Probably, everyone at least once dreamed of rewinding time back, returning to the past about an hour before the moment when something went wrong, and fixing everything. Sounds like fantasy. What if we tell you about a magic pill that can solve this problem? Our cloud has its own time machine and it is called snapshot, or in other words - a snapshot of the system.
Chief, it's all gone
Imagine a typical working day, no complaints about the system. And suddenly the moment "X" comes. The data is attacked by a merciless virus, destroying it, well, or simply encrypting it. It will take, perhaps, tens of years to decrypt, and by that time the information will lose all value.
Some ransomware viruses offer to pay a certain amount to recover information (for example, $ 100 in bitcoins). We strongly do not recommend this dubious method - it is unpleasant and does not give any guarantees. In fact, this is common extortion, in which you can lose both money and data.
As a result, if your provider does not take pictures, the situation is as follows. In the best case, you can reinstall the system yourself or request a new machine to get rid of the compromised one and restore data from backups. Additionally, you will have to configure all the software from scratch. Perhaps by that time we will already settle on Mars :) In the worst case: the system is closed, all data is lost, the chance of their recovery is too small, you have no snapshots and backups, and the provider stays away from your problems.
Drama is canceled
But if you entrust your IT infrastructure to the right provider who regularly takes snapshots of the system, disaster can be avoided. After another attack, don't worry about anything. Just use the snapshot to restore the machine disk to the state it was in when it was created. Done, you can safely continue working and not be afraid of any attacks.
A system snapshot is an image of a virtual machine disk, that is, the entire system with software and data that is stored on it at a specific point in time. It is necessary in order to return the system to its original working state in case of any critical changes support analyst job description.
How snapshots work
When you take a snapshot, the virtual machine is paused. The pause can last from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on the size of the disk and the amount of data that has changed since the last snapshot. After that, the virtual machine is resumed and the snapshot is copied from the main storage to the backup. This takes from several minutes to several hours (depending on the size of the disk). At this time, the virtual machine is operating normally. Then the snapshot is deleted from the main storage, which also implies pause, but less protracted than when it was created. When a snapshot is removed from the main storage, the virtual machine is resumed until the next snapshot.
In Tucha, snapshots are taken mostly outside business hours (from 20:00 to 06:00). But if this is the hottest time for your business, there is always the opportunity to change the time interval. The very same snapshot queue is determined in accordance with such factors: infrastructure load and the relevance of the latest snapshots.
Note: The system can only create one snapshot at a time. Therefore, it is advisable not to specify the exact time of the snapshot so that the system does not bypass your car. The recommended interval is at least 3 hours.
An important option for system snapshots is the noremove and nosnapshot labels. If you check noremove, the snapshot will not be automatically deleted, modified or overwritten. Also, a virtual machine or its disk can be marked with a nosnapshot label, then automatic snapshots for them will not be created until the label is removed.
How long does it take to recover from a snapshot? The only factor that affects the duration is the size of the disc. Depending on its size, the procedure takes 15-90 minutes.
The cost of TuchaFlex + and TuchaBit services includes the last 2 snapshots of the system. If more is needed, additional images can be ordered as needed.
Snapshots versus backups
Some people think that making backups is enough. But in this case, you only create copies of certain files. And when they are restored, the state of the system will not change. For example, in a situation with a virus that encrypts system files, closes access to the database or limits the functionality of your software, backup will not help. But the expanded image on the new machine will fix everything in no time. If, of course, you protected yourself and took pictures before the virus attacked system files.
System snapshots and backups are the best tools to use together. For example, by restoring data from a snapshot for Monday, you can also restore missing files for Tuesday, but from a backup.
conclusions
It is extremely important when choosing a cloud provider, even at the stage of consultation with managers, to clarify whether the provider takes pictures of the system. Not all companies provide their customers with such an opportunity, since its implementation requires additional investments in infrastructure. We decided for ourselves that the safety and availability of customer data is worth it.
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