Welcome to My E-Book I decided to write this e-book as a response to the many questions that I get from business owners about data backup solutions. I have seen first-hand that business owners are very interested in data backup and whilst they understand the importance of it, it is often hard to find the right information about how data should be backed up. Whilst most business owners will not want to get involved in the finer details of a data backup solution I think there is a need and an interest in understanding the overall backup strategy which in turn provides peace of mind to the business owner. David Silvester Owner Qwerty IT Services Ltd http://qwertyitservices.co.uk https://twitter.com/davids356 https://twitter.com/qwertyit1 http://linkedin.com/davidsilvester1
Table of Contents 1.0 Understanding your Data 1.1 Understanding the importance of your data 1.2 Understanding what data needs backing up 1.3 Understanding where your data lives 2.0 Backing up your Data 2.1 How to back up your data 2.2 How often to back up your data 2.3 Where to store your data 2.4 How many copies to keep 3.0 Testing your backups 3.1 Why testing your backups is important 3.2 How to test your backups 3.3 How often to test your backups 4.0 Creating a recovery plan 4.1 The importance of having a recovery plan 4.2 Writing a realistic recovery plan 4.3 Recovery times What is acceptable? 4.4 Testing the recovery plan 5.0 Beyond backup real time protection 5.1 How to lower RTO (recovery time objective) 5.2 Off-site replication
1.0 Understanding the importance of your data 1.1 Understanding the importance of your data The majority of businesses in operation today are extremely reliant on the computers that they run on. In a typical business the computer system as a whole not only holds most of the critical data belonging to the business but it is also responsible for a large percentage of the businesses day to day operations. These two facts taken together make the computer systems critical to the efficient functioning of the business to which they belong. Having a partial or total failure of a business critical computer system would be a catastrophe on its own and should any part of the critical data held on that system become unrecoverable it would cause a massive impact to most businesses. To put this reliance on IT into numbers, a recent report showed that 72% of businesses that suffer major data loss shut down within 24 months (http://mashable.com/2014/04/15/databreach-infographic/). Whilst computers may generally seem quite robust they do have a limited lifespan and sooner or later every computer will fail. If you don t have a good backup plan for all of your data then you do risk losing it. In addition to simply deciding on a backup plan you must consider every possible scenario because as is too often the
case with computers, everything that can go wrong will go wrong no matter how unlikely it might seem before the event. 1.2 Understanding what data needs backing up The first step in creating a backup plan for your business computers is to establish what data needs to be backed up. This is extremely important in order to avoid a situation where you need to restore a business application only to find that it was stored in a different location than you had thought, and the data contained within it was not being backed up after all. This stage must be comprehensive and systematic in order to make sure that you fully understand the programs you are running on your system as well as the data that they contain and where it is stored. The first step is to create a network map of your system this provides a visual map of your computers and makes it easy to keep a reference of programs and data locations. Figure 1: Simple computer plan Once you have a network map drawn up you can then create a database of the applications running on the system, where they reside and specifically where the data that is stored within them resides. Application Storage Device Data Location File System File Server D:\data Email Database File Server D:\email Accounts Suite Workstation 1 c:\program Files\Accounts
1.3 Understanding where your data lives It is important to understand that whilst a particular dataset might reside within a program such as an accounts package the actual data itself is stored independently of the program and can normally be found within the file system or as part of a database. Most programs provide information on where the data is actually stored but if this is not apparent then a quick call to the software provider can confirm these details. This information is extremely important because it ensures that each critical application is being backed up correctly and the right information is being included within the backup. In addition knowing where the data for all of your applications is stored will be invaluable if a restoration is ever required. 2.0 Backing up your Data 2.1 How to back up your data Once the business has a complete plan of the computer system and where the critical business data is held the next step is to start implementing a backup plan. The first step to implementing this plan is to decide on the method or methods of data backup that the business will use. There are many different options available in terms of backup in terms of how the data is backed up, where it is stored and also how easily it is to restore when needed. In addition to these primary concerns, different backup programs have the ability to back up certain types of data as well as the ability to store that data with different levels of archiving. Depending on what type of computer you are backing up (whether it is a server or a workstation) and what type of program or data that you are backing up, there are different software options that may be the most suited.
