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Backup is extremely crucial for any website; it is like a foundation on which the pillar of strong website rests. It is the duty of the system administrator to make sure that the backing of the systems is in place. A system without backup cannot be depended upon because in any case something goes wrong in some exceptional circumstance then you will end up losing your important business data. This is not a very happy situation for any business small or big since data on the website is of prime importance and issues happen with technology every now and then, there is no sure guarantee and hence you need backup. Backup strategy involves of four important steps such as backup, storage, verification and restoration.
The first component backup selects the data which requires the backup and also the method for backup. The next step storage includes the selection of the media on which backup will take place as well as the location where it would be stored. The third step verification is extremely crucial for any kind of back up strategy which ensures that the data is usable data.
Restoration is to get the data back where the data can be used.
Two main strategies for back up are
- Disaster Recovery (DR)
- Archival
Disaster Recovery helps to restore a system to the state of working and it requires you to take backup of the whole system which enables its restoration on another device or machine to get the systems again the working state.
Archival strategy is for retrieval of the data that is historic in nature for example the database of customers as it was last year. It is not concerned with the restoration of the system.
Both of the back up strategies should be used in combination for better results. But they both should be tested before they are used. Disaster Recovery strategy is generally tested by restoration of the system backup on a new system from which data can be recovered in a state of emergency. Archival strategy are generally tested by retrieval of files and their verification after they are stored once. A strategy that is not tested should not be relied on. In case of web hosting backups are done mostly with the use of Cpanel administrative interface. This enables you to create backup of the complete website including the directory and databases as well. To do the backup you need to have access to the Backup control panel and make selection of the appropriate strategy. Then the system takes care of the backup and download of the file to the local system, the backup can be initiated for restoration by making use of the same interface. Try and experiment with the back up interface so that you are well versed with the system. Confidential and sensitive data are stored in download backup file and hence their importance cannot be ignored, they should be included in your back up strategy that is local.
by Loren Allen
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