Daily Operations

Quick Health Check

# Check all service statuses
sudo systemctl status backup-*
 
# Check disk space
df -h /var/lib/backup/repo
 
# View recent snapshots
xreplicator snapshots --server localhost:50051

Monitor these daily:

• Service status for all components
• Logs for errors or warnings
• Disk space on the backup server
• Confirmation that backups are completing

Backup Strategies

Full Backup Frequency

Incremental Backup Frequency

Retention Policy Guidelines

• Full backups: Keep 4–12 (1–3 months of history)
• Incremental backups: Keep 24–168 (1–7 days of hourly snapshots)
• Adjust based on storage capacity and recovery time objectives

Maintenance Schedule

Weekly

• Review backup logs for errors
• Check repository disk space
• Verify cloud sync status (if configured)
• Test a restore from a recent snapshot

Monthly

• Review and adjust retention policies
• Run compaction (if not automated)
• Verify license expiry date
• Review and update configurations

Quarterly

• Perform a full disaster recovery test
• Review and update backup strategies
• Audit access and permissions
• Update software packages

Azure-to-Azure DR Operations

XReplicator v1.3.0 can be used to set up DR for Azure workloads recovering into Azure. The recommended operational model is:

1. Run the backup server and web UI in the Azure DR landing zone.
2. Enable DR for each protected source disk.
3. Wait until every source shows a healthy DR status and the applied snapshot matches the desired snapshot.
4. Create a blueprint that maps source disks to the target Azure region, resource group, VNet, subnet, VM size, and disk strategy.
5. Run strict precheck before every drill or production failover.
6. Trigger failover from the web UI and validate VM boot, disk attachment, networking, and application health.

Observed Azure-to-Azure failover drills can start the recovered server in under 2 minutes once staging disks are already healthy and synced. Treat this as a measured environment result, not a universal guarantee: RTO depends on Azure API latency, VM size, OS boot time, network dependencies, and application startup.

For setup details, see Azure-to-Azure DR.

Key Metrics to Monitor

Best Practices

Configuration

• Use a consistent fixed_block_size_mb across all agents and the server
• Keep chunk_size_avg_kb consistent to preserve deduplication
• Enable TLS for all production gRPC connections
• Store cloud credentials securely — avoid hardcoding in config files

Security

• Restrict network access to the backup server (port 50051)
• Use TLS encryption for gRPC communication
• Use strong, unique credentials for cloud storage
• Rotate credentials on a regular schedule

Performance

• Match pipeline settings (workers, batch_size, max_pipeline_memory_mb) to available resources
• Use compression for network-backed storage
• Enable eBPF change tracking for faster incremental backups
• Monitor and tune batch sizes based on actual network throughput

Reliability

• Test restores regularly — a backup you haven’t restored is an untested backup
• Maintain multiple full backups
• Use cloud sync for offsite/disaster recovery backups
• Document your recovery procedures and keep them up to date

Documentation

• Maintain a list of all backed-up systems and their schedules
• Document the restore procedure for each system type
• Keep copies of configuration files in version control
• Record any configuration changes with the reason and date