Backup, Restore, High Availability, and Disaster Recovery
Backup, restore, HA, and DR questions test what is protected, what is not, and how to recover.
Core rules
- Backup and Restore offers configuration-only and full backups, on demand or scheduled, to a local or remote target.
- Restore requires a compatible version and appliance type; restoring configuration onto a replacement console is a standard DR step.
- High Availability pairs a primary and secondary host with replication and failover. HA protects against host failure, not against deleted data or site loss.
- Disaster recovery relies on backups shipped off-site and tested restores; an untested backup is not a recovery plan.
- Back up before upgrades and before major hierarchy or rule changes.
Worked example
A console disk fails. The latest backup was stored on the same /store volume, so it is lost too. Recovery uses the previous remote backup, restored to a new console at the same version, followed by HA reconfiguration. The reasoning: backup location is part of the design, not an afterthought.
Traps
- Storing backups only on the appliance.
- Restoring a backup from a different major version.
- Assuming HA replaces backups.
- Forgetting that HA failover does not recover deleted offenses.
- Not testing restore procedures.