Backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity
Backup design with verified restore testing, RTO and RPO targets, and DR runbooks that get exercised, not just written.
Backups that have never been asked to prove anything
Backup jobs run green every night. Nobody has tried to restore from one in over a year. That gap between "the job succeeded" and "the data comes back" is where most disaster recovery plans quietly fail, and it's invisible until the day it isn't.
Recovery time and recovery point objectives usually exist on a slide from years ago, never revisited against what the business actually needs now, and never tested against what the infrastructure can actually deliver.
Fixing this isn't about buying a bigger backup product. It's about closing the loop: verified restores on a schedule, a DR runbook that names the person and the steps, and honest numbers on how long recovery actually takes.
What's included
- Backup architecture designCoverage across servers, databases, and SaaS data, with retention that matches compliance and business need, not a default.
- Immutable and offline copiesBackup isolation that survives a ransomware event where the attacker goes after backups first.
- Quarterly restore testingA real restore to an isolated target, timed and documented, on a recurring schedule.
- RTO/RPO definitionNumbers grounded in what the business needs and what the infrastructure can deliver, not aspiration.
- DR runbook developmentNamed owners, tested steps, and a document that works when the person who wrote it is unavailable.
- Failover testingFor estates with a DR site or standby environment, a real failover exercise rather than a paper one.
How the engagement runs
- 01Backup and DR assessmentInventory of what is backed up, what is not, and how the current setup would perform under a real incident. Often the right starting point is our Backup & Recovery Readiness Review.
- 02Architecture and runbook designTarget backup coverage and a DR runbook built around your actual environment.
- 03ImplementationBackup infrastructure deployed or reconfigured, immutability and offline copies added where missing.
- 04Ongoing verified testingRestore tests on a schedule, with results documented and gaps closed before they matter.
Technologies and platforms
- Veeam
- Azure Backup
- AWS Backup
- Immutable storage
- SQL Server
- Oracle RMAN
Proof
The Managed Database practice already runs quarterly restore tests as a standing discipline. This service extends that same rigor to the rest of the infrastructure: servers, SaaS data, and full-environment DR.
Common questions
Will the restore test touch our production systems?
No. Test restores go to an isolated target you designate; production stays untouched throughout.
What if we already have a backup product we like?
We can usually work with what you have. The gap is almost never the product; it's the missing restore test and the DR runbook nobody wrote.
How often should a restore actually be tested?
Quarterly, at minimum, for anything the business depends on. Annual testing means a stale assumption can sit undetected for most of a year.
Do you handle ransomware-specific backup isolation?
Yes. Immutable and offline copies are part of the standard architecture we recommend, specifically because ransomware attacks often target backups first.
Related services
Test the restore before you need it.
Most backup failures are discovered during the incident they were supposed to prevent. We'd rather find them first.