Your backup is green. When did you last restore a file?

Technical Source: Assessment – Assessment Veeam Backup & Best Practice Guide. The proposed exercise and the following decision criteria are independent analysis of this note.

The successful situation of a backup operation is good news, but the user’s question will be something else: “My file returned safely?” I think the distance between the two questions is where a small exercise is valued.

A limited and repeatable test.

Select a non-sensitive test file that is correct. Record the recovery point and time to create it. Return the file in a separate folder; do not replace the live file of the user for exercise. It is best to practice in the same bed and in the way that the day of the accident is to be used.

Only opening the file is not enough.

• Is the prescription back or the older version?
• Can the program read content?
• Is the size and, if there is a valid reference, the file is expected?
• Have the required ownership and permissions been examined within the scope that the tool supports?
• How long has the request started to deliver the file?

In a hypothetical scenario, the correct file is restored, but the support account does not have access to the delivery destination. This result should not be fully documented; the technical part of recovery is healthy, but the delivery process is still flawed. Waiting time for access is part of the real time of recovery.

Write a result that helps the next time.

The practice report does not need to be long: the test file, backup, destination, start time and finish, the result of the corrective review and action is enough. Manage temporary files according to the organization’s maintenance policy.

This exercise does not prove the overall health of backups or the retrieval of the database and the full service. My suggestion is to use this small test to reveal the weakness of the process and extend subsequent tests based on the importance of the service.

Related study: Recovery and ransomware..