Backup and Restore

The 3-2-1 Rule, as I like to explain it, states the following:

• There should be 3 copies of data
• On 2 different media
• With 1 copy being off site

With this base rule outline, now we can upgrade it to work with modern critical data. However, let’s not forget the base rule’s best attributes:

• It does not have any specific technology or hardware requirement
• It can address nearly any failure scenario

This is very versatile nowadays and each of the following implementations would count towards a 3-2-1 Rule configuration:

• Backups on disk (DAS, SAN, NAS and appliances)
• Backups on tape
• Backups on removable storage
• Storage snapshots (caution on separate media from production)
• Backups in object storage such as in the public cloud with the Scale-out Backup Repository’s capacity tier
• Backups in cold archive storage in the public cloud with the Scale-out Backup Repository’s archive tier
• Backups hosted or managed by a service provider, including  Cloud Connect
• Replication to another host or site with  replication
• Backup copy jobs to another storage location