Gartner research points out that 35% of backup tapes will not restore in the way
that you expect.
At first I did not believe the above statistics. However, because I have
read other articles which give even worse figures, I now accept the truth - many backup
tapes are fatally flawed. If you study Gartner's statement carefully, it says not
so much that backup itself does not work, more that something goes awry when you
attempt to restore the tapes.
The salutary message is your backup strategy will never be complete until you find the
time to test a full restore under realistic disaster conditions.
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1. Normal - Where ever possible, take a normal backup. The
reason is that this is the only method that backs up ALL the the files.
Another benefit of Normal Backup
comes when you restore, you only need the last tape. With
the other
types or backup you need to restore multiple tapes which increases the time,
frustration and the chance of something going wrong. Make a normal backup
your reflex.
Customer: 'But Guy, a normal backup takes 22 hours'.
Guy: 'O.K., let us use a normal backup at the weekend and differential each
night.'
To understand the other types you need to consider what is happening to the archive
bit during backup. As you may know, a normal backup resets the archive bit
(no tick), but when the user updates the file a tick appears in the archive bit. Incidentally, you can check the archive bit
status by looking at the advanced
properties of any file or folder.
2. Differential - Backs up only files that have changed since the last
full backup. How does it know which files to choose? It selects only
files with the archive bit checked. Unlike the next type, differential
does NOT reset the archive bit, so each day the backups get larger and larger.
3. Incremental - Backs up only files with archive bit set.
Incremental then clears the tick. Incremental backups are quicker to run than
the other types, but are a nightmare to restore. Some databases only allow
Normal or Differential types of backup. Make this method your last resort.
4. Copy - Backs up files that you manually select, suppose you want
all documents that relate to a topic no matter when they last changed.
Copy leaves the archive bit as it was.
Another scenario where you could use a copy backup is that you want to backup an entire website, no matter when the last
files were backed up. However, you do not want to reset the archive bit.
5. Daily - Backs up files with today's date stamp. Since today
midnight 0.00
hrs. (Not within the last 24 hrs.)
Note: Which ever of the above 5 types you use, you can, and should backup the
System State
1. Keep a spreadsheet - Update records, make a calendar, or utilize
the built in scheduler.
2. Use Volume Shadow Copy - The
new Shadow Copy feature in Server 2003, provides point-in-time copies of files on network
shares. This enables you to backup open files, however, Volume Shadow Copy
is not a substitute for a proper normal backup.
3. Consider Security - What would happen if someone stole the tape? Would you notice? What
could information could they gain? How easy would it be for them to
restore? What could you do to prevent all of the above?
Answer: Protect by selecting the option: 'Restrict restore to owner or
administrator'. Another security measure is to use your Domain Group Policy and restrict the Restore
privilege to Administrators.
Select the option to verify backup, the process will take a little longer but
its worth the wait.
4. Planning - Create a backup baseline. The idea is to create a reference point where you
know everything is working properly. Then it will be quicker to restore
the changes from tape. Note the 'Restore Point' feature of XP is not
available on Server 2003.
Make a written plan of who will do what in the case of an emergency
incident. Create a flow chart of the sequence to retrieve data. If
server is running then get data, if server is not running, repair Windows 2003 operating
system.
5. Getting Started - You access the Backup GUI via Accessories, System
Tools. There is also a command line version suitable for scripting called
ntbackup.
