4.05.01 Computing Services Server Backup and Retention

I. Purpose

This procedure documents data backup and retention for servers managed by Information Technology.

Policy Supported

4.05 Backup and Retention Policy.

II. Description

The primary data center is located in Morgan Hall. The secondary data center is located in Macmillan Hall. The tape library is located in the secondary data center at Macmillan Hall. Backups occur nightly from the SAN in the primary data center to the SAN in the secondary data center. Backups are copied weekly to the tape library for long term archiving. Each Tuesday afternoon, excluding holidays, a courier from Illinois Record Keepers exchanges the weekly backup tapes with IT to store the tapes in a secured vault..

One (1) month of daily backups are stored on the SAN in the secondary data center for quick restores. Tape rotation consists of twelve (12) monthly tapes and four (4) to five (5) weekly tapes. Tapes are stored in Illinois Record Keepers' vault for a total of three (3) weeks after being written. The returning tapes are stored in a secured file cabinet in the PBX Switch Room between Burgess and Sisson Halls, separate from the disk based backups. Tapes are reused after their specified retention period expires. Maximum tape retention is currently one (1) year. Retention of electronic mail backup files is referenced in Policy 5.05, Electronic Mail Account Usage.

III. Scope

This procedure applies to servers managed by Information Technology.

IV. Definitions

PBX - A Private Branch Exchange (PBX) is a private telephone network that connects extension phones in one office to the telephone network in another office.

SAN - A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a dedicated, independent high-speed network that interconnects and delivers shared pools of storage devices to multiple servers.