Ask CWS: How do you safeguard my data?

In the past few weeks, we've been asked several times how we protect the data stored in our facilities (particularly for websites) from loss. Here are a few of our safety measures, organized in two broad categories:

Redundancy

Our critical systems operate with redundant backups. In the event of a power failure, we have a natural-gas generator which can operate our facility indefinitely until power is restored. Battery systems keep the servers online while power is transferred to and from the generator. To ensure that this system works as intended, we run a live test every month and operate on generator power for a full hour.

Our links to the Internet leave Rochester in different directions to protect us from a physical cable cut. We have duplicate routers and firewalls for failover in the event of a hardware loss. We have two primary cooling systems for the server room and a third on standby. And of course we monitor all of our systems continually; our staff is notified the instant any issues are detected.

Backups

All of our servers are backed up every 24 hours at minimum. This includes website files, database contents and configuration files. These archives are stored on a central backup server, and we maintain a week's worth of data readily accessible there. That server is itself backed up to a dedicated data protection appliance, which records changes to the backup files and allows us to reach farther back in time if necessary (within reason). That appliance is mirrored to an identical device which is located offsite.

Whenever technology is involved, problems will eventually occur. But in most cases you will never notice (or the customers who rely on your website). We understand the importance of reliability and do everything humanly possible to maintain the integrity of your data stored at our facility. If you ever have any questions about our systems, please do not hesitate to contact us.