At the end of 2023 the Infrastructure Team in IT Services, Maynooth University, began a project to renew the existing backup and restore solution. The objective of the project was to migrate to a new appliance as the support was expiring on the existing NetBackup appliance, and it no longer met MU’s data contingency requirements. In addition to aging technology, the NetBackup database agents were not in use on the existing backup solution meaning backups were not application-aware and the backup location for databases were the VMs themselves, and as such did not architect to a cyber recovery model. MU wanted to expand our backup solution to encompass two different types of backup: day-to-day, and immutable. This new backup solution would provide MU with stronger contingency in the event of a cyber incident or disaster.

To achieve the two types of backup required by MU, a new target backup device was essential, along with a second "compliance box" where immutable backups could be stored for disaster recovery. The NetApp FAS2820 system was chosen, and two separate storage devices were purchased, a 240TB system which would be orchestrated by Veeam Backup and Recovery which supports centralised backup of production data to virtual, physical, and cloud locations, and a 30TB “compliance” system utilising snapmirror and snapvault to provide immutable storage for use in a cyber recovery scenario. This solution would include target storage for both general backup storage and immutable backup storage for use in a cyber recovery scenario or disaster, therefore providing the necessary layers of protection.

We initially had planned for a short two month long and purely ICT infrastructure project. This presentation will provide background and context of how that initial timeline evolved into a ten-month long crusade, with three unique phases. We will explore the rational, design, and implementation of all three phases.

Phase 1: Hardware/storage set up, and software installation/configuration

Phase 2: Converting of discs to allow incremental disc backup and setup of backup jobs

Phase 3: Installation of Veeam agents for application-aware processing and database transaction log backup
We will discuss the many varied challenges that the project was faced with along the way, from a loud beeping in the comms room near our Computer Science department, to the downtime required of our Student Records System approaching exam time.

This presentation will also explore the benefits of the following technical strategies implemented throughout the project that enhance Maynooth University’s cybersecurity foothold:

• Incremental backups
• Configuration backup
• Hardware and alternate sites
• High availability