What is Backup?Backup refers to the process of making copies of data or data files to use in the event the original data or data files are lost or destroyed.
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Types of Backup- Full backup: This method involves making a copy of every file in a system. Though reliable, it can consume a lot of time and storage resources, depending on data size.
- Incremental backup: Involves backing up any files that have changed since the last backup. This type uses less storage and is faster, but restoration can be more laborious.
- Differential backup: Backs up all the data that has changed since the last full backup. It takes less time for backup than full backup and less restoration time than incremental backup.
- Mirror backup: Essentially a full backup that is executed each time it's run, with the difference being that only the latest version of files are stored.
Why is Backup Important?- To restore data in case of its loss.
- To recover data from an earlier time.
- To recover data from a physical or technical failure.
- To restore data in case of a human-made error or malicious attack.
Common Backup Media- Tapes: These have been around for decades and are a reliable, albeit somewhat outdated way to store backups.
- Hard Drives: These devices can store large amounts of data and are quite quick at both backup and restore.
- Optical Disks: CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray disks are another option, though limited by their space capacity.
- Cloud Storage: A contemporary method that allows data backup on remote servers, it offers advantages in terms of accessibility, scalability, and off-site protection.
Backup Software:Backup software is used to perform all types of backups. The backup software could be proprietary software provided with a physical backup device, standalone software, or cloud-based.
- Proprietary Software: Many backup devices come with their own software to manage backups. This software is optimized to get the best results from the backup device.
- Standalone Software: There are many standalone backup software options available in the market. These provide a variety of options and functionalities for the user.
- Cloud-Based Software: Many cloud backup solutions come with online software, making it easy to manage the backup process from anywhere.
Considerations for Backup:There are few things to consider while backing up data.
- Backup Schedule: Depending on the data changes and the importance of the data, the schedule of the backups may be altered to ensure data safety.
- Storage Space: It is important to ensure you have sufficient space in your backup media to store your data.
- Security: Backup data should be kept secure as it can be a potential security risk.
- Backup Verification: Regularly verify your backups to ensure they can be restored when needed.
Restoration Process:The process to recover data from a backup is known as restoration. This process can vary depending on the type of backup (full, incremental, etc.) and the backup media. It is crucial to ensure the restoration process works by regular testing.
Backup Best Practices:In a well-designed backup strategy, multiple forms of backups are used. For example, one might use a full backup weekly, a differential backup daily, and incremental backups every hour. This combines the completeness of full backups, the space and time-saving benefits of incremental and differential backups, and provides relatively quick restores. Regular testing of your restore process is also critical. Remember the 3-2-1 rule: Have at least three total copies of your data, two of which are locally stored but on different mediums, and one of which is offsite.
Offsite Backup:Offsite backup involves storing backup data or copies of data in a different location than your main location, i.e., not on your site. This can be achieved by manual methods like shipping hard drives or by electronic methods like cloud backup.
- Physical Offsite Backup: With this method, physical storage media (like tapes or external hard drives) are stored away from your main location, usually in secure vaults. The main point is to keep the data safe from any local catastrophic event.
- Cloud Backup: This involves sending your data over the internet to a remote data center. The center is usually managed by a third-party company. The responsibility to ensure the data's safety and to maintain the server's health is typically on the cloud service provider. This is a popular choice due to its scalability, accessibility, and yet its security.
Automated Backup:Automated backup refers to backup jobs that are scheduled to automatically run and store data copies without active management by users.
- Backup Software: Many pieces of software are available that can perform automatic backups. This capability means a backup task can be scheduled ahead of time to run regularly without intervention.
- Availability: It ensures the regular creation of backups without the need for users to remember to manually backup their data, helping to avoid data loss.
Backup Servers:Backup servers, as the name suggests, are servers that store the copied data from another server. This can be used in several ways, such as in a failover scenario where if the primary server fails, the backup server becomes active and takes over the operations to ensure business continuity.
- High Availability: Backup servers increase the availability of applications and services by providing an additional server ready to take over if the primary server fails.
- Disaster Recovery: In a major failure or disaster scenario, the backup server can be used to recover data and get services up and running more swiftly.
Backup Capacity Planning:Backup capacity planning involves assessing and predicting the space required to accommodate all backups within an organization. It involves calculating the growth rate of data, defining the retention policies, and considering the types of backups used. Smartly planned capacity helps one stay ahead of needs and avoids a crisis where critical data can't be backed up due to space limitations.
Backup Retention Policies:A backup retention policy determines how long a backup copy will be kept before it's ultimately deleted.
- Legal Requirements: Certain industries have legal requirements for how long data must be retained.
- Storage Limitation: Available storage space may dictate how long backups are kept.
- Business Needs: The individual continuance requirements of the business play a significant role in defining retention policies.
Data Lifecycle Management:Data lifecycle management refers to policies and procedures for effectively managing the flow of data throughout its lifecycle: from creation and initial storage to the time when it's obsolete and deleted.
- Value of Data: Not all data is of equal value at all times. Some data can become less valuable as it ages.
- Storage Costs: Keeping data that's no longer needed can incur unnecessary costs.
- Legal Compliance: Proper data lifecycle management helps ensure legal compliance.
Hard Drive Cloning:Hard drive cloning is a process that involves copying the contents of one hard drive to another drive.
- Exact Copy: Cloning provides an exact copy of the hard drive, making it an effective backup technique for full restoration.
- Hardware Upgrade: Cloning is useful when upgrading hardware, as it allows the complete copying of one drive to a new drive.
- Disaster Recovery: Cloning is a useful tool in disaster recovery scenarios, as it provides a near-instant recovery mirror of the data.
Cold, Warm and Hot Backup:This type of classification refers to the state in which data backups are kept and how quickly they can be used for recovery.
- Cold Backup:: Also known as an offline backup, this method involves backing up data when the system is shut down, ensuring no files are left opened or left in a volatile state.
- Warm Backup:: This method sits between cold and hot backup. Certain components of the system are backed up while they are not active but can still be brought online rapidly if needed.
- Hot Backup:: Also known as dynamic backup, it's done while the system is running and the data is active. This is useful for systems that cannot afford to be taken offline, like servers.
Local vs. Online Backup:This classification depends on where the backup data is stored, namely locally or online.
- Local Backup:: This involves saving data to local storage devices like hard drives or NAS devices. This is typically faster but can be vulnerable if a disaster happens at the location.
- Online Backup:: Also known as cloud backup, this involves saving data over the internet to remote servers. Online backup's primary advantages are its easy access from any location and its natural disaster resistance.
File-Level and Image-Level Backup:This refers to the level or granularity at which data backups are done.
- File-Level Backup:: This method only backs up individual files that are marked for backup. It allows for easy recovery of individual files but may not recover systems as quickly or entirely.
- Image-Level Backup:: Also known as a system-level or full backup, this backs up an entire system image. It typically includes all the system's files, settings, and databases, which can be restored as a whole.
Data Replication:Data replication involves copying data from one location to another, typically in real-time, to enhance accessibility and data protection.
- Availability:: Data replication increases data availability by creating additional copies of data.
- Performance:: In some cases, data replication can enhance performance by allowing distributed systems to access local copies of data, reducing network latency.
- Disaster Recovery:: In the event of a disaster, data replication helps ensure business continuity because data is mirrored in another location.