A successful backup system is one that operates consistently and guarantee its users can successfully restore their data when needed. This guide describes a simple system that will help ensure a systematic and consistent backup culture. The geographical dispersion of the various offices where scientific research is taking place coupled with little or no IT support at some of these offices makes it challenging to monitor our back up system. However, a mechanism exists that allows remote access to computers. It provides a simple and convenient way of accessing computers remotely to check whether backups are running as scheduled.

You will be taken through the steps of installing software that grants remote access to any computer it is installed onto. In our case it is the central computer that contains the backup data. It is where your office backups are stored. It could be on a backup server, the IT/Admin computer, etc. Remote access will require internet to work.