Modern Data Protection

Chapter 16. Replacing or Upgrading Your Backup System

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the final chapter of what my daughter’s friend calls the most boring book on the planet. (You and I know better, though, don’t we!) We have covered a lot in around 350 pages, and a lot of it is a prerequisite to understanding the recommendations in this chapter.

It’s very possible that you bought this book because you were convinced that your backup system needed replacing, so you jumped to this chapter to have me tell you which one to pick. Not so fast. If you did indeed skip right here, you really need to go back and understand everything else I put in this book before even considering upgrading or replacing your backup system. But just as a reminder, here’s a quick summary of some of the important things you should know after having read this book:

Difference between backup and archive (Chapter 3)

The idea that backup and archive are not even close to being the same is extremely important in designing your backup and archive systems. This is one of the top three things I’m constantly telling people, and it’s crucial.

The 3-2-1 rule (Chapter 3)

Three versions on two media, one of which is somewhere else. If your backup system doesn’t conform to that, something has gone horribly wrong.

What to back up (Chapter 8)

I never get any arguments about datacenters and IaaS vendors. But if you’re not sure why (or if) you should back up your SaaS data, go read this important chapter.

Ways to back ...