Disaster Recovery and Backup Strategies for Enhancing University Informatization Resilience

The rapid development of educational informatization promotes the deep application of AI and big data in college education, scientific research, and management. It brings new impetus to university innovation.

However, the accompanying risks of data security and business continuity cannot be ignored.

Disaster Recovery Application Scenarios and Solutions

With profound experience in the education industry’s data security and business continuity management, Information2 has launched a series of scenario-based solutions.

These cover data migration, backup, CDP, application disaster recovery, and file sharing. They target the data characteristics and disaster recovery needs of key campus systems:

• Campus card system

• Educational administration management system

• Library system

• Email system

• Portal website

• File system

1. Disaster Recovery for Educational Administration & Online Course Systems

Scenario Characteristics

• Data is critical and sensitive

• Systems require 24/7 operation

• High concurrent access from multiple clients

Client Requirements

• Second-level RTO for key systems

• Terminal users unaware of failures

• No backup time window

• Minimal impact on system performance

• Near-zero data loss

Information2 Solution

Build local and off-site application high availability for educational administration and smart classroom systems based on i2Availability:

• Real-time monitoring of process status, network connectivity, CPU performance, and server health via a sophisticated monitoring platform.

• Immediate and seamless failover to backup servers upon fault detection, ensuring continuous service.

Provide comprehensive data protection via i2CDP:

• Protects against logical errors, hard disk damage, and virus attacks.

• Supports easy data restoration to any point in time.

2. Campus System/Cloud Migration and Disaster Recovery

Scenario Characteristics

• Business systems are coordinated to migrate to the cloud (by competent departments or schools).

• Cloud data faces platform-level security risks.

Client Requirements

• Online hot migration with no data loss.

• Cloud data security control and local backup of the latest data.

Information2 Solution

Seamless local-to-cloud migration and data protection:

1. Use i2Move to realize online hot migration of campus systems to the education cloud.

2. Use i2CDP to back up cloud data to the local computer room in real time.

This strategy prevents data loss from logical errors, cloud platform failures, and virus attacks. It also ensures bidirectional data synchronization and protection between the cloud and the local.

3. Disaster Recovery for Finance and Campus Card Database Data

Scenario Characteristics

• High data security and sensitivity requirements.

• Large data volume with high query and access frequency.

Client Requirements

• No data loss and ransomware protection.

• Minimal impact on production performance.

• Data consistency between the source and target ends.

Information2 Solution

In complex cross-OS environments, use i2Active database semantic-level replication:

• Realize real-time synchronization of the production-end Oracle RAC database to the target Oracle server.

• Ensure data real-time and consistency while improving system flexibility and maintainability.

Enhance data security with cascading synchronization:

• Synchronize Oracle database data to the off-site backup center’s server in real time.

• Dual protection prevents data loss and ensures data integrity/availability.

4. Multi-Campus Multi-Tenant Real-Time Sync & Ransomware Protection

Scenario Characteristics

• Multiple campuses and computer rooms with frequent data access.

• Scattered network data security risk points.

Client Requirements

• Real-time cross-campus data sync and ransomware protection.

• Off-site disaster recovery center to guard against natural disasters (fires, earthquakes).

• Guarantee data availability, integrity, continuity, and recovery reliability.

Information2 Solution

Establish a production center at the main campus and a disaster recovery center at the core sub-campus (or cloud):

• Adopt i2Cloud multi-tenant cloud disaster recovery platform for convenient account management of key systems (educational administration, student affairs, etc.).

• Use i2COOPY for real-time cross-site data sync, ensuring high consistency and continuous availability.

• Deploy i2CDP for continuous core data backup, enabling rapid recovery from logical errors, virus attacks, or natural disasters.

5. Campus Multi-Terminal File/Shared Cloud Disk Management

Scenario Characteristics

• Massive data types with chaotic management and low efficiency.

• Frequent file copying, repeated transmission, and scattered risk points.

Client Requirements

• Secure multi-terminal, cross-location file access.

• Campus data collaboration, backup, and unified management.

• Multi-level network disk permission management and historical data recovery.

• Real-time, convenient, and intelligent file update/sharing management.

Information2 Solution

Deploy i2Share to open accounts for teachers, students, and staff:

• Support multi-platform access (Linux, Windows, Mac, Android, iOS) for anytime, anywhere file access.

• Provide multi-terminal sync for seamless device switching.

• Offer a full historical version recovery to prevent data loss from misoperation.

• Ensure security via secure access mechanisms and encrypted storage.

Core Advantages of the Solution

1. Full-Domain & Multi-Cloud Application

Applicable to campus networks, LANs, WANs, and multi-cloud platforms (education cloud, operators, public cloud). Meets disaster recovery needs for physical, virtualized, and cloud environments.

2. Multi-Level & Multi-System Backup/Disaster Recovery

Adopt host-layer, volume-layer block-level, and database-level replication technologies. Provide real-time backup, CDP, and application disaster recovery for scientific research, campus card, educational administration, and other systems with second-level failover.

3. Multi-Strategy Management & Cross-Campus Disaster Recovery

Support real-time/scheduled campus data backup and serial/parallel database sync. Achieve cross-campus and local-to-education-cloud disaster recovery, solving issues like storage dual-active logical errors.

4. Strong Compatibility & Easy Operation

Supports various OS, databases, and virtualization platforms. Compatible with existing technologies/applications without changing system architecture. Features graphical management and flexible deployment.

5. Narrow Bandwidth, Low Latency & No Distance Limit

Based on byte-level real-time sync and serialized transmission. Only transmits changed bytes with no backup window. Customizable bandwidth, suitable for all-distance data transmission and ensuring consistency.

Conclusion

With deepening educational informatization and increasing educational data value, data security and business continuity are critical.

In line with policies and regulations, Information2’s scenario-based solutions help universities build stable, secure, and compliant protection systems. They provide solid support for China’s education industry digital transformation.