Devices, Backup Media, the Physical Environment

Having a month's worth of backup tapes in the computer room does little good for recovering the system in the event of an earthquake, flood or fire.

Rotate the last night's backup tape off-site as soon as possible and return the tape used the night before.

• Are the servers and tape backup devices adequately secured?

• Is the tape backup device correctly connected to the UPS?

• Do you have enough backup media to do a daily backup, weekly backups, and monthly backups?

• Is the backup media on site with backups secured against theft or misappropriation?

• Is there an adequate separation of duties between those responsible for performing the backups and those responsible for programming and maintaining the system data?

• Where are the tapes stored for offsite backups, and is there an easy way to retrieve them when they are required for restoring?

• Is there a schedule in place for replacing the media and are manufacturer’s recommendations being followed for the maximum amount of time that backup media should be used before retiring?

• Is there a local vendor that could restore a backup tape if the backup device fails and you are in a situation where you need to restore the data quickly?

• Is there a backup operator?

Tape Life and Cleaning Cartridge

The most common restore problem is dirty read heads, then dirty write heads and then bad tape.

A method to accomplish tape replacement is to purchase enough tape to perform a month's worth of backups and then replace it after two years.

Use only certified data grade tape.

Make sure you also use a cleaning cartridge on a regular basis.