Backup and Recovery Guidelines

      Following is a summary of the guidance which can be distributed to a larger IT community. Server backups are performed for business continuity and system/disaster recovery purposes.  

       Specific file recoveries from server backups are possible when adhering to the following criteria:  The server backups must be overwritten every 30 days or less for email servers and 90 days or less for all other servers. Note: For most enterprise Hub, the personal drive and share all drive tape backups are only retained for 60 days or less. (If your site uses Networker, VERITAS or other backup tools to perform backups, this means the savesets must be marked as expired every 30 days or less for email servers and 90 days or less for all other servers.)

Guidance on Specific File Recovery Request
Each request for specific file/folder recovery should be evaluated using the following guidance:  

1. If the request is associated with a system outage, then recovery would likely be necessary. Business continuity and system/disaster recovery procedures should be followed. 
2. Any file recovery request for information past the retention timeframes, requires the approval of the IT Manager.
3. Before restoring from server backup, verify that the information cannot be located online:
     a. Support personnel should check the requestor’s recycle bin and temp folders.
     b. Support personnel should check that the information has not been moved elsewhere on the server by searching several folder levels above the requested recovery location on the server. This will prevent the recovery of duplicate information. 
4. Verify ownership of recovery information:
     a. If the person is requesting personal file recovery, validate that the requestor’s ID matches the ownership of the personal file being recovered.  If the requestor is not the owner of the data, approval from IT Manager is required.
     b. If the requested information comes from a shared area (e.g. share all), the support person should secure approval from the requestor’s supervisor by email to ensure the request is valid.