Is My Backup Plan Safe?

I need to setup an online backup mechanism which allows restoration of data
up to point of failure in the event of DB file corruption or hard disk drive
failure. The current DB size is ~ 100M with a growth rate of ~15M/month for
the last 6 months. I'm thinking of :
1. Create a scheduled daily full backup from c drive to d drive
2. Create a scheduled hourly transaction log backup from c drive to d drive
3. Create a scheduled weekly full backup of backup folder in d drive to tape
drive with Windows backup utility.
4. Create scheduled daily differential backup of backup folder in d drive to
tape drive with Windows backup utility.
5. Two tapes will be rotated every alternate week for backup to tapes. Tape
not in used will be taken off-site.
Is the above plan good enough for the recovery scenario I want to address?Ong
Yep it looks pretty good. But remember that everything you did so far has
no value if you cannot restore the database. Verify that backups are not
corrupted and you can easily restore the database
"Ong" <Ong@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:68837F91-E41F-4487-B673-9316EE9D9037@.microsoft.com...
>I need to setup an online backup mechanism which allows restoration of data
> up to point of failure in the event of DB file corruption or hard disk
> drive
> failure. The current DB size is ~ 100M with a growth rate of ~15M/month
> for
> the last 6 months. I'm thinking of :
> 1. Create a scheduled daily full backup from c drive to d drive
> 2. Create a scheduled hourly transaction log backup from c drive to d
> drive
> 3. Create a scheduled weekly full backup of backup folder in d drive to
> tape
> drive with Windows backup utility.
> 4. Create scheduled daily differential backup of backup folder in d drive
> to
> tape drive with Windows backup utility.
> 5. Two tapes will be rotated every alternate week for backup to tapes.
> Tape
> not in used will be taken off-site.
> Is the above plan good enough for the recovery scenario I want to address?|||Thank you for your comment & precaution on backup verification.
"Uri Dimant" wrote:
> Ong
> Yep it looks pretty good. But remember that everything you did so far has
> no value if you cannot restore the database. Verify that backups are not
> corrupted and you can easily restore the database
> "Ong" <Ong@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:68837F91-E41F-4487-B673-9316EE9D9037@.microsoft.com...
> >I need to setup an online backup mechanism which allows restoration of data
> > up to point of failure in the event of DB file corruption or hard disk
> > drive
> > failure. The current DB size is ~ 100M with a growth rate of ~15M/month
> > for
> > the last 6 months. I'm thinking of :
> > 1. Create a scheduled daily full backup from c drive to d drive
> > 2. Create a scheduled hourly transaction log backup from c drive to d
> > drive
> > 3. Create a scheduled weekly full backup of backup folder in d drive to
> > tape
> > drive with Windows backup utility.
> > 4. Create scheduled daily differential backup of backup folder in d drive
> > to
> > tape drive with Windows backup utility.
> > 5. Two tapes will be rotated every alternate week for backup to tapes.
> > Tape
> > not in used will be taken off-site.
> >
> > Is the above plan good enough for the recovery scenario I want to address?
>
>|||Is the C and D drive the same physical drive? Then you could lose you
database drive and your backup drive.
If C and D are separate physical drives are they on the same disk
controller? If the controller fails then you won't be able to access your
database and backups until you replace the controller or put the drive in
another box..
Imagine your server and tape drive are stolen. It sounds like you would have
to go to tape and possibly lose a week of transactions.
I would backup across the network or directly to the tape drive or get a
separate external hard drive. If your only moving data offsite once a week
get a fireproof safe.
I don't think your backup plan is safe and I don't believe you will be able
to restore to the point of failure if say your building burns down.
"Ong" <Ong@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:68837F91-E41F-4487-B673-9316EE9D9037@.microsoft.com...
> I need to setup an online backup mechanism which allows restoration of
data
> up to point of failure in the event of DB file corruption or hard disk
drive
> failure. The current DB size is ~ 100M with a growth rate of ~15M/month
for
> the last 6 months. I'm thinking of :
> 1. Create a scheduled daily full backup from c drive to d drive
> 2. Create a scheduled hourly transaction log backup from c drive to d
drive
> 3. Create a scheduled weekly full backup of backup folder in d drive to
tape
> drive with Windows backup utility.
> 4. Create scheduled daily differential backup of backup folder in d drive
to
> tape drive with Windows backup utility.
> 5. Two tapes will be rotated every alternate week for backup to tapes.
Tape
> not in used will be taken off-site.
> Is the above plan good enough for the recovery scenario I want to address?|||Terri ,
Thanks for your important input.
I didn't check this thread for a few days & only saw your reply today.
I hope you can clarify my questions below:
"Terri" wrote:
> Is the C and D drive the same physical drive? Then you could lose you
> database drive and your backup drive.
> If C and D are separate physical drives are they on the same disk
> controller? If the controller fails then you won't be able to access your
> database and backups until you replace the controller or put the drive in
> another box..
FYI, D is an external usb drive
> Imagine your server and tape drive are stolen. It sounds like you would have
> to go to tape and possibly lose a week of transactions.
> I would backup across the network or directly to the tape drive or get a
> separate external hard drive.
Will backup across the network be slow and cause network jam?
>If your only moving data offsite once a week
> get a fireproof safe.
Do you mean to put the tape in a fireproof safe in the office or offsite?
> I don't think your backup plan is safe and I don't believe you will be able
> to restore to the point of failure if say your building burns down.
Sounds like for solution with tape, the only safe way is to use 7 (or 5
excluding weekends) backup tapes to do full db backup daily and transaction
logs backup hourly and keep all the unused tapes offsite.