Creating and Implementing Data Disaster Recovery

Plan

Introduction

Basic Backup Types

• Full.• Incremental.• Differential.• Copy. • Continuous.

Backup Considerations

• How much time do you have to perform the backup?

• How much time do you have to restore data?

Recovery Time Objective (RTO)• The RTO (Recovery Time Objective) will be

contingent on several factors, including: - – The amount of data to be restored: Do you have to

restore a single file or an entire data store? – The number of restores to be performed: Do you have

to store one full backup plus three incremental, or just one differential?

– The type of backup media in use: Are you restoring from physical media or over the network? Newer tape media such as LTO-4 work with high-speed drives that greatly reduce the amount of time required to restore data.

– The location of the backup files: Is the data on media physically located in an offsite storage location?

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) • RPO is a measure of the acceptable amount

of data you can lose, in hours.

• Example: Organization might define its RPO as 2 hours, which means you must restore data to within 2 hours of any disaster striking.

• Data created or modified within that 2-hour range is considered an "acceptable loss."

• The RPO helps you determine how often you need to perform backups.

Types of Backup Media

• Disk-to-Disk backup.

• Disk-to-Tape backup.

Backup Schedules

• Two basic schedule types: -

–Five-tape system.

–Grandfather-father-son.

Laying the foundation for backups

• It begins with centralized storage on a server rather than on local PC hard drives.

Preserving network availability during backup

• Backups require a significant amount of bandwidth.

• That’s why backups are scheduled during off hours when few or no users are accessing the network.

Optimizing Backup Performance

• Leveraging current infrastructure.– Databases have a habit of growing with

amazing speed.– They consume storage capacity at an

alarming rate.– It's prudent to monitor end users' data storage

allotment. – Need to limit storage to necessary business-

related data only.

Meeting Future Challenges• No matter how well you optimize your

system, your needs eventually grows.• When increasing your storage capacity,

your network infrastructure must also be able to manage the load.

• Even when backing up in off-peak hours, you still have only so many hours to conduct the backup.

Meeting Future Challenges• Because of other maintenance tasks,

you can't depend on 100-percent processing power and network availability, dedicated to backups.

• Upgrade your hardware and network infrastructure, as needed, to provide sufficient ability to back up the growing amount business data.

Securing Data Backup & Storage

• It's possible for your data to be at risk of interception and theft, both during the backup process and while in storage.

• To protect data in transit, the best method is using Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) over a Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnel to ensure security.

Securing Data Backup & Storage

• To maintain the security of backup media, keep your portable storage in a tape vault or some other secure location.

• Smaller businesses with limited budgets, can use a safety deposit box or offsite safe.

• The location must be readily accessible to authorized staff should the media be needed for a recovery procedure.

Storage Media Management

• Managing backup tapes is more than just switching them out and making sure they're properly stored.

• There are a number of issues that come with using storage media repeatedly over long periods of time.

Storage Media Management

• Dirty or damaged tapes and tape drive heads.

• Tape wear.

• Long-term storage.

Testing Data Restoration• Set a regular schedule to test your

recovery system.• Remember that you're not just testing

whether the system works but also how quickly it works.

• How long can your business afford to remain offline without access to critical data?

• The pre-determined values of RTO and RPO will come into play. `

Putting the Plan in Writing• The first part of testing data restoration is

developing and documenting a plan.

• In a disaster, multiple parts of your network infrastructure can fail or at least be impaired.

• Your recovery plan, should take into account all of the different aspects, of the overall system and how to respond when faults occur.

Putting the Plan in Writing• One method is to create an overall disaster

management plan that addresses aspects of recovery after a disaster, with the following individual sub-plans: -– SystemsSystems: Covers handling of server faults and

general restoration of data, applications and services – NetworkNetwork: Focuses on bringing up internetworking

devices, such as routers and switches – CommunicationsCommunications: Coordinates how different

organizations are contacted, such as law enforcement, company management, hazardous materials personnel and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), if necessary.

– These different parts of the plan can easily map to different teams in a larger organization.

Testing the Team• When delegating responsibilities, don't forget to assign the

task of performing a recovery in the event of a disaster.• When you test the team, test the recovery plan and how

the members of the team mesh in their tasks. • If a team member has successfully corrected the hardware

fault, do they have to wait for the tapes to be made available to initiate the recovery?

• If the tapes and the servers are ready, is there a delay in restoring the correct configuration files to the local switch?

• Testing the team is like running a fire drill. • You not only find out how well they work together, but

also where the faults and gaps are in performance and, to some degree, the plan itself.

Running Test Levels• Because you can face different types of disasters,

you should run different types of tests.

• One of the most common tests is restoring data from tape in the event of a data loss.

• Any test you run must be conducted in off-peak hours when few or no end users are on the system.

• Planning for the occasional weekend testing "party" is a small price to pay for the relative security of knowing your recovery plan works.

Running Test Levels• Beyond restoring data to a server.

• You can also introduce issues to different parts of your system and see how quickly those issues are addressed.

• Depending on how extensive you want to be, you can announce where the problem lies or allow your staff to attempt a diagnosis based on certain symptoms you announce.

• Ensure everyone knows their role ahead of time so they can participate efficiently in testing the recovery plan.

• Although backups are conducted regularly.

• Recovery operations are rarely performed.

• So make sure your staff is familiar with how to perform a server recovery and deal with all equipment and network connectivity.

Running Test Levels

Summing Up• In this presentation, you were explained,

how to create and test a data backup plan.

• Tips for restoring data, systems and your network after a disaster.

• In addition, you were explained, best practices and many advanced systems and network administration techniques.

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