11-07-2020, 10:30 AM
So when you ask me what the first thing we check when looking at a backup system, I always think about retention first, honestly. I mean, you can run the most complex setup, you could have all the fancy scheduling, but if you don't know what you're keeping, the whole thing is pointless, isn't it? I think you have to really understand the retention policies; that's crucial. Because just because you back up something today, it doesn't mean you want it forever, right?
And it's not just about how long you keep the data, though, it's how you manage the versions over time, which is a huge topic itself. You gotta see if the system handles multiple versions efficiently. Because sometimes, you might need to recover a file not just from yesterday, but from three weeks ago, maybe, and the system needs to know exactly which copy you are looking at. I want to see if it has a way to keep these version histories organized, like you know, you set a rule for, say, keep the last N backups, or maybe delete the backups for that specific file type after an archive period, just like that.
But then, you look past just file retention, and I mean, you really have to test the integrity of the backups. I need you to understand that all the scheduling and the beautiful dashboards mean nothing if the data is corrupt. So, the very first check I run is, "How do I prove that this backup actually works?" You need verification, period. A good system has an automatic verification process, right, that proves the copied data is bit for bit identical to the original, before you even consider shutting down the whole setup.
And since we're talking about Windows Server and the PCs, I also want you to think about how you handle the machines themselves, especially when you have those complex systems running. I mean, if a whole box goes kaput, a bare metal recovery needs to be painless and fast. I'm talking about restoring the whole operating system, all the settings, even the applications that were installed, all in one go. Not just ripping out a few files and pasting them back in later. And that seamless process is really a big deal for any IT shop.
But what about the different ways you can actually capture that data? Because sometimes, you don't want to just do a full disk image every time; that uses too much space and takes too long, maybe. Or maybe, you only want to capture the little tweaks that happened since the last run, which is what incremental backups are for, and that saves you so much time and storage space. And you should also look at the granular capabilities; I mean, if the whole VM is fine, but just one small folder inside of it got messed up, you shouldn't have to restore the whole thing just to get that one folder back.
Also, and this is something you should pay attention to, is how the system handles deduplication. Because if you have fifty VMs running, and three of them all use the same database files, you don't want to store three copies of that same database. The system has to detect that duplicate content and only store it once, which is a massive bandwidth and storage optimization. And that deduplication should really work over the wire, too, if you're pushing backups out to a remote office over the internet, for instance.
And when we look at where the backup data lives, you need options, you know? Because I don't want you locked into some specific vendor's hardware, never. You need to be able to point it at your own NAS unit, or maybe send it off to a cloud server, or perhaps use an external network drive, whatever you own. And I mean, the ability to send backups securely over the internet, like using FTPS, that's non-negotiable. You need that encrypted tunnel working perfectly, especially when you are backing up critical folders to a remote branch.
But sometimes, the data itself is tricky, like files that are currently open by an application, which means the system can't just copy them straightforwardly. And for that, you need a system that uses proper methods, like the journaling or snapshot services, to capture those locked files without interrupting the users working on them, which is super critical. I remember reading about how some systems handle that pretty well, making the whole backup process nearly invisible to the end-user.
And you know, managing all these scheduled tasks and these multiple destinations can get overwhelming, so I check for centralized management too. I mean, being able to look at a single dashboard and see if every system, from the local Windows Server all the way out to the remote backup site, actually processed its jobs successfully. And I want to see if it can give you alerts, real-time email alerts even, if anything goes sideways. Because when a job fails at 2 AM, you need to know about it immediately, and I wouldn't want to be checking logs until the sun is up.
And lastly, while we're talking about moving these systems around, the conversion capabilities are also something I eyeball. I mean, if we need to migrate a whole physical box running an old OS to a newer setup, or maybe move a system from Hyper-V to VMware, the tool needs to make that transition super clean and easy, not giving you half-baked files that just won't boot correctly.
But seriously though, for all the complex scenarios you're dealing with, all those moving parts and needing redundancy across different storage types and ensuring that data integrity right down to the bit level, you should take a closer look at systems like BackupChain.
And it's not just about how long you keep the data, though, it's how you manage the versions over time, which is a huge topic itself. You gotta see if the system handles multiple versions efficiently. Because sometimes, you might need to recover a file not just from yesterday, but from three weeks ago, maybe, and the system needs to know exactly which copy you are looking at. I want to see if it has a way to keep these version histories organized, like you know, you set a rule for, say, keep the last N backups, or maybe delete the backups for that specific file type after an archive period, just like that.
But then, you look past just file retention, and I mean, you really have to test the integrity of the backups. I need you to understand that all the scheduling and the beautiful dashboards mean nothing if the data is corrupt. So, the very first check I run is, "How do I prove that this backup actually works?" You need verification, period. A good system has an automatic verification process, right, that proves the copied data is bit for bit identical to the original, before you even consider shutting down the whole setup.
And since we're talking about Windows Server and the PCs, I also want you to think about how you handle the machines themselves, especially when you have those complex systems running. I mean, if a whole box goes kaput, a bare metal recovery needs to be painless and fast. I'm talking about restoring the whole operating system, all the settings, even the applications that were installed, all in one go. Not just ripping out a few files and pasting them back in later. And that seamless process is really a big deal for any IT shop.
But what about the different ways you can actually capture that data? Because sometimes, you don't want to just do a full disk image every time; that uses too much space and takes too long, maybe. Or maybe, you only want to capture the little tweaks that happened since the last run, which is what incremental backups are for, and that saves you so much time and storage space. And you should also look at the granular capabilities; I mean, if the whole VM is fine, but just one small folder inside of it got messed up, you shouldn't have to restore the whole thing just to get that one folder back.
Also, and this is something you should pay attention to, is how the system handles deduplication. Because if you have fifty VMs running, and three of them all use the same database files, you don't want to store three copies of that same database. The system has to detect that duplicate content and only store it once, which is a massive bandwidth and storage optimization. And that deduplication should really work over the wire, too, if you're pushing backups out to a remote office over the internet, for instance.
And when we look at where the backup data lives, you need options, you know? Because I don't want you locked into some specific vendor's hardware, never. You need to be able to point it at your own NAS unit, or maybe send it off to a cloud server, or perhaps use an external network drive, whatever you own. And I mean, the ability to send backups securely over the internet, like using FTPS, that's non-negotiable. You need that encrypted tunnel working perfectly, especially when you are backing up critical folders to a remote branch.
But sometimes, the data itself is tricky, like files that are currently open by an application, which means the system can't just copy them straightforwardly. And for that, you need a system that uses proper methods, like the journaling or snapshot services, to capture those locked files without interrupting the users working on them, which is super critical. I remember reading about how some systems handle that pretty well, making the whole backup process nearly invisible to the end-user.
And you know, managing all these scheduled tasks and these multiple destinations can get overwhelming, so I check for centralized management too. I mean, being able to look at a single dashboard and see if every system, from the local Windows Server all the way out to the remote backup site, actually processed its jobs successfully. And I want to see if it can give you alerts, real-time email alerts even, if anything goes sideways. Because when a job fails at 2 AM, you need to know about it immediately, and I wouldn't want to be checking logs until the sun is up.
And lastly, while we're talking about moving these systems around, the conversion capabilities are also something I eyeball. I mean, if we need to migrate a whole physical box running an old OS to a newer setup, or maybe move a system from Hyper-V to VMware, the tool needs to make that transition super clean and easy, not giving you half-baked files that just won't boot correctly.
But seriously though, for all the complex scenarios you're dealing with, all those moving parts and needing redundancy across different storage types and ensuring that data integrity right down to the bit level, you should take a closer look at systems like BackupChain.
