Server Backup Guide: Creating a Backup Strategy

Source: veeam.com

Companies typically store vast amounts of customer information and business-critical documents. Servers are used for almost everything, making server backup essential to any business continuity plan.

Let’s explore the role server backup plays in today’s backup and recovery strategies, and learn what to consider when creating a server backup strategy.

What is Server Backup?

A backup copy of the server (backup) is a copy of the data stored on the server. The backup should be made on a different medium and ideally stored in a different location.

A backup provides an accessible copy of the server’s data, allowing it to be restored if the original data is lost or damaged. Common causes of data loss include:

• Human error, such as accidentally deleting a file or deleting data from a database;
• Damage due to hardware or software problems;
• Equipment failure;
• Viruses/malware/ransomware;
• Fires, natural disasters or other events that damage the data center.

Backing up your server provides an action plan for any of these events. Whether you have dedicated servers or rely on virtual machines, backups are essential.

Types of servers

Depending on the nature of your business, you may rely on several types of servers.

• Physical servers. A physical server is a single-client machine that is usually powerful and can be used to run many applications.
• Virtual Servers: These types of servers run on a more powerful physical server. The host machine uses a hypervisor to allocate computing cores, memory, and storage to guest virtual machines, allowing multiple clients to share resources.
• NAS devices: Network-attached storage devices are used to store large amounts of data and make it accessible to other devices on a network.
• Cloud Servers: Virtual machines and other computing resources such as storage or databases can be rented from cloud service providers. These instances typically run on shared hardware and can be leased on a long-term or short-term basis.

Why is backing up servers important?

Whether you have dedicated servers or use cloud hosting, backing up your servers ensures that your data is always available.

Nowadays, organizations have to deal with potential hardware failures, cyber attacks and other security issues. Cloud service providers may offer certain guarantees about the availability of their infrastructure, but they typically use a shared responsibility model. This means they will take care of the parts they control, but if you can control something, you should take care of it.

Under the shared responsibility model, the customer is responsible for the data stored on the servers. In IaaS models, the customer is responsible for almost everything except the physical infrastructure.

If you get hit by ransomware or fail to fix an OS or app vulnerability, your data is at risk. With the number of ransomware attacks almost doubling between 2022 and 2023, cyber security and backup should be a priority for all organizations.

What are the server backup methods?

There are several ways to approach backup, and the right choice depends on how much data needs to be backed up and how often that data changes.

• Full backup: In a full backup, all data on the server is copied and sent to another location.
• Incremental backups: Incremental backups use a full backup as a starting point. This backup can be the last backup (for a reverse incremental backup) or the first backup (for a forward incremental backup). With a direct incremental backup, each time a new backup is created, any changes since the initial backup are written to a separate file. With a reverse incremental backup, restore points are created so that the client can restore an older version and the most recent copy is a full backup.
• Differential Backup: This type of backup was popular in the days of tape backups. The first backup will be a full backup, and future snapshots will capture all changes since the last full backup. Discrepancies typically result in increased memory usage because all changes are backed up daily, so this type of backup is used less frequently as organizations continue to modernize.

How to develop a server backup strategy

Before developing a server backup strategy, you need to understand what data needs to be protected, how often it changes, and how backup plans fit into your disaster recovery process.

Assessment of data criticality

Consider what data you store on your server and whether that data is accessible from another location. For example, if you run an online store, customer information and order/inventory data are considered critical. Product images and descriptions obtained from the provider’s API may be less important.

Setting the reserve frequency

The frequency of data backup depends on what the server is used for. Backing up every 24 hours is a good idea if your data changes regularly. Weekly backups may be acceptable for non-critical data, but infrequent backups may result in a backup with out-of-date data. In addition to getting a holistic view of backup frequency, backup administrators must work with key stakeholders to determine how often the data to be protected changes.

Choosing the right backup methods

Consider whether you want to use a full or partial backup. Full backups can be expensive if you’re backing up a lot of data and have to pay for offsite storage or transfer of data for backups. However, the ease of restoring a full backup can make it worthwhile.

Try to create multiple versions of your backup on different media, at least one of which should be off-site and consistent.

