BackupServer

A backup server is a dedicated computer or virtual machine used to store and manage copies of data from one or more client systems. It centralizes data protection tasks and serves as the primary repository for backups, enabling recovery in case of data loss, corruption, or disaster.

A typical backup server runs backup software that coordinates data transfer from clients, applies retention policies, and stores backups on attached disks, network storage, or tapes. It may include features such as deduplication, compression, encryption, and verification to ensure data integrity.

Backups can be designed as full, incremental, or differential. Scheduling can be on-site or off-site, and off-site copies may be transferred to cloud storage or a secondary location. Regular verification and periodic restore tests are common to validate recoverability.

Architectures include centralized backup servers that collect data from multiple endpoints, or distributed systems where clients perform initial backup and upload to a central store. Some solutions use agent-based clients, while others rely on agentless protocols.

Security and compliance considerations include access control, encryption at rest and in transit, secure transfer protocols, and immutability or WORM-like retention to prevent tampering. Retention policies govern how long backups are kept and when they are purged.

Disaster recovery planning relies on backup servers to support recovery objectives. This includes defining RPO (recovery point objective) and RTO (recovery time objective), maintaining inventory, and performing regular restore tests across platforms.

Operational concerns include scalability, performance, monitoring, and alerting. Data integrity checks, catalog maintenance, and versioning help ensure reliable recoveries. Many environments integrate backup servers with broader data protection suites and orchestration tools.

Backups and the backup server may use various storage backends, including local disks, network-attached storage, object storage, or tape, with replication to secondary sites for resilience.