Backup/Restore and Disaster Recovery
How
are your backups set up?
* How are the backups set up with for instance. Full, Differential och
Incremental backups .. or maybe even Delta / Block level ? What are the
pros and cons of the different ways? What are the consequenses? Is there
enough time? Do you need another solution or can your exisitng one be
more effective?
Is it enough to be used at a major restore?
* What are the minimum backups required to recover from a complete system
failure or parts of it? Is it documented HOW it is supposed to be done?
Do you have systems depending on eachother in order to work and in which
order must they be restored to be back in normal operations as quickly
as possible again? How does your server operatingsystem work? Microsoft
Windows, Novell NetWare, SUN Solaris, Linux .. they all differ at restores.
Or, is it too much?
* At the restore of for instance Microsoft Exchange some things should
be excluded at a restore which tend to cause problems. There are many
examples. Backing up too much data only costs time, tapes and bandwidth.
Is it possible to do more efficiently? Are you backing up lots of unnecessary
private files which only take up time, tapes and money? Should workstations
and laptops be backup up? If so, how?
Backup logfiles,
who reads them and corrects any errors?
* To miss out on error messages in the backup logfiles can have disasterous
consequences if your critical data is not present when needed.
How are the backups stored and who has access to them? And when? Who is
respnsible if they are lost ?
* Remember, all of your company's data is on those tapes/media and with
the right knowledge , it can be used harmfully.
What guidelines are in place and how are they being followed?
* Are policies in place for overwriting the tape/media? How far back in
time should ordinary operations-tata be able to be restored? For how long
is data being archived? What are the laws you have to consider in your
case ? What guideöines are in place by the management?