Space Product Backup Strategies

Existing and new Space Product Owners must choose a backup strategy for their Space. Owners must be aware of the potential risks that can lead to a data loss. These risks are as follows:

1. Accidental deletion

Human errors are among the most common ways of accidentally deleting data.

2. Software Corruption

Software systems can suddenly shut down, potentially loosing all data being manipulated at that moment. 

3. Hardware or System Malfunctions

Hardware or system malfunctions can occur in many forms, such as, electrical failure, head crash, controller failure, etc. These issues can lead to data losses.

4. Computer Viruses

No computer is free from risk of a virus attack. This can slow down your computer or even cause data loss. 

The Intersect Operations team encourages eResearch Analysts and institutional Space approvers to guide existing and future Space users in choosing a Space backup strategy to reduce the risk of data loss. 

Backup Strategies

1) SpaceVault – A Space Product Addon 

This is an Intersect service that automatically takes a backup of your Space product. This service creates a backup at agreed daily, weekly or monthly intervals. It allows users to restore their Space Product from a specific point in time. This service is recommended to users running applications on an automatic basis, analysing/retrieving data without human intervention. 

More information available on Space Vault. 

2) Customer Managed

Customers manage their own backups. This can be a manual procedure or an automatic process. With both options the customer is responsible for their own data backup. No support can be offered for accidental deletion. This option is recommended for those experienced users that actively use their data/hardware and have sufficient knowledge for scripting automatic backups on their machines. 

3) Backup Not Required

A not required back up choice is desirable for those cases where data loss is not an issue. This option is recommended for those customers running easily repeatable experiments. This means that if a data loss occurs, the customer can regenerate the data without a major effort.