Backup Protocols
Maintaining data and its integrity is often a priority in production and home IT environments. Whether it be customer data, pictures, or VM snapshots, data needs to be stored and backed up in case of data loss or hardware failures. This document will outline the steps and systems that are in place to store, backup, and protect all of my important data.
The 3-2-1 rule
"The 3-2-1 backup rule is a simple, effective strategy for keeping your data safe. It advises that you keep three copies of your data on two different media with one copy off-site" (Backblaze)
The 3-2-1 rule has been a staple of the IT world for a very long time. It's simplicity and it's effectiveness make it an amazing tool to keep critical and important data intact. My implementation of this will be as follows:
Three copies of data:
Two different medias (Onsite Backup):
Offsite Copy (Only requires one option):
Backup frequency
Production data will be set to automatically backup at a specified interval. This interval will depend on the type of data, its use case, its importance, and its location. This backup will be automatically sent to the onsite backup where it will be stored forever or until it's usefulness ceases (ie. data which only needs to be stored for a set time frame).
The onsite backup will then be copied to the offsite backup once a week. This may have to be done manually if automation is not possible with the selected offsite solution. If the offsite backup is to experience data loss, drive failure, hardware failure, or erasure a new solution or a fix must be found immediately.