1. Data Backup Strategies
SUGM 2006
Data Backup Strategies
Thomas Lisle Guffin
Technical Evangelist
Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Collierville, Tennessee
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

2. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Scenario 1
SUGM 2006
A user deletes a spreadsheet that has critical data. The file must be restored within the next hour.
How did you plan for this situation?
What are the steps to restore the file in the time requested?
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

3. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Scenario 2
SUGM 2006
The Sr. Pastor’s .pst file is corrupt. (your church uses an external POP/SMTP server and Outlook clients). Get his and contacts back or suffer the consequences.
How did you plan for this situation?
What “gotcha’s” might you encounter in restoring this file?
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

4. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Scenario 3
SUGM 2006
At 4:00 PM on a very busy (from a data entry standpoint) day, your Shelby/SQL/Data Server suffers an unexpected shutdown. The system reboots fine, but 30 minutes later, users start reporting missing data. Shelby support advises you to “restore last night’s backup”.
How long will it take you to have Shelby back on line?
How much data will need to be re-entered ?
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

5. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Scenario 4
SUGM 2006
A power spike causes a catastrophic failure of your Exchange Server. There are burn marks on the mother board. The RAID controller and at least two HDDs are dead. The server has been in service for four years and identical replacement parts are non-existent.
How long will it take you to have Exchange back on line?
How patient will your staff be when is not working?
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

6. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Scenario 5
SUGM 2006
A natural disaster completely destroys your church building. The servers are gone, the external USB HDDs are gone, the shelf with your backup tapes is gone, even your fire-proof safe is gone.
You are still breathing, your home PC is functional, your consultant from a distant city is still fully operational.
Time to implement your “Plan”. Tell me about it.
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

7. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Topics
SUGM 2006
Why do you do backups?
Can any “single” backup strategy cover all possibilities?
Are there sufficient resources (time and $$) to have every possibility covered?
Is a data backup all you need?
Are some “risks” acceptable?
The “Disaster Recovery Plan”
Backup Devices
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019 7

8. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
Why Do Backups?
People make mistakes
And expect you to “fix” them
Gremlins assail your data stores
Hardware fails
Microsoft makes applications and operating systems
And hot fixes & patches for same
Natural disasters occur
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

9. Can any “single” backup strategy cover all possibilities?
A plan for the “most likely”
What is the most likely scenario that would require the use of some type of backup?
A plan for the “worst case”
Disaster Recovery
A plan for every server
The shotgun theory
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

10. (C) 2008 Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
SUGM 2006
Are there sufficient resources (time and $$) to have every possibility covered?
What is your “backup budget”?
What is your archive device rotation plan
Can you get back to last week, last month, last year?
Islands of information
User data on laptop or workstation
Ministry / group data store
Much less expensive to provide on-line storage than archive storage
Choose between replacing an old server or an old tape drive
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

11. Are some “risks” acceptable?
How do you assess the risk?
Probability of loss occurring
Data or Hardware
How Critical -
Data or Service
Current-ness of restore
Allowable time to restore
Will your staff give you a week or two
Time to source new hardware
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

12. Is a data backup all you need?
How important is Active Directory?
System State
Shadow copy components
Does a RAID set eliminate the need for backups?
Majority of “Major” restores start w/ reload of OS
Significant %% of those are on new hardware
Hardware shelf spares, servers with under utilization
Off-site copies of all install s/w and license keys
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

13. The “Disaster Recovery Plan”
What data and services – at a minimum – would be required?
Shelby – some where to run it and some way to access it
– access to domain name servers to re-point MX
Web services – ability to make fast edits to communicate with staff, members, public
Voice communications – a quick way to bring up a distributed voice network
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

14. Backup Devices & Software
Why not storage servers, NAS, UDB HDD, etc.
What is the future with tapes?
Tape Library /Auto Loader
Software - ????
On Line Backups - Hosted Shelby Servers
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019

15. Thanks for Attending We Welcome:
Questions
Comments
Corrections
Addendums
Embellishments
Disputes
Dissents
Disagreements
Thanks for Attending We Welcome:
(C) Higher Ground Technologies, Inc.
2/16/2019