So, you bought a server with a tape backup in it. Someone swaps out the tapes everyday. Someone even looks at the job log page once or twice a month to see that the jobs are completing.

You’re not going to be in the same boat as your buddy who was always going to implement a backup system next month and just lost the last three years worth of data to a server crash, right?

Not necessarily. And the biggest reason you might not be protected is you’re calling it a Backup system and not what it really is: a RESTORE System.

Besides backing up regularly, you need to test your ability to restore from those tapes periodically. Make yourself a schedule and stick to it. Each Friday morning, test restore from one of the tapes – week 1 it’s Monday, week 2 it’s Tuesday, week 3 it’s Wednesday, week 4 it’s Thursday.

Friday should have its own set of 4 tapes, one for each week of the month, and they should be stored offsite. Sometimes you don’t know you need to restore until a week or more has gone by. Onsite tapes protect against data loss due to hard drive failure, but not against fire or theft.

The recently released Service Pack 1 for Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 ERP was immediately followed by Service Update 1, which included approximately 47 fixes and enhancements to version 4.10. It also includes a new framework for installing changes using InstallShield instead of zipped files. I had expected either the System Configuration Listing or Installed Modules Listing to reflect the updated level of the system, but neither does. The system activity log shows the installation of the Service Pack and the Service Update, but those entries tend to scroll out of sight after awhile. More later …