Backups of plant floor I/O alarms and trends require various processes to maintain data integrity & availability in case of system failures.
Follow this comprehensive steps:
Step-1). Determine Critical Systems and Data
- Find all plant-critical input/output alarms.
- Choose important historical and real-time trend data.
Step-2). Pick a Backup
- Backup data manually to an encrypted location regularly.
- Use software to automate backups.
Step-3). Backup Tools and Software
- Most SCADA systems integrate data backup.
- Store data on SQL Server or MySQL databases and use database backup tools.
- Cloud backup services provide redundancy & remote access.
- Acronis, Veeam, or other specific backup software may be useful.
Step-4). Schedule Backups
- Depending on data criticality, schedule daily or weekly backups.
- Set a backup retention period before deleting or overwriting.
Step-5). Implement Redundancy On-Site Backups
- Store on local servers (or) dedicated devices.
- Store backups off-site to defend against local disasters.
Step-6). Verify Data Integrity
- Regularly check backups for data integrity.
- Regularly test backup restoration to verify success.
Step-7). Procedures and Documentation
- Write out procedures, schedules, and accountable entities.
- Create a detailed plan to recover important tasks and data.