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The
following is quoted from the QM
database documentation, and well
worth your consideration: -
8.6
Backup and Restore
Determine
what to backup. If your backup
needs to be as quick as
possible, remember that it is
usually unnecessary to back up
system files that can easily be
recreated.
How
often will you back up? You need
to make a sensible trade-off
between the time it takes to
backup and the difficulty of
bringing the system up to date
in the event of a restore.
Consider
when to backup in relation to
your business routine. It is
unsafe to backup a database
while it is being used except as
described below. You will end up
with data integrity problems
and, possibly, structural
integrity problems in files that
were being modified while the
backup progressed. The safest
approach is to log all users off
while the backup is performed.
It is not necessary to shutdown
QM.
Use
a cycle of backup media rather
than continuously overwriting
the same media so that you are
secure from failures during the
backup and also have multiple
points in time to which you can
revert.
Ensure
that your backup media is kept
away from the system that it
represents. A fireproof safe or
an offsite store is best.
Think
carefully about how long you
will keep your backups. There
are often legal requirements to
be able to restore business data
for several years. Remember that
technology moves on at a rapid
pace. You need to ensure that
you still have the appropriate
drives to read your old backups.
Test
your backups. Check that you
really can restore your data if
the need arises.
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