Policy
Effective Date
July 21, 2004
Date of Last Revision
2/17/2013
Chapter Name
Information Management
Chapter Number
Title
4.6
IT Backup Retention Policy
1.0 Purpose
The purpose of the IT Backup Retention Policy is to define backup and retention services for data stored within the
IT production environment.
2.0 Scope
This policy is limited to Production Servers maintained by DoIT, which are defined as:
Any machine used to store or transfer data between two machines where both machines meet any of the
requirements below:
1) Part of the Eastern Michigan University (EMU) Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP); or
2) System(s) approved for purchase by the IT Steering Committee or approved by one of the Advisory
Committee created by the Steering Committee; or
3) System(s) whose contract is signed by the Chief Information Officer; or
4) System(s) determined by the Director of Network and Systems to be necessary component of the EMU
production environment; or
5) Hardware/software where memorandum of understanding (MOU) or Service Level Agreements (SLA) are
present between DoIT and a department or division, explicitly defining a system as a part of the EMU
production environment.
Exceptions to the above definition are: applications used for academic classroom projects; systems purchased for IT
internal use; and duplicate production environments used for testing and training purposes only.
3.0 Policy
All production servers fitting the scope above are to have regular backups performed and retained as necessary for
the server. Backups, at minimum, must consist of a full system backup. A copy of the full system backup is to be
sent offsite either physically (using magnetic or solid state media) or electronically (using replication or via creating
a copy over a network connection.)
The default schedule is at least one full backup weekly. It is recommended that incremental backup be performed on
all days when a full backup is not.
The default retention period for full backups is 28 days. The default retention period for incremental backups is 14
days. The default retention period for duplicate tapes (if available) is 14 days.
Full backups must be offsite for a minimum of 1 week.
4.0 Responsibility for Implementation
The Director of Network and System Services shall have the responsibility and authority to cause this policy to be
implemented and maintained.
IT Policy
Form Version 3.0
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5.0 Enforcement
Any employee found to violate federal or State of Michigan laws, EMU policies, procedures or standards of
conduct, will be subject to disciplinary action under University policy. Any student found to violate federal or State
of Michigan laws, EMU policies, procedures or standards of conduct, will be subject to disciplinary action under
EMU’s Student Code of Conduct. Any suspected violation of state or federal laws will be reported to the appropriate
legal authority for investigation.
The University reserves the right to protect its electronic resources from threats of immediate harm. This may
include activities such as disconnecting an offending computer system from the campus network, terminating a
running job on a computer system, or taking other action.
6.0 Definitions
Term
Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) System
Offsite or remote site
Incremental Backup
Duplicate Tape
Backup Administrator
Network based backup
Production Server
Replication
Definition
The management information systems (MISs) that integrate and automate many
of the business practices associated with the operations or production of the
University.
A secure remote storage facility located at least ten miles (and preferably further)
from the EMU Main campus in Ypsilanti.
A backup of the changes made since the previous backup.
A copy of a tape, usually for sending off site.
The person(s) response for performing the backups of a system. For IT managed
systems, this person is also responsible for managing the backup processes and
systems that operate the backup processes.
Backups using a centralized backup server.
See Definition in Scope section.
The process of creating a copy of the backup data at a remote site using either a
secure network connection or via encryption while the data is in flight.
7.0 Revision History
Description
Gniewek/Rose
Putney – Revised to new policy document format
PRC – Minor content revisions
Jenkins – Minor updates
CIO approved
IT Policy
Approval Date
07/21/2004
05/03/2006
06/20/2006
09/18/2012
02/17/2013
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