Ok so this is a best practice and what others do question/thoughts.
I am used to creating a backup file of my Epicor DBs so I can use them for restores and my daily network back ups grab those backup files. They don’t touch the DBs.
I was told this was an old way of doing things but i don’t agree. I always thought it was bad to backup (network) the DB files and we should only back up the bak files. In my mind the bak files are going to be what I need when I need to restore a DB and/or something crashes.
You should generate .bak files either automatically or via a tool. Most of the tools that do it automatically via the network do the same thing. There’s nothing wrong with the BAK files however you should have a robust DR strategy
that includes automated off site off line immutable backups etc.
@Kimberley Are you running on virtual servers? If you are, then those backups also grab a restorable image of the server. @josecgomez is correct that if you at least one immutable copy of the DB so that you’re covered, but make sure you are getting them frequently enough for the level of loss you are willing to accept (recovery window - Are you doing Trans Log backups or Full backups?).
Our multi-layer strategy is a VM backup plus a SQL backup to a network drive - that itself get’s backed up during our network backup AND which get’s replicated to an offsite, immutable location with our backup server stack (which is off until we need to restore).
Where etc. means encrypted. Data exfiltration is second half of the ransomware playbook. After some companies pay to get their data back, they get hit with another request for money not expose or sell the data.
