Protection
How often should a backup be tested?
Something monthly, a full server quarterly, the whole plan yearly. Written down every time, and any failure notice reaches a person whose job is to act on it. We do all of that as part of the plan.
Answered by Nate Weigel, Protection Director
A backup that has never been restored is a hope
The backup job reports success every night. That tells you a file was written. It does not tell you the file can be read, that the right things were in it, or that anyone could turn it back into a working server by a time somebody promised. Only a restore tells you that.
The schedule we use
Monthly, restore a random folder from a random day and open the files. Quarterly, restore a full server to spare hardware or a cloud sandbox and log into it. Yearly, run the written recovery plan end to end with the people named in it, and time it. Every test is logged with the date, what was restored and how long it took.
Who gets the failure notice
A backup job that fails at two in the morning creates a ticket in the helpdesk queue, not an email in an inbox. Somebody owns it by the start of the business day. Most backup failures we see at new clients had been failing for weeks, reporting faithfully to an address nobody read.
Ask for the date
Any client can ask for the date of their last tested restore, and get an answer. That question is also the fastest way to check any IT provider. If the answer is a pause, you have a backup and not a recovery.
Where we did this
A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan. Ask for the date of the last tested restore.
What to actually test Did you knowRecovery time is a number. If nobody can say how long it takes to be back to work after the server dies, nobody has planned it.
A recovery plan with a time on itPeople also ask
How warm is too warm for our server room?
Equipment is designed for roughly 18 to 27 degrees Celsius, 64 to 81 Fahrenheit, measured at the front where it draws air in. The number that matters is not the one on a Tuesday afternoon; it is the one at 2am on a Sunday.
The full answerWhere should our server actually live?
In a space with airflow, stable power, no water above it and a door that locks. Heat is the most common environmental killer of business equipment, and the room that is fine in March is a different room in July.
The full answerWhat is a server room reorganization, and is it worth paying for?
It is making the room possible to reason about: inventory, cable management, labelling at both ends, documentation, power and airflow. It turns a two-hour outage into a twenty-minute one, and it is far cheaper scheduled than done in an emergency.
The full answer
"Another emergency taken care of by Mike at Midwest IT. I love his thoroughness in everything he does. And he is following up to make sure all stays working properly as well. Grateful he is following up, as we all know Microsoft can't wait to do another update that breaks more programs."
Debbie, manufacturerMeet Mike- A technician who knows your setup takes every request. Not a dispatcher, not a queue.
- Every closed ticket is surveyed and a partner reads every response.
- 99.5% of surveys come back positive.
- Family-owned since 2005. 21 years in the same corner of Wisconsin, not going anywhere.
"Another great job by Midwest IT. Our company just loves your fast response to our issues."
Client, 2024 surveyWhen was your last tested restore?
If you do not know, ask us to check. It takes an afternoon.
Talk to a partnerTalk to a partner, not a sales script.
Tell us what is going on. A partner will call you back the same business day, look at what you have, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No pricing pressure, no pitch deck.