9.1.2 Operations & Support — Monitoring & Reliability — Backups & Restore — Strategy

Backups and restore mechanisms protect platform data against loss, corruption, and operational incidents. The strategy emphasizes automation, verification, and clear recovery procedures to minimize downtime and data risk.

Backup Scope

Backups cover all critical data required to restore platform functionality.

Included data:

Databases (central and tenant)

File and media storage metadata

Configuration and secrets metadata

Transient or derived data is excluded by design.

Backup Types

Multiple backup types are used to balance safety and efficiency.

Backup types:

Full backups

Incremental backups

Snapshot-based backups where supported

Backup frequency varies by data criticality.

Scheduling and Automation

Backups are executed automatically on defined schedules.

Scheduling characteristics:

Off-peak execution where possible

Deterministic timing

Failure detection and alerting

Manual execution is available for authorized operators.

Encryption and Protection

Backups inherit encryption standards applied to primary data.

Protection measures:

Encryption at rest

Secure transfer during backup

Access-restricted storage

Backup data is isolated from production systems.

Retention Strategy

Backup retention follows documented policies.

Retention rules:

Time-based retention windows

Tiered retention for recent vs long-term backups

Automatic expiration

Retention policies are auditable.

Restore Procedures

Restore operations follow documented, tested procedures.

Restore guarantees:

Controlled execution

Scope-limited restoration

Verification after completion

Restores may target full environments or specific tenants.

Testing and Verification

Backups are verified regularly through restore tests.

Verification practices:

Integrity checks

Periodic test restores

Validation of recovery objectives

Incident Recovery

Backups support incident response and disaster recovery.

Recovery objectives:

Defined RPO and RTO targets

Clear escalation paths

Logged recovery actions

Security and Isolation

Backup and restore operations are permission-gated. Data is restored only within its original tenant scope, preserving isolation and compliance.