Disaster Recovery (Comptia Objective 4.3)

Question 1

What is an image level backup?

Answer 1

• Base metal
• Operating system volume snapshots or hypervisor snapshots.
• Recover the entire system at once.
• Make an exact copy somewhere else.

Question 2

What is a file level backup?

Answer 2

• Copy individual files to a backup.
• May not necessarily store all system files
• May need to rebuild the OS and then perform a file restore.

Question 3

Critical application backups are used to backup?

Answer 3

• Application Software( Often distributed across multiple servers)
• Application data( Databases, other data storage)
• Location of data( Local and cloud based) need to make sure you know where all this data is stored!
• All of the application software, application data and data location are needed when restoring as they all work together.

Question 4

What are some important things to take into consideration when you are Backup testing?

Answer 4

• It’s not enough to perform a backup, you also need to make sure you have checked that you are able to restore from this backup so performing tests is critical to ensure you do in fact have a good backup.
• Many organizations have a disaster recovery testing process that ;
  Simulates a disaster situation where you restore from backup.
• Confirm the restoration. Test the restored applications and data.
• Good idea to perform periodic audits to make sure the backups have been tested and are working as expected thus ensuring you have a good backup.

Question 5

What is a really useful thing to have in the event of power loss?

Answer 5

• UPS ( Uninterruptible Power Supply)
• Provides short-term backup power
• UPS will work in the event of Blackouts( complete loss of power), brownouts( drop in voltage) and surges(increate in voltage).

Question 6

What are some UPS types?

Answer 6

• Offline/Standby UPS(constantly watching voltage from the main power)
• Line-interactive UPS( Can slowly ramp up how much power it’s providing.
• On-line/Double-conversion UPS( systems are run from the battery power inside of the UPS and the batteries are charged by the main power when available). This type of UPS is commonly used in data center.
• Different UPS’s have different features such as; Autoshutdown( tells a system to shutdown if it detects the main power is down), battery capacity, outlets, phone line suppression.

Question 7

What is a surge suppressor? How do they work?

Answer 7

• Not all power is “clean” main power line is subjected to possible power spikes and noise due to storms or issues with a power grid.
• In the event of a power spike the surge supressor will divert this extra power to the electrical ground.
• They often also include noise filters which remove line noise which are often rated in Decibel(Db) levels at a specified frequency. The higher this number is the better.

Question 8

What is Cloud storage? What are some advantages and disadvantages of it?

Answer 8

• Data is available anywhere, anytime, on any device. If you have a network, you have your data.
• Advantages over local backups include;
  No tape drivers to manage
  No offsite storage processing
• Disadvantages over local backups include;
  Data is not under your direct control( May want to make sure you adequate security around your data)
  Strong encryption mechanisms are critical.

Question 9

Account recovery options are very important what elements should it include in the event of a disaster?

Answer 9

• Apps won’t work if users can’t login. Your Windows domain will most likely be the foundation of your recovery efforts.
• Consider other authentication requirements such as multi-factor authentication validation. Additional authentication databases, RADIUS/TACACS(802.11X)
• Account recovery is another important reason for centralized administration( No local accounts)