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The 3-2-1 Backup Rule, or: Hope Is Not a Server Backup
Every shop has one. The server that “has never gone down,” which is sysadmin for “nobody has logged in since 2024.” The NAS that spent two months making a clicking noise and has recently moved on to buzzing. Somebody mentions it in a staff meeting, and somebody else says, “Didn’t Steve set up a backup job before he left in 2021?” Everyone can still reach the shared folders, so it must be fine. And somewhere in a drawer there is a USB stick labeled “backup,” last updated during a different presidential administration.
This post is about how big that problem is, and the one rule that fixes most of it. The rule is called 3-2-1. It is older than most of your servers, and it still works. If you would rather skip the lecture and just get a copy offsite tonight, our backup services are right over there. For everyone else, first, the creative ways data leaves.
