Backup & Disaster Recovery
Backup & Disaster Recovery isn’t a line item you have to think about — it’s included in the base flat rate for every managed-services customer. This page covers what that actually means, not just that it’s checked off.
Summary
Backups only matter if they actually restore when something goes wrong — and most backup setups are never tested until the day they’re needed, which is exactly the wrong time to find out. This is built and verified differently.
-
Already included, no separate line item — covered under the flat rate, for every customer, always.
-
A genuine 3-2-1 posture — three copies of data, on two different systems, with a real offsite copy, not just a single backup target.
-
Ransomware-resistant by design — append-only mode means a compromised endpoint cannot delete or alter its own backup history, even with valid credentials.
-
Tested on a real, documented schedule — monthly integrity checks, quarterly deep verification, annual full restore drills — not "set it and hope."
The Strategy: 3-2-1, for Real
Two systems cover two different kinds of workload, and together they form a real 3-2-1 backup posture — three copies of data, on two different systems, with one of those copies genuinely offsite:
| Workload | How it’s covered |
|---|---|
Virtual machines (Proxmox, on-prem and in the data center) |
Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) — on-prem VMs back up to a local PBS instance, which syncs to a second PBS instance in the data center. Two copies, two locations, one of them offsite. |
Windows, Linux, and macOS workstations |
Restic, backing up directly to the data center over an encrypted connection. No on-prem backup server required at the customer site — one less thing to maintain, one less thing that can fail locally. |
Full documentation on the Proxmox Backup Server side is still being written — the capability itself is live and in production today, this page will be expanded to cover it in the same depth as the workstation side below.
Workstation & Server Backups (Restic)
Why Restic
A single, cross-platform binary — identical behavior on Windows, Linux, and
macOS. Native HTTPS transport (firewall-friendly, no SSH key management),
content-defined deduplication (incremental backups stay lightweight after the
first run), and a plain directory repo structure that can be moved with a
simple rsync if it ever needs to be — no proprietary migration tooling.
On Windows specifically: a single .exe, no installer, no background service — deployed via script, scheduled through Task Scheduler.
The Security Model
Restic uses client-side encryption — data is encrypted before it ever leaves the endpoint:
-
A human-set repo password, hardened with the scrypt key derivation function, never transmitted over the network.
-
An AES-256 master key, generated once per repository, unlocked in memory only during an actual backup run.
-
Every data chunk is encrypted with that key on the client itself. The server only ever stores opaque, already-encrypted blobs.
The practical result: even a full compromise of the backup server itself yields nothing usable — encrypted data with no key to open it. The repo password never leaves the original endpoint.
Append-Only Mode
Enabled on every customer repository, particularly for medical, dental, biotech, and life sciences clients. Client machines can create new backup snapshots — they cannot delete or modify existing ones. Removing old snapshots to reclaim space is a deliberate, server-side action performed by 795IT, never something a compromised or misbehaving endpoint can do on its own. This is real, direct ransomware protection: an attacker who compromises a workstation cannot touch its own backup history.
Retention
Default retention: 7 daily snapshots, 4 weekly, 6 monthly. Regulated customers (biotech, life sciences, HIPAA-covered practices) get extended retention — typically 12 months — documented per customer against the applicable regulatory requirement.
Restore Testing, on a Real Schedule
A backup that’s never been tested is not a backup. Every customer repository goes through:
| Test | What it checks | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
Structural integrity |
|
Monthly, automated |
Content integrity |
|
Quarterly |
Full restore drill |
Restore to an alternate location, verify the files |
Annually, per customer |
Compliance
HIPAA (Medical & Dental)
-
Client-side AES-256 encryption satisfies HIPAA’s encryption requirements, both at rest and in transit.
-
Append-only mode satisfies backup integrity/immutability requirements.
-
795IT holds a recovery key independent of the customer’s own — satisfying key escrow expectations for covered entities.
-
Per-customer repositories and credentials provide real tenant isolation, not shared infrastructure.
Biotech & Life Sciences
-
Retention is reviewed per customer — standard retention windows may not meet a specific regulatory requirement, and get extended where needed.
-
Append-only mode supports the immutable audit trail some regulated environments require, relevant to the same 21 CFR Part 11 / GxP discipline already covered elsewhere on this site.
Get in touch to talk through what this looks like for your environment.