2.2 Backup Programs Windows Backup All modern windows operating systems from Windows XP onwards have their own built in backup program this includes both client operating systems and server operating systems. From Windows 7 onwards the in-built backup facility has a much greater functionality including full image backup as standard. Figure 2 Windows 7 built in backup utility Full image backup allows you to back up the computer in its entirety and consequently restore the computer to a working state regardless of any faults that should occur. In some circumstances this also includes restoration to new hardware (i.e. a new PC). The advantage of a full image backup is that the restore will bring the computer to full working order and exactly as it was before the issue. Data-only backups will only restore the data itself, meaning that any programs or user settings would have to be restored via another method. Whilst windows backup is very good when used as part of a larger backup strategy it is not comprehensive enough to be used by itself.
Some of the disadvantages of Windows backup include: Only allows you to keep a single copy when backing up over a network connection Does not come with a built in notification system Does not have any off site backup capabilities Does not allow granular restore of application data such as email Third party backup programs To provide additional functionality when it comes to backups there are many third party backup programs on the market. One popular program called Backup Assist makes use of the windows backup facility but adds many additional features that allow for a comprehensive backup plan to be implemented. Some of the additional features that come with Backup Assist are: Comprehensive email reporting for backups Advanced revision history and archiving options Off-site backup capabilities Compatible with many different types of backup media Bit-level transfer capabilities for backing up large data sets over low bandwidth links Granular application restore such as individual email restore Automated file level restore simulation Many of the features that are standard in Backup Assist are vital for a comprehensive backup solution and are the reason that Backup Assist has been so successful. Some of the features mentioned in this overview of Backup Assist will be discussed in more detail further on in the book including their importance in the creation of a solid backup plan.
2.3 How often to back up your data The frequency with which the data is backed up is very important and needs consideration on an individual basis or at least on a per business basis. There are several factors that will affect this decision and also several factors that will be affected by this decision. Generally speaking the more often the data is backed up, the less data will be lost if and when a restoration is required but with the luxury of minimal data loss also come cost implications because the more often the data is backed up, the more storage space and bandwidth will be required. In order to decide on the regularity of backups this information should be considered along with the importance of the data that is being backed up and ultimately how great the impact would be on the loss of any of the data. For example, if the data being backed up relates to an accounts package where figures are entered on a daily basis one backup per day may be sufficient. This would leave the maximum possible data loss at one day s worth of work should a full restore from backup be required. Other data may require weekly backups and some data such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) databases may require hourly backups.
A comprehensive backup plan will often consist of multiple backup schedules being used with different types of backup media which when combined have satisfactory cost footprint. 2.4 Where to store your data The location that backups are stored in also has several implications on performance, cost and flexibility. Firstly, different storage locations tend to have different cost implications so when coupled with the frequency of the backup you can estimate the cost of storing those backups on any particular medium. In addition to the cost implications the location that backups are stored in will also have an effect on the ease with which that data can be restored in a disaster recovery scenario. This point is critical because it will dictate how long a recovery takes which can have a major impact on business. This timeframe may be how long it takes to simply restore a single file that has been deleted by a user or it may be the time it takes to restore the entire system in the event of a hardware failure or other major disaster. A comprehensive backup plan will often have several backup mediums with some being stored on site for very fast recovery and some being stored off site providing longer recovery times whilst ensuring data safety in the event of an onsite disaster such as fire or flooding.
2.5 How many copies to keep The amount of copies that are kept will tie in with both the capabilities of the storage medium and also with the regularity of backups. Many companies tend to keep 5-7 revisions of data within the backup medium at any one time a separate backup for each day of the week for example. This is ok but it is not comprehensive as it doesn t account for deleted files or corruption issues that go un-noticed for some time. A more comprehensive backup plan will see daily backups being overwritten every 7 days but also weekly, monthly and quarterly backups being stored. Some storage mediums and backup software will make this very difficult due to the amount of data and bandwidth that would be required but for programs like Backup Assist that employ bitlevel changes the amount of storage space and bandwidth required is greatly reduced. 3.0 Testing your backups 3.1 The importance of testing your backups An effective data backup strategy must include regular testing of both the strategy itself as well as the backups that it provides. Without these regular tests the backup strategy is as good as useless. The strategy itself must be tested and revised regularly to ensure that it covers all critical business data and also that the regularity of the backups and other features are still acceptable and in line with the relative importance of the data being backed up.
