Database backup and restore tool: do regular backups?

Hello Thomas,

would it be a good idea to use this tool do regular backups

:smileytongue: no, if 1. you think it's impossible that your database can be lost (e.g. due to a hardware failure) or 2. you don't care about historical data and are happy to redo all the configuration you've done before :smileytongue:

Seriously - a backup before an upgrade is simply best practice. Failures are known to occur during routine operation as well and you should be able to recover from them. Which method is best depends on many things though. As implied above, the database is the only place which contains your data (except for some bits which give the server its identity) - some of which will be lost "forever": As parts of the policies are often created in response to alerts and events it'd be all but impossible to recreate them after a database loss and this will subsequently have a considerable impact on endpoint operation. 

There is an article (or better, there are at least two) which explicitly states when to make backups (and perhaps it should be linked from the DataBackupRestore and similar articles): How to back up and restore your Sophos Management Server (it recommends weekly and after ... ) and (referred) Sophos SQL Best Practice Guide for Endpoint products.

You don't have to use DataBackupRestore though if you have other means of backup and recovery (e.g. snapshots in a virtual environment, database on a SQL cluster).

Christian

Hello Thomas,

would it be a good idea to use this tool do regular backups

:smileytongue: no, if 1. you think it's impossible that your database can be lost (e.g. due to a hardware failure) or 2. you don't care about historical data and are happy to redo all the configuration you've done before :smileytongue:

Seriously - a backup before an upgrade is simply best practice. Failures are known to occur during routine operation as well and you should be able to recover from them. Which method is best depends on many things though. As implied above, the database is the only place which contains your data (except for some bits which give the server its identity) - some of which will be lost "forever": As parts of the policies are often created in response to alerts and events it'd be all but impossible to recreate them after a database loss and this will subsequently have a considerable impact on endpoint operation. 

There is an article (or better, there are at least two) which explicitly states when to make backups (and perhaps it should be linked from the DataBackupRestore and similar articles): How to back up and restore your Sophos Management Server (it recommends weekly and after ... ) and (referred) Sophos SQL Best Practice Guide for Endpoint products.

You don't have to use DataBackupRestore though if you have other means of backup and recovery (e.g. snapshots in a virtual environment, database on a SQL cluster).

Christian