Our backup strategy is to periodically snapshot the entire host volume via relevant hypervisor tools. We have negotiated RPOs with all of our customers that allow for a small amount of data loss intraday (I.e. w/ 15 minute snapshot intervals, we might lose up to 15 minutes of live business state). There are other mitigating business processes we have put into place which bridge enough of this gap for it to be tolerable for all of our customers.
In the industry we work in, as long as your RTO/RPO is superior to the system of record you interface with, you are never the sore thumb sticking out of the tech pile.
In our 6-7 years of operating in this manner, we still have not had to restore a single environment from snapshot. We have tested it several times though.
You will probably find that VM snapshot+restore is a ridiculously easy and reliable way to provide backups if you put all of your eggs into one basket.
>> You will probably find that VM snapshot+restore is a ridiculously easy and reliable way to provide backups if you put all of your eggs into one basket.
Yep, this is something we rely on whenever we perform risky upgrades or migrations. Just snapshot the entire thing and restore it if something goes wrong, and it's both fast and virtually risk-free.
In the industry we work in, as long as your RTO/RPO is superior to the system of record you interface with, you are never the sore thumb sticking out of the tech pile.
In our 6-7 years of operating in this manner, we still have not had to restore a single environment from snapshot. We have tested it several times though.
You will probably find that VM snapshot+restore is a ridiculously easy and reliable way to provide backups if you put all of your eggs into one basket.