Continuous Backup

A Backup Article Contributed by Melissa Larose

Continuous Backup

Continuous backup has nothing to do with calling the plumber. It has everything to do with enhancing your data backup methods. Most businesses stick with a traditional backup strategy but in some cases this may not be an adequate policy. Consider continuous backup for an additional solution to restoring corrupt data.

Traditional Backup May Not Be Adequate

Traditional backup plans may help when human error or a software glitch cause the need for data to be recovered from a backup tape. But what happens when the whole information infrastructure is corrupted? What then? You may have considered this and incorporated a response in your well thought out backup plan. But did you consider the length of recovery time? And the fact that what ever data was collected since the last backup was performed will not be included in the eventual recovery?

Expecting a miracle when you pull that latest backup tape to restore your system is putting all your eggs in one basket. The purpose of having a backup plan is to do just the opposite. You want to be able to resource multiple possibilities to restore from backup. Using a traditional backup scenario may seriously compromise productivity and profitability and put your company at risk of failure.

Continuous Backup to the Rescue

Data integrity and speedy recovery times are probably the most important reasons to contemplate incorporating continuous backup as part of your company's overall backup plan. To date the competition in this area of software technology is growing fast.

A snapshot-based product keeps continual watch over your system. The typical time frame is once every few hours per snapshot. There is a downside to this type of product. It certainly isn't to be used for a small office setup because it requires total integration with a specific application server. This mean a lot of time spent in the configuration and customizing of the snapshot process. The cost of initial implementation, as well as the cost of hiring some trained to maintain the product and the process, would require that the system and the data be worth the effort.

In addition, the syncing of the snapshot with the latest consistent state of the application must be accurate or the restoration of data from the backup may cause some unusual results. Quick restoration may only be quick if whole volumes are restored. Individual files and folders can cause the slow down of the restoration process.

The Ideal Backup

If your backup needs require large volume restoration with data integrity and relative speed then the continuous backup option can provide you with monitoring and recording of all operations. These recordings are documented in a journal that reveals all the operations that have been carried out on the data. The actual data is not altered. The journal shows all writes, deletes, copies, etc. performed.

If data corruption actually occurs then the continuous backup rewinds, so to speak, and can play back the opposite operation to restore the data, instantaneously, offering your users the freedom of working continuously sans interruption.