What are some of the tools and techniques that you use for backup and recovery automation?

1 Backup Types and Schedules

The first step in backup and recovery automation is to decide what type of backup you need and how often you need to perform it. There are different types of backup, such as full, incremental, differential, and snapshot, that vary in the amount of data they copy and the time they take. You also need to consider the frequency and timing of your backups, depending on your business needs and data changes. You can use tools like cron, anacron, or systemd timers to schedule your backups automatically.

2 Backup Tools and Methods

The next step is to choose the tools and methods that you will use to perform your backups. There are many options available, depending on your operating system, storage device, network, and budget. Some of the common tools and methods are rsync, tar, dd, dump, restore, borg, duplicity, and bacula. You can use these tools and methods to backup your files, directories, partitions, disks, or entire systems. You can also use compression, encryption, checksums, and deduplication to optimize your backup size, security, and integrity.

3 Backup Destinations and Formats

The third step is to decide where and how you will store your backups. You can use local or remote destinations, such as hard drives, tapes, CDs, DVDs, USBs, NAS, SAN, cloud, or FTP. You can also use different formats, such as plain files, archives, images, or databases. You need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each option, such as speed, cost, reliability, accessibility, and compatibility. You can use tools like mount, sshfs, rclone, or curlftpfs to access your backup destinations.

4 Backup Verification and Testing

The fourth step is to verify and test your backups regularly. You need to make sure that your backups are complete, consistent, and recoverable. You can use tools like diff, md5sum, sha1sum, or borg check to compare your backups with the original data and detect any errors or corruption. You can also use tools like tar, dd, restore, borg extract, or duplicity restore to test your backups by restoring them to a different location or a virtual machine.

5 Recovery Plans and Procedures

The fifth step is to prepare your recovery plans and procedures in case of a disaster or a data loss. You need to have a clear and documented strategy for how to restore your data and systems as quickly and smoothly as possible. You need to consider the recovery point objective (RPO) and the recovery time objective (RTO) for your business. You also need to have a backup of your backup configuration and metadata, as well as a bootable media or a rescue system.

6 Recovery Tools and Methods

The sixth step is to use the appropriate tools and methods to recover your data and systems from your backups. You can use the same tools and methods that you used for backup, or you can use different ones, depending on your situation and needs. You can use tools like tar, dd, restore, borg mount, or duplicity restore to recover your files, directories, partitions, disks, or entire systems. You can also use tools like fsck, e2fsck, xfs_repair, or btrfs check to repair your filesystems if they are damaged.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?