Ready for the Thanksgiving break? Datto Master Technical Support Engineer Matt Massuch has a list of best practices for backup maintenance plans that managed service providers (MSPs) should consider before they shut down their businesses for the next few days. Here are the details.

Dan Kobialka, Contributing writer

November 25, 2014

2 Min Read
Don39t be a turkey Set up a Thanksgiving Day backup maintenance plan
Don't be a turkey. Set up a Thanksgiving Day backup maintenance plan.

Ready for the Thanksgiving break? Don’t forget to implement a maintenance plan for your backup and disaster recovery (BDR) devices before you shut down your business for the next few days.

When it comes to BDR, “out of sight, out of mind” is not an option. Instead, deploying a backup maintenance plan allows you to take the necessary steps to safeguard customer data during any holiday break.

Continuous protection is key, especially when it comes to customer data, and a managed service provider (MSP) that deploys a Thanksgiving Day backup maintenance plan can safeguard its customers’ sensitive information even when its employees are unavailable.

How can you implement a Thanksgiving Day backup maintenance plan? Datto Master Technical Support Engineer Matt Massuch recently offered several Thanksgiving Day backup maintenance plan best practices for MSPs:

  1. Conduct a device audit – Confirm when the last backups were run and whether or not they were successful.

  2. Review alert configurations – Make sure your BDR devices are set up to receive alerts.

  3. Examine local virtualization – Test essential services to the best of your ability with the virtual machine (VM) networking disconnected.

  4. Evaluate your offsite servers – Verify that your servers can virtualize in the cloud.

Massuch also noted regular maintenance of protected systems is vital and recommended the following maintenance schedules:

  • Device reporting – Every day or every other day

  • Web interface reviews – Every three to five days   

  • File restores – Every week

  • VM reviews – Every month   

  • Offsite virtualization reviews – Bi-annually or annually

Deploy a Thanksgiving Day backup maintenance plan, and when Turkey Day arrives, all of your customer data will be safe.

Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].

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About the Author(s)

Dan Kobialka

Dan Kobialka

Contributing writer, Penton Technology

Dan Kobialka is a contributing writer for MSPmentor and Talkin' Cloud. In the past, he has produced content for numerous print and online publications, including the Boston Business Journal, Boston Herald and Patch.com. Dan holds a M.A. in Print and Multimedia Journalism from Emerson College and a B.A. in English from Bridgewater State College (now Bridgewater State University). In his free time, Kobialka enjoys jogging, traveling, playing sports, touring breweries and watching football (Go Patriots!).  

See more from Dan Kobialka
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