So Are You Prepared To Lose Your Data?

Of course not, but I read threads every day from businesses (on various Internet forums) that have lost their data because their website violated the Terms of Services (TOS) of their host. Often their sites are taken down without notice. Some scenarios were because the client didn't keep their security patches up-to-date, then were hacked. Others were because they were using a shared IP and that IP was blacklisted for spam violations - maybe not that specific IP - just in that range.

So are you prepared to lose your data?

Seems like a ridiculous question, but many aren't prepared because they have no plan beyond simply trusting that their web host will provide back ups if necessary. I write about disaster recovery moreso than any other topic because of the severity related to losing mission critical data. More often than not, if you lose your data, you lose your business - or it's severely impacted.

When selecting a web host, read their Terms of Service carefully - they're there to protect the host and you, spelling out legal expectations. Regardless, use due diligence to formulate a disaster recovery and business continuity plan that includes routinely scheduled remote offsite backup. Prepare for a worst case scenario.

I relate this to car or health insurance. I hate to pay that bill each month, but I know it's for my own protection. If you're the owner or president of your company, you owe it to your clients and employees to secure your business. Stuff happens. It can and does happen to businesses just like yours everyday.

Multiple hard drives in a RAID array fail simultaneously (defective lot). You thought RAID was your backup solution, but turns out - it wasn't.

Fire destroys your servers and DAT tape drive. You forgot to take that tape offsite last night.

Web host locks access to your server because your bookkeeper didn't pay the bill. I see lots of posts related to this where the recommendation generally is - be nice to the host and maybe they'll let you have access to your data.

Bottom line

Set aside some time to review and update your disaster recovery and business continuity plan if you have one. If you don't have one - keep your fingers crossed and hope that Murphys Law passes you by and hits that business down the street first.