Compare and contrast Database Backup & Disaster Planning

 Introduction

The current world is in several aspects technological meaning that the computer plays an extensive role in business operations. Besides making business operations typically faster, the computer has aided in the storage of companies databases concealing them securely and assuring maximum confidentiality. Today, these computers have been fitted with a mechanism and large space disks where big amounts of company’s vital information such as employees’ data, transaction records and other frameworks of confidential data have had their refuge.

 As such, these computers ought to be protected by all means possible since unscrupulous access or loss of such information may lead to drastic and regrettable situations. That has led to the development of database backup strategies and recovery techniques. This paper describes database backups and disaster planning and finally the importance of the two practices to any organization.

Database Backup

Preston (2009) defines database backup as the practice of periodically copying of database files to preserved them in preparation to unexpected or accidental unfavorable occurrences that may lead to equipment failure or similar catastrophes. Guise (2008) asserts that backup is almost a routine part of operations of a large organization that uses mainframes though today it has proved to be an important feature to the administrators of smaller business computers as well as personal computers. A database backup can host the whole operational state, architectural information as well as all general data of the company’s daily operations. It can be done daily, twice a week, weekly, within a fortnight or a year depending on the demand of the company’s leadership or the rate of data accumulation of the company or the individual. The main focus or objective of the creation of a database backup is to store duplicate instances or of the functional state of the company. That is the one vulnerable to getting lost, being corrupted or developing errors or in the event of the primary database crashing, affected by software infections such as Trojans or lost as a result of natural calamities such as accidental fires or flooding (Tierney, Lindell & Perry, 2001).

Backup mediums

There is a range of database mediums ranging from CD-ROMs, external hard drives, takes, disks, flash drives/discs just to mention a few.  The use of CD-ROMs as data backup mediums has been popular to database administrators. That is mainly due to their availability at low prices compared to all other mediums.  It is thus inexpensive to replace a bad CD that is not working. However, they are not very reliable as they quickly develop scratches.  Magnetic tapes as data backups are very reliable compared to

CD-ROMs, though much expensive comparably (Presto, 2009). The external hard drives for database backups are highly used by most companies as they have large spaces, are easy to use and more importantly, their failure rate are very low to insignificant. They are the most recommended.  Apart from these physical database backup mediums, some people today also use the online backup options.  However, this backup strategy is not recommended due to its vulnerability to many security issues (Snedaker & Rima, 2014).

Database backup types/plans

For quite some time, three basic types of backup plans have been applied. These are the full, incremental and differential backup strategies as discussed below.

Full backups

As suggested by its name, a full backup entails a full copy of the entire data set. It is always the initial backup method before any other type. Although it is the best protection, it is mostly used on a periodic basis since it consumes a lot of time and require much disk space (Presto, 2009). 

Incremental backup

The incremental backup copies only the new data entries in the database since the last backup. It is less time consuming compared to the former (Presto, 2009). 

Differential backup

This type involves copying the changes to the database since the last full backup. It also does not require a lot of time (Presto, 2009).

Disaster Planning

A disaster plan refers to a documented process through which a company can protect or recover its IT infrastructure if hit by a disaster or catastrophe. It is mostly a written plan that mentions a set of procedures the organization will follow in the event of a disaster (Beach, 2010). Some of the objectives of a disaster plan include helping the company to recover timely from the destruction of the catastrophic event and also to stay put before an anticipated, or non-anticipate event hinder the efficient operation, profitability or continuity of the business. When developing a disaster plan, the following steps are vital.

Identifying possible disasters

The first part of writing a disaster plan involves thinking ahead about the possibilities of things that may go wrong or unfavorable events that may occur against which a contingency plan(s) is designed. The goal is to be able to addresses many if not every risk that the business is prone to (Tierney, Lindell & Perry, 2001). 

Analyzing the risks

At this step, the potentially identifiable disasters (internal and external) are listed, and the extent to which each might affect the organization’s systems is also listed.  A plausible analysis of risk factors may involve a recap of historical emergencies or catastrophes that have hit the business or have occurred in the community where the business is located as well as within its proximity (Beach, 2010).

Identifying a team

The manager cannot plan alone. It is imperative that he identified the competent team with which to develop the strategic plan. Every member of the team is assigned a task within his/her capability.  Preferably, this group might be called the Emergency Management Team. This title may help provide some positive intuition as well as a sense of credibility to its members. A team leader may also be appointed (Presto, 2009).  

Documenting a retention program

The team should regularly meet to discuss their views and before a targeted date, they should develop a comprehensive plan for how to respond to various phenomenal ruptures (Guise, 2008).  

Maintenance

The plan should be updated periodically to accommodate various occurrences that may not have been accounted for (Tierney, Lindell & Perry, 2001).

Importance of the integration of both backups and disaster planning and the impact if both are not effectively executed

As can be seen, database backup and disaster planning are very important for any company no matter its scale of operation. Although database backup may only feature in organizations that utilize technical infrastructure like computers as part of their operations, disaster planning features in all organizations as catastrophes are non-discriminatory and will hit any organization. Database backup is important as a way to protect and restore the operational database of an organization. Similarly, disaster planning is important as it leads the company through most consumable and plausible methods of responding to accidental occurrences that will stop its operation. In many cases, the stopping of the operation of a business leads to dire losses regrettable. If database backup and disaster plans are not put in place or are not practical, the chances are that some companies may never be able to recover or if they do, it will take much time and resources for them to be restored (Snedaker & Rima, 2014). 

References

Beach, M. (2010). Disaster preparedness and management. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Co.

Guise P. (2008).Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery: A Corporate Insurance Policy. Auerbach Publications.

Preston, W. (2009). Backup & Recovery. Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Snedaker, S., & Rima, C. (2014). Business continuity and disaster recovery planning for IT professionals. Waltham, MA: Syngress.

Tierney,  J., Lindell, K., & Perry, W. (2001). Facing the Unexpected: Disaster preparedness and response in the United States. Washington, D.C: Joseph Henry Press.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in graduate paper writing service if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom research paper writing service.