Although companies are increasingly computerized, almost every year we encounter a problem with a customer in their backups, to their surprise ! Fortunately, when the problem is identified before a disaster, there is no consequence. This is why it is important to check your backups regularly even if they have been functional for a long time and « nothing » has changed on your servers since the last check. Indeed, a simple update of the operating system, an anti-virus or a change of permission, are just a few examples of possible factors of a problem when attempting to recover data.
Also, do you have a copy of a monthly backup? And an annual? Because if you accidentally lose an old file and don’t realize it until several months later, you must be able to use an old backup copy. Here is a table suggesting the frequencies and storage time of the medium used:
Backup Media Retention Frequencies and Periods
| FREQUENCY | CONSERVATION PERIOD | CONSERVATION LOCATION |
|---|---|---|
| Every Day | 7 days | Offsite |
| Every Week | 5 weeks | Offsite |
| Every Month | 18 Months | Offsite – Bank Locker |
Checking your backup processes should not be limited to checking whether important files are on the mediums kept in a safe place outside your offices, but checking whether you are able to read / extract them! In case of disaster, if you have to start over again with a new server, will you be able to re-install everything and recover all your data from your backup medium? Will the software used be compatible with the new server?
We prioritize with our customers to recover at least annually the databases extracted from their backup medium. Indeed, these databases contain their financial data and are therefore of extreme important! We suggest that they send us the files extracted from their medium. The database backup files are generated by our scripts which use Progress tools so that they can be generated when the databases are opened and used. We convert these files into databases, then we open them normally to make sure that the data is intact and that the date of the last transactions matches the backup date. Indeed, it is good to be able to re-read a database, but it is also essential that this database is not a database of an old server that has not been used for a long time! And yes, this is the kind of problem that we unfortunately discover on occasion during these backup checks.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or for more details!