ongoing operational support either via internal IT, co-managed, or fully managed backup services.
Backup and DR pricing varies by approach. Backup platform licensing typically $50-$200 per VM per year for Veeam/Rubrik/Cohesity depending on tier and capacity. Storage costs separate — on-premises backup storage typically $0.05-$0.15 per GB per month TCO, cloud backup storage $0.005-$0.05 per GB per month depending on tier (immutable/archive tiers cheapest). Project pricing for design and implementation: $15,000-$75,000 for typical mid-market design and rollout. Managed backup services: $1,500-$8,000 per month covering monitoring, testing, restoration support, and platform operations. WCC provides fixed-fee project pricing after assessment.
The modern backup standard, evolved from the classic 3-2-1 rule to address ransomware threats. 3 copies of data (production plus 2 backups minimum). 2 different media types (disk, cloud, tape). 1 copy offsite (cloud, replicated DR site, tape vaulted offsite). 1 copy immutable or air-gapped (cannot be modified or deleted by ransomware, even with admin credentials). 0 errors verified through restoration testing (backups that don't restore aren't backups). Modern California businesses implementing 3-2-1-1-0 typically use Veeam/Rubrik/Cohesity on-premises plus cloud backup with object lock for immutability. Without immutability, ransomware actors increasingly destroy backups as part of attack.
WCC supports the major backup platforms: Veeam (broad market leader, strong VMware integration, growing cloud support), Rubrik (enterprise-grade with native immutability and cyber recovery features, strong M365 support), Cohesity (similar to Rubrik with consolidation focus including secondary storage), Commvault (enterprise standard with broadest workload support), Druva (SaaS-delivered backup for cloud-native customers), and Microsoft Azure Backup for Azure-native customers. Platform selection happens during scoping based on existing infrastructure, workload mix, ransomware resilience requirements, and budget. WCC operates platform on customer's behalf or transfers to internal IT after deployment.
Immutable backup is backup data that cannot be modified or deleted for a defined retention period — even by administrators with credentials. Implementations: S3 Object Lock (compliance mode, governance mode), Azure Blob immutable storage, hardware immutability via Linux hardened repositories or dedicated appliances (Veeam Hardened Repository, Rubrik secured archive). Immutability matters because modern ransomware attacks deliberately target backups — attackers compromise admin credentials, locate backups, delete or encrypt them before triggering encryption of production. Without immutable backups, recovery is impossible. With immutable backups, recovery is just time-consuming. Immutability is now table stakes for serious backup architecture.
Cloud DR has largely replaced traditional DR sites for most California mid-market businesses. Traditional DR site approach (secondary datacenter, replicated infrastructure, staffed and maintained): $500K-$5M+ annual cost, complex to maintain, often discovered to not actually work when needed. Cloud DR approach (Azure Site Recovery, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery, Veeam/Rubrik cloud replication): pay-as-you-use during normal operations (just storage cost), full compute and network spin up during actual DR event, regular DR testing affordable, no dedicated infrastructure to maintain. Cloud DR typically delivers better RTO/RPO at significantly lower TCO than traditional DR sites for typical California mid-market workloads.
DR testing is the difference between a DR plan and DR capability. WCC's DR testing approach: quarterly tabletop exercises (facilitated discussion testing process, communication, decision authority); semi-annual partial failover tests (specific workloads failed over to DR environment, validated, failed back); annual full DR test (complete failover of production to DR environment, sustained operations for 24-48 hours, controlled failback). Each test produces documented findings and remediation. Most California businesses without recent DR testing have significant gaps revealed during real incidents. WCC's DR testing produces audit-ready documentation for cyber insurance, compliance, and board reporting.
RPO (recovery point objective — how much data can we lose) and RTO (recovery time objective — how long can we be down) should be set per workload class rather than universally. Tier 1 critical workloads (revenue-generating applications, customer-facing systems): RPO under 15 minutes, RTO under 4 hours typically. Tier 2 important workloads (internal operations, file servers): RPO 1-4 hours, RTO 8-24 hours. Tier 3 non-critical workloads (development, archive): RPO 24 hours, RTO 1-3 days. Targets driven by business impact analysis — what's the actual cost per hour of each workload being down, what's the actual impact of losing N hours of data. WCC's design starts with BIA rather than universal targets.
Yes. Managed backup services covers daily backup monitoring (success/failure validation, failed job remediation, capacity management), weekly health checks (storage utilization, retention compliance, backup window analysis), monthly testing (random restoration tests validating backup integrity), quarterly DR testing, annual full DR validation, and 24/7 emergency restoration support. Most California mid-market businesses benefit from managed backup — internal IT can configure backup but often lacks bandwidth for the daily operational work that makes backup actually reliable. Pricing typically $1,500-$8,000 per month depending on environment size and SLA tier.
WCC provides backup and disaster recovery design throughout Southern California — Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino and Riverside counties (Inland Empire), San Diego County, and Ventura County. Most backup and DR work is delivered remotely — platform configuration, monitoring, testing, restoration support. On-site work scheduled for initial hardware installation (backup appliances, secondary storage) and major recovery events. Multi-site organizations across multiple counties supported under one backup and DR engagement.
Ready to Discuss Backup & DR?

Request a Backup and DR Assessment

Looking at backup and disaster recovery in Southern California? Tell us your current backup posture (platforms in use, last successful restore test, immutability status), workload mix, and what's driving the conversation — cyber insurance requirement, ransomware concerns, compliance audit, recent failed restore — and WCC will scope backup and DR for your business. NDA in place before any environment detail shared.