Describe the process you would use to determine the backup frequency of the data for your project's retail store.
Data is a valuable asset for businesses, and protecting it from loss or damage is critical for the continuity of operations (Akhtar et al., 2012). Fresh Retail store, like any other organization, must establish a robust backup strategy to safeguard its data from potential loss or corruption. The process to determine the backup frequency for Fresh Retail's data involves several factors that can be guided by industry best practices and expert recommendations.
First of all, understanding the business needs is the initial step in determining the data backup frequency for the Fresh Retail store. This involves conducting a thorough assessment of the data utilized by the store and categorizing it based on its importance and criticality. By identifying crucial data, such as customer information, financial records, and inventory data, the store can prioritize its backup needs to ensure the protection of essential information. In addition, according to Akhtar et al. (2012), decide what we need to back up and what components of the infrastructure need to be included in the backup plan. This includes not only databases but also operating system files, application software, configuration files, and other critical components.
Secondly, as outlined by Akhtar et al. (2012) and Anderson (2013), determine the appropriate backup type and strategy for each category of data and components within the infrastructure. Different types of data may require different backup methods. For example, critical databases may require frequent full and incremental backups, while less critical data may only need periodic full backups. Additionally, consider the appropriate backup method for the application software and operating system components, whether it's logical backups, physical offline backups, or physical online backups.
Thirdly, a backup schedule should be established based on business requirements, data change rate, and available resources. Critical data and components may necessitate daily or more frequent backups, while less critical data can be backed up less often. Regular testing and validation of backups should be integrated into the backup schedule. In addition, The Recovery Point and Recovery Time should be considered for each category of data and components. Recovery Point defines the acceptable maximum data loss during a disaster, while Recovery Time outlines the acceptable downtime for service restoration.
To establish a robust backup strategy, Fresh Retail must consider potential risks, such as hardware failures, cyberattacks, and human errors, as emphasized by Anderson (2013). Implementing backup plans tailored to address these risks and provide redundancy is crucial for data protection. The need of choosing appropriate storage options, like disk or tape, based on factors such as access speed and long-term retention needs is also important. Regular testing, monitoring, and documentation ensure the backup plan's effectiveness and compliance with data protection requirements.
Would you use more than one level of backup? Explain why or why not. (daily, weekly, monthly)
In Fresh Retail, it should be used more than one level of backups, such as daily, weekly, and monthly backups. Employing multiple levels of backups provides an added layer of data protection and ensures a comprehensive data recovery strategy. Each level of backup serves a different purpose and addresses various scenarios of data loss or corruption.
Daily backups are frequently carried out, typically at the conclusion of each business day. By permitting a quick restoration of the most recent data in the case of any data loss or system malfunction, daily backups lower the chance of significant data loss. In the event of a system crash that results in data corruption, the daily backups can be utilized to restore the data to its state at the end of the previous day, guaranteeing that only a limited amount of data is lost.
Weekly backups offer a broader scope of data recovery. They capture the state of the data at the end of each week, including all changes made during that week. In scenarios where data corruption or unnoticed issues occur over several days, weekly backups provide a more extended window for data recovery. Let's consider a scenario where Fresh Retail uses an inventory management system to track its products and stock levels. Every day, the system automatically updates the inventory records to reflect incoming shipments and outgoing sales. Unbeknownst to the personnel, an inventory management system software issue was implemented a week ago, causing it to incorrectly estimate the stock levels for several products. In the event that Fresh Retail only used daily backups and the problem with the data corruption was identified many days later, the most recent daily backup would contain the damaged inventory data. The issue would not be resolved by restoring from this backup because it would bring back the incorrect stock levels.
Monthly backups provide a longer-term data recovery option. These backups capture the state of the data at the end of each month. They are useful for scenarios where data issues might remain unnoticed for an extended period or for compliance purposes, where historical data needs to be retained for a longer duration. For example, Fresh Retail experiences a cyberattack in which ransomware infects the company's IT systems. The ransomware encrypts a significant portion of the store's data, rendering it inaccessible to the company. Due to the cyberattack, Fresh Retail faces a critical data loss situation, and the ransomware demands a significant amount of money for the decryption keys. Fortunately, the company's monthly backups, which were taken before the cyberattack occurred, are available. With the monthly backup, Fresh Retail can restore the data to a point before the ransomware infected the systems, effectively eliminating the impact of the attack and restoring the store's operations.
In the end, using many levels of backups ensures a thorough and trustworthy backup strategy that complies with Fresh Retail's criteria for data security and business continuity. To ensure that these backups are reliable and prepared for future data recovery scenarios, regular testing and validation are equally crucial.
References:
Akhtar, A. N., Buchholtz, J., Ryan, M., & Setty, K. (2012). Database backup and recovery best practices. ISACA Journal, 1, 1-6. https://www.isaca.org/resources/isaca-journal/past-issues/2012/database-backup-and-recovery-best-practices
Anderson, W. (2013). New backup options to protect your work. GPSolo, 30(4), 52-55. JSTOR.