Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Table
Row Count Changing Active Sensitive
736
survey_answers
28
survey_questions
16
surveys
This list of tables for the two databases indicates a few factors that we've decided are im-
portant to the policy we're developing: the number of rows in each table; whether a table
changes often (i.e., its data changes or its schema is altered occasionally); if a table is gen-
erally active or the data is accessed often; and if it contains sensitive information. When
you develop a backup policy, you may be concerned with other factors. However, for our
example here, these concerns will dictate how and when we will backup these two data-
bases.
We won't bother making daily backups of the tables that rarely change. We will make
backups of the active tables each day, running
mysqldump
when they are less in use. We
will make backups of tables that contain sensitive information (e.g., personal information
on members and their children) with a special user account and store them in a more se-
cure directory. We will also make a full backup once a week and store those dump files in
the same secure directory for the same reason.
With all of these concerns in mind, we can begin to formulate a schedule for making
backups and where they should be located.
Table14-2
groups backups based on each
database and then groups tables based on security and usage concerns. For each backup,
there is a list of tables, if not all tables. The columns to the right in the table show whether
a backup should be made daily or weekly, as well as which days of the week and at what
time of the day. The table also indicates whether the backup should be made to a secure
directory and whether a copy should be kept off site, in addition to on site.
