DEVELOPMENT OF A BACKING UP STRATEGY FOR THE COMPANY'S ESSENTIAL DATA

DEVELOPMENT OF A BACKING UP STRATEGY FOR THE COMPANY'S ESSENTIAL DATA

Pavel Pitkevich

Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics,

Republic of Belarus, Minsk

ABSTRACT

Based on the analysis, in this article, a data backup strategy for essential enterprise information systems has been developed. The article develops the concept of backup storage, illustrates various types of backup storage methods, including network storage, external hard drives, and cloud storage. Strategies and mechanisms of data backup are also considered. A strategy that combines three types of backup and gives quite satisfactory results in backing up essential data has been developed. The main backup regulations and rules of essential information systems are described. The rules for backing up servers are described. The article also considers the technologies of organizing data repositories. It is concluded that it is necessary to ensure reliable data backup in various ways.

Keywords: backup, data recovery, network storage, cloud technologies, banking sector, hybrid clouds.

In the digital economy [1, p. 361], data backup [2, p. 14, 3, p. 728, 4] is vital for the survival of an organization. Data can be stolen, corrupted, or lost. Data backup is a practice combining methods and solutions for efficient and cost-effective backup. Your data is copied to one or more places with a predetermined frequency and with different capacities. You can set up a flexible data backup operation using your architecture, or use available Backup as a Service (BaaS) solutions, mixing them with local storage [5, p. 1, 6, p. 3, 7, p. 7]. Today there are many solutions for organizing hardware for corporate storage that will help you estimate costs, avoid data loss and prevent data leaks.

Data backup is the practice of copying data from a primary to a secondary location to protect it in the event of a disaster, accident, or malicious action. Data is the lifeblood of modern organizations, and its loss can cause serious damage and disrupt business processes. That is why data backup is vital for both large and small businesses.

The most common causes of data loss are hardware/system failure (31%), the human factor (29%), viruses, and malware (29%).

Usually, backup data is necessary data for the functioning of your server. It can be documents, multimedia files, configuration files, computer images, operating systems, and registry files. Any data that you want to save can be saved as a backup.

Data backup includes several important concepts:

Backup solutions and tools. Although it is possible to create data backups manually, most organizations to ensure regular and consistent backup of systems, use technological solutions.

Backup administrator. Each organization must assign an employee responsible for backup. This employee should make sure that the backup systems are configured correctly, periodically test them and ensure that the essential data is backed up.

Backup volume and schedule. The organization should choose a backup policy, specifying which files and systems are important enough for backup and how often the data should be backed up.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO). RPO is the amount of data that an organization loses in the event of an accident, and is determined by the frequency of backup. If systems are backed up once a day, the RPO is 24 hours. The lower the RPO, the more data storage, computing, and network resources are required for more frequent backups.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO). The time it takes for an organization to restore data or systems from a backup and resume normal operation. For large amounts of data and/or backups stored outside the enterprise, copying data and restoring systems can take time, and reliable technical solutions are required to ensure a low RTO.

There are many ways to back up your file [8, p. 24, 9]. Choosing the right option can help you create the best data backup plan for your needs. The most common backup mechanisms are removable media, backup, external hard drive, hardware, backup software, cloud backup services.

You can configure an additional hard disk, which will be a copy of the disk of important enterprise information systems. It is possible to set a large external hard disk in your network and use archive software to save changes to local files on this hard disk. The archiving software allows you to restore files from external hardware with backup software in just a few minutes. However, as the amount of data grows, one external disk will not be enough.

Many vendors provide ready-made backup devices, usually installed in a 19-inch rack. Backup devices are provided with a large storage capacity and with pre-integrated backup software. You need to install backup agents in the systems where you need to make backups, set a backup schedule and policy, and data begins to be transferred to the backup device. As with other options, you can place the backup device isolated from the local network and, if possible, on a remote site.

Software backup solutions are more difficult to settle and configure than hardware devices, but they provide more flexibility. They allow you to determine which systems and data you want to back up, place backups on the storage device of your choice, and automatically manage the backup process.

Cloud service providers offer Backup as a Service (BaaS) solutions where you can send local data to a public or private cloud and, in the event of an accident, restore data from the cloud. BaaS solutions are easy to use and have the great advantage that data is stored in a remote location. However, when using a public cloud, it is necessary to ensure compliance with the relevant regulatory requirements and standards and take into account that over time the cost of storing data in the cloud will be much higher than the cost of similar storage in a local environment.

