Executive Summary: What is it?
A Backup Strategy is the protocol for copying and archiving data so it can be restored in case of data loss (hack, corruption, or accidental deletion). The "3-2-1 Rule" sets a baseline: 3 copies of data, on 2 different media, with 1 offsite.
CFO / Business Impact: What does it cost/risk?
- Existential Risk: Data lost with no copy you can restore can stop the business: customer records, contracts and history are gone. When you self-host, in Docker or otherwise, you are the backup provider. There is no "Undo" button unless you built it.
- Cost Drivers: Storage for each copy, which grows with the size of the data and how long you keep copies, plus the engineering time to run and test restores.
Technical Reality: How does it work?
- Full Snapshots: Capturing a complete image of the server. Easy to restore but more expensive to store.
- Database Dumps: Exporting specific SQL data. Highly efficient and portable across different environments.
- Offsite Storage: Pushing encrypted copies to a remote location, with at least one copy offline or immutable, so ransomware on the server cannot reach it.
💡 Executive FAQ
- Question: Is RAID a backup?
- Answer: No. RAID protects against hardware failure (disk crashes) but does not protect against human error or malware.
- Question: How often should we test backups?
- Answer: A backup that has never been restored is only a hope. Test a full restore on a fixed schedule, and after every major change to the system.