Backup and Disaster Recovery
Copies of data and a plan to restore service are the last line of defense against loss from failure, disaster, or ransomware.
When Everything Else Fails
Prevention and detection reduce the chance of loss, but some events, hardware destruction, natural disaster, or ransomware that encrypts everything, defeat them. Backups are copies of data that let you restore after loss, and disaster recovery is the broader plan for restoring service after a major disruption. Together they are the safety net that turns a catastrophe into an inconvenience, provided they were prepared in advance and actually work.
The 3-2-1 Rule
- Keep at least three copies of important data
- On two different types of media
- With at least one copy offsite
- A modern addition: at least one copy offline or immutable, to survive ransomware
Recovery Objectives
Two numbers frame a recovery plan. The recovery point objective (RPO) is how much data you can afford to lose, measured in time since the last good backup. The recovery time objective (RTO) is how quickly service must be restored. These targets drive how often you back up and how you architect recovery, and they force the organization to decide what it can actually tolerate before a crisis, not during one.
Backups Must Be Tested and Protected
An untested backup is a hope, not a plan; restores fail routinely for reasons only a real test reveals. Backups must also be protected: ransomware deliberately seeks and encrypts them, so immutable or offline copies that malware cannot alter are essential.
Fusion Context
A fusion program's design data, simulation results, and configuration are protected by tested, offsite, and immutable backups so that no single failure or attack destroys them irrecoverably. This supports resilience overall, and for operational systems it complements the fail-safe design of the Hyperion breeder and burner, where the physical machine defaults to a safe state independent of the availability of any data system.