The easiest way to back up a server is a server backup solution [10, 11, p. 290]. These solutions can be represented by software or by devices.

Server backup solutions are usually designed to help backup server data to another local server, cloud server or hybrid system. In particular, backup to hybrid systems becomes very popular. This is because hybrid systems allow you to optimize resources, handle simple duplication in several regions, and can provide faster recovery and switching in case of failure.

As a rule, server backup solutions should include the following functions:      

The capability of handling various types of files. All kinds of files should be capable of handling. In particular, solutions should be capable of handling documents, spreadsheets, multimedia files, and configuration files.

Location of the backup. Locations for the backup should be specified. The solution must maintain backups to various locations and various media, including internal and external resources.

Planning and automation. In addition to the ability to make backups manually, solutions must handle backup automation through scheduling. This helps ensure that you always have the latest backup and that backups are created consistently.

Backup management. It is necessary to be able to manage the lifecycle of backups, including their number and duration of storage. It is perfect if solutions also make it easy to export backups for transfer to external resources.

Section selection. Sections are isolated segments of a storage resource and are often used to separate data in a system. Solutions should allow you to create data backups and restore sections personally.

Data compression. To minimize the amount of storage required for multiple backups, solutions should compress backup data. This compression should be lossless and keep all data the integer.

Select the backup type. It should be possible to create various types of backups such as full, differential and incremental. Differential backups create a backup of changes since the last full backup while incremental records of changes create a backup since the last incremental backup. These types can help you reduce the size of backups and speed up the backup time.

Scaling. Backup capabilities should not be limited by the amount of data on your servers. Solutions should scale as well as your data and be capable of handling backups of any size.

Whatever method you use for backup, in the end, the data must be stored somewhere [12, p. 13, 13, p. 651, 14, p. 722]. The storage technology that is used to store backup data is very important. The more cost-effective it is, the more data it can store, and the faster it will be restored and extracted to the network. The more reliable the storage technology, the safer your backups will be.

Network resources and NAS. You can configure centralized storage, such as Network Attached Storage (NAS), Storage Area Network (SAN), or common hard drives connected as shared network resources using the Network File System protocol (Network File System - NFS). This is a convenient option for providing local devices with a large amount of storage for backup. However, it is exposed to natural disasters or cyber attacks that affect your entire data center.

Objects Cloud Storage. When using cloud providers, you have access to a variety of storage services. Cloud service providers charge a fixed price per gigabyte, but because of the frequent use, the price may start to grow. Several tools allow you to automatically create backups of data both from the cloud and from local devices.

Based on the research described above, the article has developed a backup strategy for essential enterprise information systems. This strategy ensures adequate duplication of essential enterprise information systems and their reliable recovery. In this strategy, three copies of important enterprise information systems are created on at least two different media and at least one copy is stored remotely.

Three copies of data include the original data and two duplicates. This ensures that a lost backup or damaged media will not affect the ability of recover.

Two different types of storage reduce the risk of the inability to restore data by using two different technologies. Common options include internal and external hard drives, removable media or cloud storage.

One copy is located directly at the enterprise. Incremental or differential backup is made daily. There are two backups in different remote locations (cloud). Once a week a full backup of the computer's disks is made and sent to cloud number one. Additionally, once a month, another full backup is made, the results of which are sent to cloud number two. The composition of the daily and weekly set is constant. Thus, in comparison to a simple rotation, the archive contains only monthly backups and the latest weekly and daily backups.

One remote copy eliminates the risk associated with a single point of failure. External duplicates are necessary for reliable disaster recovery and data backup strategies, and can also switch to backup data during local failures.

This strategy is the best practice for information security. It protects against both accidents and, malware, and provides reliable backup and data recovery.

Data backup is the process of protecting data in the event of a disaster, accident or malicious action by copying it from one place to another. Data is the lifeblood of any organization data loss can cause serious damage and disrupt business operations. Therefore, data backup is vital for both large and small businesses.

Backup storage is a physical location or device for storing backups of data for recovery in the event of a data failure or loss. Backup storage systems typically include both hardware and software for managing backups and recovery. This includes everything from a simple flash drive to a hybrid system of local physical storage and remote cloud storage.

The developed data backup strategy for the company's essential IT systems has been tested and has shown its stability in operation.

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