Define Backup & Recovery

Objective

Define backup schedule, retention policy, RTO/RPO targets, disaster recovery plan, and data export/import procedures.

Decisions to Make

1. Backup Schedule & Retention

• Backup frequency: Hourly, daily, weekly, continuous (WAL archiving)
• Backup type: Full, incremental, differential
• Retention policy: How long are backups kept?
• Daily backups: keep 7 days
• Weekly backups: keep 4 weeks
• Monthly backups: keep 12 months
• Storage: Where are backups stored? (S3, GCS, local disk, off-site)
• Encryption: Are backups encrypted at rest?

2. RTO & RPO Targets

• RPO (Recovery Point Objective): Maximum acceptable data loss
• e.g., "15 minutes" means we can lose at most 15 minutes of data
• RTO (Recovery Time Objective): Maximum acceptable downtime
• e.g., "1 hour" means the system must be restored within 1 hour
• These targets drive backup frequency and recovery procedure complexity

3. Disaster Recovery Plan

• Failover: Automatic or manual?
• Geo-redundancy: Multi-region, multi-AZ, single region?
• Recovery procedure: Step-by-step restoration from backup
• DR testing: How often is the recovery procedure tested?
• Communication plan: Who is notified during a disaster?

4. Data Export/Import

• Export formats: JSON, CSV, SQL dump, custom format
• Export triggers: Manual, scheduled, API-driven
• Import validation: How is imported data validated?
• Makefile targets: make backup, make restore, make export-data

5. Scan Skills

Query Playbook Skills where capability_domain in:
- BACKUP_DB
- BACKUP_DR

Report coverage and gaps.

Deliverables

• ✅ Backup schedule and retention policy defined
• ✅ RTO/RPO targets set with rationale
• ✅ Disaster recovery plan documented
• ✅ Data export/import procedures defined
• ✅ Skill coverage assessed for this domain
• ✅ Decision recorded for inclusion in SAO.md (DTA-18)