Визначення політики зберігання та збереження

Consider where your backups will be stored and how long they will be stored. Traditionally, backup policies use a grandfather-parent-son approach (multiple backups taken at different frequencies), so there are always three generations of data to restore.

Keeping some old copies of your data gives you an insurance policy against tampering or ransomware attacks, and reduces the risk of accidentally overwriting a good backup with corrupted data.

Recovery planning

After creating a backup policy, test it to ensure that the data is recoverable. Your simulation should consider whether the technical process is working and whether the data you need is included in the backup.

If possible, set up a sandbox environment and pretend you are recovering from a data center failure. Did the backup include recent customer service inquiries, emails, or order records?

Finally, be sure to evaluate the SLAs of any companies that may be involved in the backup process. Would you be able to operate if there was an outage at 2am the day before your busiest sales period? Plan for the worst so that if something goes wrong, you are prepared.

Best practices for backing up servers

Don’t neglect security when it comes to backups. Consider the following practical tips to always be prepared for failures and data loss.

• Automate backups: Schedule backups to run automatically so you don’t forget anything.
• Practice redundancy: It’s better to have multiple copies you don’t need than one useless damaged copy.
• Test your backups regularly: Your backup policy was fine a year ago, but did you update your script when you changed database platforms?
• Encrypt your backups: If you’re backing up sensitive data, make sure it’s properly secured.
• Use the 3-2-1-1-0 rule: make at least three backup copies of your data on two different media: one physically located elsewhere and the other offline without a network connection or protected from alteration data for zero errors after automatic backup testing. A reliable tool for testing recoverability is Veeam Data Platform.
• Pay attention to regulatory requirements: If you are required to keep data for audit purposes or the data is confidential, make sure your backups are kept in accordance with the relevant regulatory requirements.

By following these backup best practices, you can recover quickly with minimal disruption to your customers in the event of a ransomware attack or server failure.

Common server backup problems

Once you’ve set up your backup system, it won’t need much attention, except for periodically testing and reviewing your backup procedures to make sure they cover all of your mission-critical data.

However, IT teams sometimes run into some challenges when setting up a backup for the first time.

• Lack of permissions: Depending on how your server is configured, you may not have the permissions required to interact with the guest operating system or the proper permissions for your cloud provider.
• Network issues: If certain ports are blocked or there are data transfer restrictions, this can cause backup problems.
• Slow Transfers: Large backups may be slow depending on the speed of your server connection.
• Limited storage: Capacity planning is an integral step for all types of backups, so if you’re doing multiple backups, make sure the server you’re storing the backup on has enough storage space.
• Corrupt or incomplete backups: An unreliable or slow connection can lead to corrupt backups, memory and disk issues. Make sure the backup solution you choose includes error checking options and various recovery options.
• Backup Lifecycle Management: Not all tools offer an easy way to manage the lifecycle of your backups. Do you have a plan to rotate them and keep external copies up to date?
• Testing Issues: If you don’t test your backups, you’re being careless with your data. Use business continuity and disaster recovery tools such as Veeam Recovery Orchestrator and SureBackup to test your backup and recovery systems. It can take some planning and testing to get your backups working perfectly, especially if you’re running a hybrid or multi-cloud environment. Once everything is working properly, you can automate regular backups and be confident that your business-critical data is safe.

Protect your server backups with Veeam

Back up regularly and follow best practices to ensure your backups are valid, reliable, and always available. If a backup policy is not part of your business continuity plan, you risk losing critical data.

If you have a backup plan, review it regularly to make sure it covers all of your organization’s important data. Test your backup recovery procedures so you can be sure they will work in an emergency.

Veeam Data Platform can help you overcome many of the obstacles commonly encountered when securing data. Whether your servers are virtual or physical, running on Google Cloud, AWS or Azure, Veeam can back you up.

Discovering gaps in your protection, whether it’s data that isn’t protected by immutable backups or anomalies in your RPOs, can be done with the advanced monitoring and analytics provided by Veeam ONE. Veeam Recovery Orchestrator is a tool for automating recovery testing and keeping your documentation up to date. Let Veeam remove the risk, pain and hassle from your environment when it comes to keeping your data secure.

Wise IT is an official partner of Veeam! To learn more about Veeam backup solutions and how they can protect your business data, book a free consultation: