Question 1

What do backup and disaster recovery services include?

Accepted Answer

Backups cover making copies of your data and configuration. Disaster recovery covers getting a working service back after a loss. We do both: database and file backups, offsite copies the server cannot delete, alerts when a backup is missing, scheduled restore tests, and a written runbook for rebuilding servers and restoring data. The scope is listed system by system before work starts.

Question 2

What are RPO and RTO, and what should ours be?

Accepted Answer

RPO (recovery point objective) is how much recent data you can afford to lose, for example one day or five minutes. RTO (recovery time objective) is how long the service may be down while you recover. There is no standard answer. Many internal tools accept a nightly backup and a few hours to restore; systems taking payments or clinical records usually need continuous archiving and a much shorter window. We agree them with you per system.

Question 3

How often should backups be tested?

Accepted Answer

Often enough that a broken backup is caught long before you need it. We usually automate a restore test of each key database weekly from the offsite copy, with data checks and a recorded restore time, and run a fuller recovery drill on fresh infrastructure less often, such as quarterly. The schedule depends on how quickly your data and setup change.

Question 4

Are cloud snapshots on AWS or Azure enough?

Accepted Answer

They are a good layer but rarely the whole answer. Snapshots usually sit in the same account as the server, so a leaked credential or a mistaken deletion can remove both. They are also crash-consistent, so databases should be backed up with their own tools too. We combine snapshots with database-aware backups copied to a separate account or provider.

Question 5

How do you protect backups from ransomware?

Accepted Answer

The production server gets credentials that can add new backups but cannot remove old versions. We turn on bucket versioning, plus S3 Object Lock or Azure immutability policies where available, and expiry is handled by lifecycle rules on the storage, not by the server. Backups are encrypted, and the keys are stored separately from the backups with more than one person able to reach them.

Question 6

Can you back up self-hosted servers, not just cloud ones?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Much of our work is on self-managed Linux servers, including on-premises machines and VPS hosts running Docker. We back them up to object storage in another location, such as S3, Azure Blob or a MinIO server elsewhere, and reach private machines over Tailscale where there is no public access.

Question 7

How are backup and disaster recovery services priced?

Accepted Answer

A setup project is quoted at a fixed price once we know how many systems, databases and servers are involved and what RPO and RTO you need. A managed retainer is a fixed monthly fee based on the size of the estate, how often restores are tested and the support hours you want. Storage costs are billed by your cloud provider directly to your account.

Question 8

What happens when we actually need to recover?

Accepted Answer

On a retainer, you contact us through the agreed channel and we follow the runbook: confirm what was lost, pick the right restore point, restore to the existing or a new server, check the data with you and switch traffic back. Response times are agreed in the retainer. Afterwards we write up what happened and what to change.

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