Being the Network Administrator – Assuring That the Missing or the Corrupt Files Can Be Recovered Is a Must in a Mission Critical Data
Performing regular backups is one of the most basic functions of the network administrator in a medium to large scale network organization. Having a good windows backup and recovery plan and get prepared for a data recovery due to hard disk storage failure is a must by regularly saving your data on another storage medium.
Data backup is an insurance windows backup plan. Important files are accidentally deleted all the time. Mission-critical data can become corrupt, or damage / deleted due to Trojan virus attacked. So that’s why a strong defense against any network threats must be in place for the organization. Unlike home network that can be installed with something like an internet security adapter, in a large organization a well managed information security should be developed. Natural disasters can leave your office in ruin. With a solid windows backup and recovery plan, you can recover from any of these. Without one, you’re left with nothing to fall back on. See also autoloader tape backup solutions for corporate networks.
Figuring Out a Backup Plan
It takes time to create and implement a windows backup and recovery plan. You’ll need to figure out what data needs to be backed up, how often the data should be backed up, and more. In a multi server environment that need to backup huge data from those servers, the need to perform a network backup could be adopted. To help you create a plan, consider the following:
How important is the data on your systems?
The importance of data can go a long way in helping you determine if you need to back it up—as well as when and how it should be backed up. For critical data, such as a database, you’ll want to have redundant backup sets that extend back for several backup periods. For less important data, such as daily user files, you won’t need such an elaborate backup and recovery plan, but you’ll need to back up the data regularly and ensure that the data can be recovered easily.
What type of information does the data contain?
Data that doesn’t seem important to you might be very important to someone else. Thus, the type of information the data contains can help you determine if you need to back up the data—as well as when and how the data should be backed up.
How often does the data change?
The frequency of change can affect your decision on how often the data should be backed up. For example, in your backup and recovery plan data that changes daily should be backed up daily.
Can you supplement backups with shadow copies?
Shadow copies are point-in-time copies of documents in shared folders. These point-in-time copies make it easy to recover documents, as you can quickly go back to an older version in case a document is deleted or overwritten accidentally. You should use shadow copies in your backup and recovery plan in addition to standard backup—and not to replace backup procedures.
How quickly do you need to recover the data?
Time is an important factor in creating a backup and recovery plan. For critical systems, you might need to get back online swiftly. To do this, you might need to alter your backup plan.
Do you have the equipment to perform backups?
You must have backup hardware to perform backup and recovery plan. To perform timely backups, you might need several backup devices and several sets of backup media. Backup hardware includes tape drives, optical drives, and removable disk drives backup. Generally, tape drives are less expensive but slower than other types of drives.
Who will be responsible for the backup and recovery plan?
Ideally, someone should be a primary contact for the organization’s backup and recovery plan. This person might also be responsible for performing the actual backup and recovery of data.
What’s the best time to schedule backups?
Scheduling backups when system use is as low as possible will speed the backup process. However, you can’t always schedule backups for off-peak hours. So you need to carefully plan when key system data is backed up.
Do you need to store backups off-site?
In your backup and recovery plan, storing copies of backup tapes off-site is essential to recovering your systems in the case of a natural disaster. In your off-site storage location, you should also include copies of the software you might need to install to reestablish operational systems.
The Basic Types of Backup
There are many techniques for backing up files. The techniques you use will depend on the type of data you’re backing up, how convenient you want the recovery process to be, and more.
If you view the properties of a file or directory in Windows Explorer, you’ll note an attribute called Archive. You often use this attribute to determine whether a file or directory should be backed up. If the attribute is on, the file or directory might need to be backed up. The basic types of backups you can perform include the following:
Normal/full backups
All files that have been selected are backed up, regardless of the archive attribute’s setting. When a file is backed up, the archive attribute is cleared. If the file is later modified, this attribute is set, which indicates that the file needs to be backed up. In your windows backup and recovery plan, normal backup should be done in a weekly and monthly basis.
Copy backups
All files that have been selected are backed up, regardless of the archive attribute’s setting. Unlike a normal backup, the archive attribute on files isn’t modified. This allows you to perform other types of backups on the files at a later date. In your backup and recovery plan, the copy backup should be done for storage backups off-site in special cases such as emergency situation.
Differential backups
Differential backup is designed to create backup copies of files that have changed since the last normal backup. The presence of the archive attribute indicates that the file has been modified and only files with this attribute are backed up. However, the archive attribute on files isn’t modified. This allows you to perform other types of backups on the files at a later date.
Incremental backups
Incremental backup is designed to create backups of files that have changed since the most recent normal or incremental backup. The presence of the archive attribute indicates that the file has been modified and only files with this attribute are backed up. When a file is backed up, the archive attribute is cleared. If the file is later modified, this attribute is set, which indicates that the file needs to be backed up.
Daily backups
Daily backups are designed to back up files using the modification date on the file itself. If a file has been modified on the same day as the backup, the file will be backed up. This technique doesn’t change the archive attributes of files.
In your backup and recovery plan you’ll probably want to perform full backups on a weekly basis and supplement this with daily, differential, or incremental backups. You might also want to create an extended backup set for monthly and quarterly backups that includes additional files that aren’t being backed up regularly.
See also:
- Business continuity and Disaster recovery plan
- Security risk assessment guidelines
- Clone the hard disks
- Wireless computer networking
- computer networking diagram
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