Backups That Have Been Tested Are the Only Backups That Count
Companies that experience a major data loss without disaster recovery rarely survive. Many backups are incomplete, and a significant portion of restores fail when tested. We do not just back up your data — we test recovery weekly to guarantee it works when you need it.
Most Backups Fail When You Actually Need Them
The backup industry has a dirty secret: 60% of backups are incomplete, and 50% of restores fail. Companies assume their backups work because the backup script ran without errors. But running a backup and successfully restoring from it are two different things.
Common failure scenarios: database backups that capture a corrupted state because the dump ran during a write operation. File backups that miss configuration files outside the documented directory. Backup storage that's on the same physical server as the data it's protecting — so a disk failure loses both. Retention policies that expire backups before anyone notices the corruption.
These failures are invisible until the moment you need to recover. And that moment — ransomware attack, hardware failure, accidental deletion, corrupted database — is the worst possible time to discover your backup strategy doesn't work.
Automated Backups with Proven Recovery
Our backup system is built on three principles: automation (no manual steps to forget), geo-redundancy (backups stored in a different physical location), and tested recovery (weekly restore tests to prove it works).
Database backups use pg_dump with --serializable-deferrable to ensure consistent snapshots without locking. File system backups use rsync with incremental transfers to minimize bandwidth. Configuration files and environment variables are version-controlled separately. Everything is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Weekly, we restore the latest backup to a test environment and verify: database integrity checks pass, application starts and serves requests, file system contents match expectations. This isn't a theoretical exercise — it's a documented procedure that proves your recovery plan works.
Backup & Recovery Features
Daily Automated Backups
Files and databases backed up daily via cron. Optional hourly snapshots for high-change environments. No manual intervention required.
Geo-Redundant Storage
Backups stored in a physically separate data center. Server in Germany? Backups in Finland. Server in US East? Backups in US West.
Weekly Restore Tests
Every week, we restore the latest backup to a test environment and verify it works. Documented results, not assumptions.
Point-in-Time Recovery
PostgreSQL WAL archiving enables recovery to any point in time — not just the last backup. Recover from accidental deletions down to the second.
Encrypted Backups
AES-256 encryption at rest. TLS in transit. Backup access controlled separately from server access. Even if backup storage is compromised, data remains encrypted.
30-Day Retention
30 daily backups retained by default. Weekly backups kept for 3 months. Monthly backups kept for 1 year. Custom retention available.
Backup Technologies
Need Reliable Infrastructure?
No commitments. Tell us what you need and we'll tell you how we'd solve it.
Backup Solutions by Scenario
Web Applications & Databases
Challenge: Daily database changes need consistent backups with fast recovery.
Solution: pg_dump daily + WAL archiving for point-in-time recovery + file system rsync. Geo-redundant storage.
Result: Recovery to any point in time, tested weekly, sub-2-hour full restore
E-Commerce Stores
Challenge: Orders, inventory, and customer data change constantly. Data loss means lost revenue and compliance issues.
Solution: Hourly database snapshots + daily full backups + continuous WAL archiving. Encrypted storage for PCI compliance.
Result: Maximum 1 hour of data loss (RPO), 2-hour recovery time (RTO)
Multi-Server Environments
Challenge: Multiple servers with different applications need coordinated backup and recovery.
Solution: Centralized backup management with Restic, per-server retention policies, and documented recovery runbooks for each service.
Result: Coordinated recovery procedures, prioritized by business criticality
Why idataweb for Backup & DR
Modern Production Stack
Server infrastructure on Ubuntu/Debian with Nginx, PM2 for Node.js process management, and PostgreSQL for databases. Monitoring with Umami analytics and Sentry error tracking — all self-hosted, no SaaS dependencies for critical infrastructure.
AI-Native Team
AI-assisted infrastructure monitoring and incident response. Claude analyzes server logs, identifies patterns, and suggests optimizations. Automated alerting via Telegram with intelligent severity classification — not just threshold alerts.
Self-Hosted Infrastructure
Infrastructure you fully own and control. No cloud vendor lock-in to AWS, GCP, or Azure. Bare metal or VPS — your choice based on performance needs and budget. Full root access, your own backup strategy, and predictable monthly costs.
End-to-End Delivery
From architecture planning and server provisioning through security hardening, monitoring setup, to ongoing maintenance — one team handles everything. The engineer who designs your infrastructure also maintains it.
Transparent Fixed Pricing
Fixed-price infrastructure projects: server setup, migration, security audit, monitoring deployment. Ongoing maintenance on transparent monthly agreements with clear SLAs. No per-resource cloud billing surprises.
Frequently Asked Questions About Backup & Recovery
How often are backups taken?
Daily automated backups are the standard for all managed infrastructure. For high-change environments (e-commerce, SaaS applications), we configure hourly database snapshots in addition to daily full backups. PostgreSQL WAL archiving runs continuously, enabling recovery to any point in time, not just the last backup.
Where are backups stored?
Backups are stored in a physically separate location from your production server. For European servers, we use Hetzner Storage Boxes in Finland or S3-compatible storage in a different EU region. For US servers, backups go to a different US region or Backblaze B2. Storage costs range from $5-$6/TB/month depending on the provider.
How long does recovery take?
Full server recovery from backup takes 1-4 hours depending on data volume and server specifications. Database-only recovery is typically under 1 hour. Point-in-time recovery using WAL archives takes 30-60 minutes. These times are based on actual tested restores, not estimates.
How much does backup management cost?
Basic backup management (daily backups, geo-redundant storage, weekly restore tests) is included in our infrastructure management plans. Standalone backup management starts at $100-$200/month plus storage costs ($5-$6/TB/month). Enhanced backup (hourly snapshots, point-in-time recovery, faster RTO guarantees) ranges from $200-$500/month.
What if I accidentally delete data?
With our standard 30-day retention, we can restore data from any daily snapshot within the last 30 days. With PostgreSQL WAL archiving enabled, we can recover to the exact second before the deletion occurred. Recovery from accidental deletion is the most common restore scenario and typically completes in under an hour.
When Was the Last Time Someone Tested Your Backups?
If the answer isn't 'last week,' your backups are assumptions, not guarantees. Let us set up automated, tested, geo-redundant backups for your infrastructure.
Free backup audit · Weekly restore tests · 30-day retention included