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Chapter 3: Backup and RecoveryTape Management If the disaster is local or regional (for example, a flood or earthquake) adequateprotection means sending tapes to a distant location several hundred miles away.Offsite data storage can be at a separate company facility or a commercial data storagecompany.The offsite data storage facility or vendor should have a certified data storage site. Datatapes have different handling and storage requirements than paper.Once the backup is complete, send the tapes offsite immediately. If there is a data centerdisaster and the backup tapes are destroyed, you can only recover to the last full backupthat you have offsite. For log backups, it is critical to send the tapes offsite immediately. Ifnot, everything since this backup is lost.Onsite storage means storing your data in the same facility as your data center.Tape cartridges should be properly stored, following the tape manufacturer’s storagerequirements.The most difficult requirement to comply with is magnetic fields. The problem isdetermining if there is a strong magnetic field near the tape storage location. A vacuumcleaner motor or a large electric motor on the opposite side of the wall from where the datatapes are stored can generate a magnetic field strong enough to damage tapes.When storing tape cartridges, keep all related tape cartridges together. All the tapes used ina daily backup should be considered as a set, comprising backups for: Database Logs Operating system filesTapes and files in a set need to be restored as a set. For example, if operating system files arenot restored with database and log files, the operating system files will not be in sync withthe database and critical information will be missing.System Administration Made Easy3–19