Father/son media rotation strategy

The Father/son media rotation strategy requires the following:

Table: Father/son media rotation strategy

Item

Description

Number of media required

6 (minimum)

Overwrite protection period

Two weeks

The Father/Son media rotation strategy uses a combination of full and differential or incremental backups for a two-week schedule.

In the Father/Son scenario, four media are used Monday through Thursday for differential or incremental backups. The other two media containing full backups are rotated out and stored offsite every Friday.

The Father/Son strategy is easy to administer and allows you to keep data longer than the Son strategy, but it is not suitable for the stringent data protection needs of most network environments.

Figure: Father/Son Backup Strategy

Father/Son Backup Strategy

When this backup strategy is first implemented, you must start with a full backup.