Offsite backups

  • So this week I'm a BI Developer turned DBA (not by choice) and am looking into off-site backups for a couple key new Accounting/Finance applications (stuff that can be audited, subpoenaed, etc).  This is something I haven't done for years and am looking for some guidance. Frankly speaking, I don't know where to start. For example - we'll likely be keeping years of data, in the form of monthly backups. I like the idea of having old backups that we have to retain moved to an off-site secure location. Anyone have vendor recommendations or call-outs for things I should consider? 

    Thanks!

    "I cant stress enough the importance of switching from a sequential files mindset to set-based thinking. After you make the switch, you can spend your time tuning and optimizing your queries instead of maintaining lengthy, poor-performing code."

    -- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001

  • I think adding your jurisdiction/location/retention requirements and any other regulatory considerations might help others to know what to recommend to you. Reading between the lines I think you are probably in the States?

  • Alan.B - Tuesday, February 12, 2019 12:52 PM

    So this week I'm a BI Developer turned DBA (not by choice) and am looking into off-site backups for a couple key new Accounting/Finance applications (stuff that can be audited, subpoenaed, etc).  This is something I haven't done for years and am looking for some guidance. Frankly speaking, I don't know where to start. For example - we'll likely be keeping years of data, in the form of monthly backups. I like the idea of having old backups that we have to retain moved to an off-site secure location. Anyone have vendor recommendations or call-outs for things I should consider? 

    Thanks!

    It depends on the budget. This link will give you some idea : https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2007/10/backing-up-sql-server-my-own-mediocre-practices/

    Muthukkumaran Kaliyamoorthy
    https://www.sqlserverblogforum.com/

  • Beatrix Kiddo - Wednesday, February 13, 2019 1:30 AM

    I think adding your jurisdiction/location/retention requirements and any other regulatory considerations might help others to know what to recommend to you. Reading between the lines I think you are probably in the States?

    Thanks for the Reply. 
    Yes, we're in the US - Chicago, IL. We're as private retail mortgage lender. From an operational standpoint the regulation that impacts us the most is related to privacy and security (protecting PII, making sure only the right people can access our data and artifacts, destroying sensitive data such as backups when they are not needed, etc). 

    We keep 30 days of backups locally (weekly full backup, Daily Diff, Transaction Log Backup every 15 minutes). We don't have a long-term retention policy in place for this data (we're kind of winging it here). After talks with our CIO, however, it would we should keep a monthly backup offsite for the purposes of analyzing fraud, auditing and troubleshooting.

    "I cant stress enough the importance of switching from a sequential files mindset to set-based thinking. After you make the switch, you can spend your time tuning and optimizing your queries instead of maintaining lengthy, poor-performing code."

    -- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001

  • muthukkumaran Kaliyamoorthy - Wednesday, February 13, 2019 1:42 AM

    Alan.B - Tuesday, February 12, 2019 12:52 PM

    So this week I'm a BI Developer turned DBA (not by choice) and am looking into off-site backups for a couple key new Accounting/Finance applications (stuff that can be audited, subpoenaed, etc).  This is something I haven't done for years and am looking for some guidance. Frankly speaking, I don't know where to start. For example - we'll likely be keeping years of data, in the form of monthly backups. I like the idea of having old backups that we have to retain moved to an off-site secure location. Anyone have vendor recommendations or call-outs for things I should consider? 

    Thanks!

    It depends on the budget. This link will give you some idea : https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2007/10/backing-up-sql-server-my-own-mediocre-practices/

    Thank you so much Muthukkumaran! This was what I was looking for. Very helpful!

    "I cant stress enough the importance of switching from a sequential files mindset to set-based thinking. After you make the switch, you can spend your time tuning and optimizing your queries instead of maintaining lengthy, poor-performing code."

    -- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001

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