Understanding Unmetered Managed Backup Rackspace maintains one of the industry's most highly successful backup operations and infrastructures in the world. Because we are a hosting provider, Rackspace has always had to maintain the highest possible security for our customers. For backup, unlike other large companies where they are backing up mass quantities of their own servers, 99% of the servers' data that Rackspace backs up does not belong to Rackspace. So, our proprietary Managed Backup solution has always been required to be rock solid and secure from the beginning. Managed Backup has been successfully used to satisfy regulations such as PCI, SAS70, and HIPAA. With Unmetered Managed Backup, you have data protection that scales with you and will not penalize you with subscription overages when you grow. You won t need to constantly track how much you re backing up, nor intimately understand how your backup works. You have one simple price and the peace of mind that your critical data is protected. This document provides some answers to general Managed Backup questions and represents some basic points for customers new to Managed Backup. Table of Contents Unmetered Managed Backup Overview................................................. 2 What does Unmetered Managed Backup provide?......................................... 3 What should I back up?.............................................................. 5 Restores.......................................................................... 8 Managed Backup Reports............................................................ 9 VmVyc2lvbiAyMDA4MDYyNiAtIEZpbmFsIChDbGVhbmVkIDIp
Unmetered Managed Backup Overview Managed Backup Software and Tape Technology Rackspace Managed Backup utilizes CommVault enterprise backup software on LTO tape technologies within Quantum/ADIC and Sun libraries to perform backups and restores. Managed Backup's goal is to offer data protection, as transparently possible, and at a reasonable price. As a result, backup software, tape technologies, and libraries are subject to change as we diligently work to provide the best data protection service possible. Rackspace may also use other vendor software and proprietary software for the use of media management, failure analysis, and backup reporting. Tape Life and Tape Destruction We reuse and recycle our tapes for three (3) years, or until a malfunction or the system flags the tape unusable. Until the three year mark is attained, we continue to write and overwrite data to the tapes as needed by the backup software. At the end of a tape's life cycle it is properly erased and the tape is physically destroyed by a certified 3rd-party vendor. Network Managed Backup utilizes an independent, all Cisco switched network to: Segregate the backup network for security Maximize performance for data protection Physical Security Concerns Rackspace utilizes the same basic physical data center security precautions for backup infrastructure equipment as for customer servers. Tape libraries are logically separated from all other customer equipment in each data center facility. All backup servers are logically separated from all other customers in each data center facility. All onsite data is stored within the locked tape library which can only be accessed by authorized data center or backup technicians. Only Rackspace authorized media is ever allowed into the backup environments. Shared tapes are never sent to customers. Sending tape media to customers is impractical and highly discouraged. See your Account Manager for other options. Data Security Concerns Encryption is not standard and may be offered at additional cost. Some restrictions apply. See your Account Manager for details. Only administrators and technicians in the Managed Backup team have permissions in the backup application to modify/change/add any of the client information and configuration. Only administrators and technicians in the Managed Backup team have permissions to launch backups or perform restores. All onsite data stored within the locked tape library cannot be accessed without user/password authentication. - 2 -
What does Unmetered Managed Backup provide? Unmetered Managed Backup is a new way of thinking about backup and data protection for your servers. Unmetered is different from the old subscription model because you pay one low, monthly price for your backups instead of getting surprised with an overage charge at the end of the month. Unmetered Managed Backup is charged only for servers connected to Managed Backup based on a per-server calculation of a connection fee, a pro-rated quantity of raw local and/or attached storage (ex. Local disks, SAN and/or DAS), the frequency of your backup schedule, the length and term of data retention, and any offsite rotation where applicable. Data Retention Retention is simply how long the data is available to you for recovery. On any given day a customer with 2-Week retention will have 2 weeks of data from the date of the request available to recover. Rackspace offers 2-Week (onsite only), 4-Week (on OR offsite), 12-Week (offsite only), and 52-Week (offsite only) retention. 2-Week retention means there is a rolling 14-day period of time that the customer can request their data from Managed Backup. 4-Week retention means there is a rolling 28-day period of time that the customer can request their data from Managed Backup, etc. Changing retention rates is considered an upgrade or downgrade and may incur a change in your monthly cost. Please see your Account Manager or BDC for details. Offsite Tape Rotation Offsite tape rotation is the only service that rotates customer tapes and stores them in a facility other than our own datacenter. Offsite rotation is a service upgrade. If you have not subscribed to offsite rotation, then your tapes are kept safe in the tape libraries. Rackspace offers offsite tape rotation ONLY with 4-week, 12-week (3 month), or 52-week (1 year/12 month) retention. We store our tapes in an Iron Mountain facility near the datacenter of data origin. Offsite tapes have a 4 hour SLA to return the tapes to the datacenter. Tapes are sent offsite weekly on Wednesdays. Data is always stored onsite for at least week, and potentially up to 13 days, as the majority of restores occur within one week after backup. Long term offsite retention, beyond 1 year, is technically possible though available only in a limited one-off basis, and typically for only up to 3 years. Beyond 3 years, special restrictions apply. In all cases, technical justification and/or additional fees may apply. If you are interested in offsite rotation, and are not currently subscribed, please see your Account Manager or BDC for details. - 3 -
Schedules Rackspace offers the following backup schedules: Weekly Full Backups (once a week full backup) Weekly Full with Daily Differential Backups Weekly Full with Daily Incremental Backups Daily Full Backups Changing schedules with Unmetered Managed Backup may incur an additional cost. If you initially purchased a schedule with Weekly Full backups, and you are requesting a daily differential or daily incremental backup, this schedule change would be considered an upgrade. Please see your Account Manager or BDC for more information. Custom schedules are available only in a highly limited, one-off basis and may require the purchase of a custom backup solution. Special restrictions do apply. In all cases, technical justification and/or additional fees may apply. See your Account Manager or BDC for details. NOTE: The period between 1200-1800 CST is reserved daily for unscheduled maintenance. Scheduled Maintenance occurs every Wednesday between 1200-1800 CST. Differentials and Incrementals Differential and incremental backups are very similar yet have distinctly key differences. The difference between the two is that differentials compare the current day s data to the last full backup and incremental backups compare the current day's data to the last backup, regardless of whether it was a full backup or another incremental. Depending upon the nature of a customer's data and backup need, either one can prove to be advantageous, but differentials are recommended for daily backups. Incrementals tend to backup less data than differentials and may decrease the amount of performance load time your server needs to perform the backup. Incremental backups only back up the data that changed since the last backup -- regardless if it was a full or another incremental backup. That sounds great, right? I bet you're wondering why we don't offer incremental backups by default. There is a catch: Incremental backups may significantly lengthen of time to complete a restore. An incremental will have to load the full save set and any all daily save sets up to the point of the restore date you are requesting. A differential will only have to load the last full backup and the day s information you are looking to restore. So, if you have your full backup scheduled on Monday and you need to restore a directory from the following Sunday with incremental backups, a restore could require, at the very least, 7 tapes. Each tape load extends the time and increases the complexity of a restore. With a differential, you would only need the Monday full and the Sunday differential tape. In the follow diagram, you can get an idea of how differentials work versus incrementals and full backups. - 4 -
What should I back up? Exclusions for Performance Unmetered Managed Backup is focused on providing you data protection for all of the data you need to sustain your business. Rackspace always recommends backing up the whole of your server. By default, our systems come with some directories and files that don't need to be backed up. They were needed as part of the kickstart process, and can be useful for our technicians during troubleshooting, but otherwise, they are unimportant for the continued function of the server. So, we have created some default exclusions that we use to keep these files from backing up. These exclusions will be the base of all Windows and Linux exclusions, even if you should decide you need to exclude more. Recommended Backups (File System Backups) Rackspace always recommends that a customer back up their entire system. The important thing to remember is: You get out of backups what you include in your save set. We should never immediately suggest paring down your backups. You have to consider what is best for future needs. If your server suffers a hard drive failure, do you expect the server to be recovered to the point of the last backup fully functioning? While we do not offer a bare-metal recovery product a full-system restore may help. If so, then it is necessary to backup as much of your system as possible. We just want you to consider that you may really need to protect your data, as most customers do, and understand the true consequence of failing to back up your entire system. - 5 -
Remember, in computing, a symbolic link (often shortened to sym link and also known as a soft link) consists of a special type of file that serves as a reference to another file or directory. Unix/Linux operating systems in particular often feature symbolic links. Managed Backup does not follow sym links. The actual data directories MUST be explicitly specified. Some customers have a lot of data, but, unfortunately, not a lot of budget to back up every server. In a case where you may feel you may not be able to protect the data on all of your servers, you may find it best to involve your Support Team to help find the best solution to protect your pertinent data. Recommended Backups (Database Backups) Important: Without a database dump, databases WILL NOT get backed up properly during a file system backup. If you are not utilizing a database agent, either because we do not offer one or you have chosen not to use it, then you MUST dump the databases to flat files some where on disk for the file system backup to pick them up. Below are some guidelines for determining what you might have or need in regards to backing up databases based on the database platform you maybe utilizing. MSSQL Backups The Managed Backup MSSQL agent allows for live (aka hot) backups of the MSSQL databases. In default setting, any databases that are added or deleted will be automatically recognized by the agent. Backups of databases are scheduled similarly to your file system backups, but may have some limitations. Managed Backup policy is to never to overwrite databases. Should you require a restore of a database, we will always restore the database to a separate copy and will not overwrite unless expressly required, by you, to do so. The real benefit of the Managed Backup MSSQL Agent is having an automated backup procedure for your databases. The Managed Backup staff will monitor the backups and remedy failures. The restore process eliminates many steps necessary to recover a database from a flat file by restoring it directly back into the SQL Server instance. However, there are limitations in our ability to provide custom database backup setups. As a result, it may be best for you to not use the Managed Backup MSSQL agent. Should you decide not to go with the Managed Backup MSSQL agent, you will need to dump the databases to flat files. You will then be responsible for using MSSQL s intrinsic functionality to deposit your database files to local or attached storage so our file system backups will pick it up. MSSQL Transaction Log Backups Performing MSSQL transaction log backups directly with the Managed Backup agent is not currently supported. But that doesn't mean transaction logs can't be backed up! Currently, the best, and only recommended way of backing up transaction logs is to follow these steps: 1. Use our Managed Backup MSSQL Agent, have Rackspace perform a weekly full plus daily differential backup on the databases. 2. You, the customer, perform transaction log backups to local or attached storage using a maintenance plan. 3. Ensure the transaction logs are stored in a directory where the backups will capture the data during file system backups. - 6 -
MySQL Backups The MySQL Agent is a backup script that is fully-integrated with Managed Backup and MyRackspace. Includes initial configuration of agent, proactive troubleshooting of backup failures, and restore assistance. Key Features Fully-integrated with Managed Backup Backup monitoring, with reporting in the MyRackspace portal (i.e. success/failure status, size and date of last backup) Backup administrators and technicians available to help: 1. Configure the agent 2. Troubleshooting backup failures (if they occur) 3. Perform clean database restores Easy to use: o Each database is individually compressed and date-time stamped for selective restores o Auto-discovers newly added databases and backs them up o Free disk space is checked to ensure enough space is available for backups o Backup files are compressed locally before sending to tape o Most recent successful backup is stored on local disk for faster recovery o Agent self-updates once a week if a new version is available o Status logs are rotated weekly to conserve local disk space o mysqlbackup command can be run by customer for an immediate local disk backup The MySQL agent has some limitations that may not be compatible with all MySQL installations. Caveats o Databases are locked and set to read-only during backups o Multiple instances are not supported o MySQL 3.x or 4.x must be completely removed for backups to work properly with MySQL 5. The MySQL Agent script will often try to use mysqldump from a 3.x or 4.x installation to backup a 5.x database. This doesn't work on some tables in 5.x such as the information_schema table Oracle Backups Oracle backups can utilize database dumps to disk to be backed up during a normal file system backup. Oracle can also be backed up utilizing RMAN. Other Databases Any other databases such as Access, PostgreSQL, or any other common database applications must have their database dumped to flat files on the server for proper file system backup. - 7 -
Restores Restores always hold the highest priority for the Managed Backup team. To ensure immediate attention, please provide the full paths to the data you are requesting for restore (e.g. /var/log/access.log; NOT "My log files") and the date from which you want your data restored. Restored data will always be deposited to an alternate location unless otherwise requested, in writing, from the customer. Managed Backup is designed to restore data to its originating server or replacement. A restore takes data backed up from one server, and restores it to a different server is highly discouraged. The following list includes, but is not limited to, situations where data restores should NOT be used: Cloning of active servers Data migration between active servers Archiving data between servers Moving data between servers NOT in Managed Backup (e.g. Rackspace media servers) What should we do if we need data restored from one server moved to a different server? If you are low on disk space, there are still options: Consider adding a drive. Increase attached storage space. (ex. SAN, DAS, or NAS) Clear space for a local restore by moving some data to another server. To move data from one server to another, there are many ways to approach it. A couple of examples might be: 1. Simply use transfer software. o o Linux: rsync is still the best! Windows: If server is Cygwin-enabled, try cwrsync, NasBackup, or DeltaCopy. There is also a package out there called RsyncWin32 which allows native Win32 rsync porting with no extra DLL. 2. If the best data is on a backup, there is a much higher rate of success when we restore the data to the server from where it came. Once that is done, simply transfer the restored data from the source server to the target server (via rsync or other methods described above). A support technician should be able to perform the transfer easily. Using disk-based data transfer methods, from customer server-to-customer server, work far more reliably, and take significantly less time and far fewer resources to complete. The end result is Rackspace gets the data where it needs to be, faster. - 8 -
Managed Backup Reports MyRackspace Managed Backup reports are available on MyRackspace showing: Last successful backup Last time information was updated in portal View each servers last backup information o Server o Data backed up o Duration of backup View historical backup information View configuration information for each server o Server name o Data inclusions and exclusions o Retention period o Backup start time o Offsite rotation purchased o The type of backup and when it takes place (Full/Diff/Inc) Detailed Reports You can ask your Account Manager for more detailed reports. These reports provide are similar to the MyRackspace reports by offering a daily breakdown of a customer's Managed Backup usage. These reports can aid your ability to adjust your backups for best performance. Reporting Anomalies in MyRackspace If at any time the Managed Backup information you see on MyRackspace appears to be out of sync with what you are expecting to see, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our backups have an industry leading success rate, but know that keeping an eye on your backups is always a good habit to ensure everything is working to your satisfaction. Managed Backup reports do not display in real-time. Too, the information availability depends on if your backups are still running, when your last backup completed in relation to refresh times, and any issues that might delay a data refresh. We are continually working with our vendors to make this information as real-time as possible. Always Here to Help Managed Backup team is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to provide Fanatical Support all year long. If you have any questions or concerns about the Unmetered Managed Backup service, please do not hesitate to contact us. - 9 -