Backup: Best practice

*

We recommend you set up your mSupply backups in the following manner

Disk configuration

Use RAID 1 or 5

RAID 1: two disks mirrored, so data is written to each disk

Advantages

if one disk fails you continue work from the other disk

if the RAID controller fails, you can directly connect one disk and continue work.

RAID 5: 3 or more disks, with one disk containing checksum information so that if any disk in the set fails, the set can be rebuilt.

Advantages:

The disk set can be easily expanded by adding disks if needed.

Disadvantages

You are reliant on the RAID controller, as disks can not be used without the controller. For critical data we recommend you have a spare RAID controller of exactly the same model you have installed in the server available.

Use a hot spare

This is a spare disk that the RAID controller will use if a disk in the RAID set fails.

Add another single disk to receive backup data

This disk is not part of the RAID

Backup your live data

Configure mSupply server to

Use the single disk as it's backup location

backup your data nightly

use a log file. A log file (journal) records each database action as it happens. In the event of a power failure or other adverse event, all changes can be recovered from the log file.

Configure a secondary backup location in mSupply

mSupply can be configured to copy every Xth backup from the backup folder to another volume. The destination can be on the same machine, or elsewhere on the network

Configure off-site backup

Use Spideroak™ or Dropbox™ to backup your secondary location to the their internet servers If needed configure an off-site computer to also synchronise with the backup service provider so you have an off-site copy as well as the “cloud” copy.

Mirrored servers

We have the technology to provide mirrored servers when very high availability is required. Contact us if interested. A charge will apply for implementation