Validating Backup Data and Procedures


This chapter is intended as a follow-up to Chapter 32, which describes backing up in the Windows Server 2003 environment. However, if you're reading this chapter to recover from a failure, skip this section and move on to "Isolating Failures" later in this chapter.

After backup strategies are developed for Windows Server 2003 systems, the backup/restore procedures need to be tested to ensure that the documentation is up to date and accurate. Many organizations outsource document creation to consulting firms that create the plan based on their experience with the product and their limited exposure to the organization's environment. This is why just having the plan often is not good enough. Also, when configurations change, someone should have an electronic, writable copy available and understand how to update the document. For detailed information on Windows Server 2003 documentation, refer to Chapter 24, "Documenting a Windows Server 2003 Environment."

Documenting the Recovery

One important aspect of recovery feasibility is knowing how to recover from a disaster. Just knowing what to back up and what scenarios to plan for is not enough. Restore processes should be created and tested to ensure that a restore can meet service-level agreements (SLAs) and that the staff members understand all the necessary steps.

When a process is figured out, it should be documented, and the documentation should be written to make sense to the desired audience. For example, if a failure occurs in a satellite office that has only marketing employees and one of them is forced to recover a server, the documentation needs to be written so that it can be understood by just about anyone. If the IT staff will be performing the restore, the documentation can be less detailed, but assume a certain level of knowledge and expertise with the server product. The first paragraph of any document related to backup and recovery should be a summary of what the document is used for and the level of skill necessary to perform the task and understand the document.

Including Test Restores in the Scheduled Maintenance

One of the key elements to having a successful disaster recovery plan is to periodically test the restore procedures to verify accuracy and to test the backup media to ensure that data can actually be recovered. Most organizations or administrators assume that, if the backup software reports "Successful," the backup is good and data can be recovered. If a special backup consideration is not taken care of, but the files are backed up, the successful backup may not contain everything necessary to restore a server if data loss or software corruption occurs.

Restores of not only file data, but also application data and configurations should be performed as part of a regular maintenance schedule to ensure that the backup method is correct and disaster recovery procedures and documentation are current. Such tests also should verify that the backup media can be read from and used to restore data. Adding periodic test restores to regular maintenance intervals ensures that backups are successful and familiarizes the administrators with the procedures necessary to recover so that when a real disaster occurs, the recovery can be performed correctly and efficiently the first time.




Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed(c) R2 Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed (R2 Edition)
ISBN: 0672328984
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 499

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