In addition to checking the overall backup strategy the backups themselves must be regularly tested including performing test restores of data to ensure that it has been backed up correctly and provides restorable content. Without these regular restoration tests when the backed up data is truly needed it could well transpire that something was not being done correctly, rendering the backups useless. A good example of where this would be particularly relevant is with application backups such as Sage Act where there are specific requirements for backing up data. Not following these requirements would result in the backups being rendered useless even though they might well appear intact on initial inspection. 3.2 How to test your backups Backups should be tested systematically and it s a good idea to have a regular test schedule along with a checklist of things that should be confirmed as working and accurate. The type of thing that should be checked is the data that is being backed up where it is stored, how often it is being backed up compared the agreed regularity requirements and also that the entire data set is being backed up. In addition individual files or applications can be selected at random, restored and then tested. An example of a restore testing strategy might be that five random files are restored and tested on a monthly basis as well as any applications such as email database are also restored on a monthly basis and their integrity confirmed. Some backup software such as Backup Assist also comes with built in functionality for doing this and can be configured to restore a random file upon the completion of each backup to confirm its integrity. It is wise to perform additional manual tests in addition to any automated ones. 3.3 How often to test your backups The regularity with which backups are tested once again depends on how critical the data is, how often the backups are taken and how comprehensive the archiving strategy is. In addition the type of data must be taken into consideration in terms of how often it changes and what factors may be in place that could affect the integrity of the backups over time (for example application updates and data additions).
4.0 Creating a recovery plan Having your data reliably backed up and safe is only one part of the recovery strategy and must be coupled with a reliable and tested restoration plan. This plan is very important because it will dictate the steps taken in the event of a data loss scenario and will also provide realistic timescales for recovery. These timescales can be managed and modified depending on the demands of the business. 4.1 The importance of having a recovery plan Without these recovery plans in place data restoration timescales would not be known and this could lead to business critical applications being offline for long periods in the event of data loss which could be just as detrimental as data loss. 4.2 Writing a realistic recovery plan When writing a recovery plan it needs to be based on realistic and tested figures otherwise it cannot be relied on when it comes to recovering from a data loss scenario. Each part of the recovery plan should have realistic times associated with it. 4.3 Recovery times What is acceptable? Acceptable recovery times will depend on the importance of each data component that is being backed up and the cost of that data or application being unavailable. These costs can then be compared to the costs associated with the type of backup that you can implement which in turn will dictate recovery timescales. 4.4 Testing the recovery plan The recovery plan should also be tested in detail as this will help to ensure that the recovery times listed are realistic and that the recovery plan actually works. The recovery plan can be tested by performing part of each step within the plan. For example, if the plan involves downloading the entire backup set from an offsite storage medium then a percentage of this data can be restored to a temporary local drive and then the figures can be multiplied accordingly to estimate the timescale for restoring the entire backup set. Taking the recovery plan testing one stage further, for extremely critical data and applications where a definitive restore timescale is required the entire system can be restored to a temporary environment this would typically be a virtualised environment that mimics the live IT system. With this full restore timescales can be measured accurately and the plan can be tested in its entirety.
5.0 Beyond backup real time protection Having a comprehensive backup plan that is regularly tested is a great benefit to any company and gives confidence and assurance that IT systems can be restored to full functionality in the event of disaster and in an acceptable timeframe. But what if that s not enough? What if they business cannot afford any downtime what so ever because it would cost the business too much in time and money? 5.1 How to lower RTO (recovery time objective) When downtime is not acceptable for a business the RTO (recovery time objective) needs to be lowered as much as possible or removed completely. RTO can be lowered by putting in more comprehensive backup systems including more regular backups and high speed connections to the backup storage location. In situations where any downtime is unacceptable to the business replication systems can be put in place. 5.2 Off-site replication An off-site replication plan would involve daily, hourly or even real time replication of the entire IT system to an offsite location typically a virtual server environment so that in the event of a disaster the offsite environment would be ready to turn on and use in production. Because the entire system is replicated to this offsite location there is no need to perform any data restores and therefor there is zero downtime even in the event of a major on-site disaster.