CS Backups
Overview
The department uses a fast and efficient rsync based backup system that is stored off-site. Backups are generally run daily.
What Gets Backed Up
All CS infrastructure services are backed up including: email (IMAP folders), web pages (www, courses, research, and people), and mySQL databases. Any workstation, by request, will be backed up. Contact the techstaff if you have a workstation you want backed up.
Special Cases
- Laptops: Laptops can't be routinely backed up because they are usually not left on all the time. If your laptop is Windows 10+ based, then we have USB keys that can be used for Windows backup.
- One-time: Contact the techstaff if you would like a one-time backup, such as before reinstalling your machine.
- Very Large: If your back up is very large (over 1 TB), special arrangements may have to be made. Space on the hard disk array is limited, so a daily backup in this case might not be possible.
Setting Up Your Backup
See the following how-tos:
Setting up backups for Windows
Setting up backups for Mac OSX
Retention
The daily backups are kept on the following schedule:
- Daily for 7 days
- Weekly for 4 weeks
- Monthly for 12 months
- Yearly is kept until deleted
Restores
Single files or folders can be easily restored from daily backups. The operating system and programs can not always be restored from backups. Most likely a full restore will require the operating system and programs to be installed by hand before restoring the data.