Got Integrity?

Back-ups are something that the IT world has done since the dawn of its age. In the beginning your IT administrator, or sometimes management, would take the physical backup tape to an off-site location (i.e. home). With the introduction of more user friendly and secure off-site solutions, this process has become easier. Some would say, it is almost “set it and forget it.” Almost.

In other words, how do you know you have a good backup solution until you have used it to restore data?

Though many back-up applications and IT service providers offer alerts and monitoring, it is still important for the integrity of your data, and for your business continuity, to ensure that a test restore is done on a regular basis. Without this critical step to verify that back-ups are indeed fully functioning your business may be at risk for data loss, which will be discovered at the exact moment you need them to work.

But wait, doesn’t my back-up software already do that?
Different back-up applications provide backup verification in different ways. Some of them simply check if all contents of the destination storage media are physically readable, suggesting that the very procedure of copying is error free. Others may complete a bit-by-bit comparison of the original data. Though these methods may verify data was backed up, they do not confirm that your backup can be successfully and smoothly restored. In other words, they check to make sure the package (or packet) was delivered, but they may not have noticed if there was damage along the way, or if there is something in your environment obstructing the data restoration.

Many of us consider a complete failure, or something like a ransomware attack as experienced by Baltimore’s 911 dispatch system, or the ransomware attack that cost Atlanta $2.6M in recovery, to be what we most guard against. However, it doesn’t have to be a catastrophic failure. In fact, some of the greatest damage comes from the subtle corruption that goes undetected for a period of time. This can allowing corrupt files to flow through your backups until there are no uncompromised versions of the file remaining.

With the amount of data required by businesses today, the loss of data or loss of access to data can not just potentially degrade business operations or create a significant unplanned IT spend, but it can also potentially stall the organization and even threaten the company’s existence.

So, how do we mitigate the risks?
Our recommendation is a regularly scheduled manual back-up verification, also known as an integrity check. During this process random files are chosen and a test restore is done. We recommend that our clients adopt this practice as part of their ongoing information technology maintenance. If Seattle Techs is the service provider this is a standard part of our monthly maintenance. If you are uncertain about your current environment, or if your documentation and processes need updated, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Our skilled team has decades of experience and multiple industry certifications. We are ready to provide you with the level of support that you and your team deserves. For more information contact us or call 425-748-8855 today and let us know how we can help you and your team experience refreshingly reliable computing.