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* What is backup and recovery?
What is backup and recovery?
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Updated  May 3, 2023•*1*-minute read
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Overview
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Backup is needed for both logical and physical protection. Organizations can use an effective backup strategy to recover quickly from application issues or restore accidentally deleted files. Additional storage technologies can also be enabled to use storage snapshots for quick recovery.
Backing up and restoring the data that powers applications is critical to meeting recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO). Technologies such as [containers](/en/topics/containers), [Kubernetes](/en/topics/containers/what-is-kubernetes), and [serverless](/en/topics/cloud-native-apps/what-is-serverless) present new opportunities in application development but still need a recovery plan in the event of a failure.
[Blog: Application and data resiliency for Kubernetes](/en/blog/application-and-data-resiliency-kubernetes)
What is backup and recovery?
----------------------------
Backup and recovery is the process of making duplicate copies of critical data to be able to restore when needed and to protect organizations from data loss.  
Data loss or corruption can be the result of any number of issues, including: hardware/software failure, natural disasters, cyber attacks, or even human error.
Defining backup objectives through metrics like the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) are crucial to an organization’s day to day operations to ensure that data is protected and that operations remain continuous with minimal interruption in case of a data loss event.
The RPO refers to the frequency at which backups are made to ensure continuous operations. More frequent RPOs ensure that the potential for data loss remains at a minimum when needing to restore. The larger the RPO, the bigger risk for data loss when recovering from a backup.
The RTO  indicates the time it takes to restore data from backup. A shorter RTO indicates that the recovery process should be able to restore data more rapidly after data loss and allow for the quicker continuation of business activities.
Red Hat resources
-----------------
[Keep reading](/en/resources "Keep reading")
What are the benefits of having a backup and data recovery plan?
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* Faster recovery times and [higher availability](/en/topics/linux/what-is-high-availability) by developing applications with failure in mind
* Backup application state will allow you to re-provision your application from Pipeline
* Allow developers to backup and restore environments
* Minimize container failures across your environment
#### Some challenges of protecting and recovering your data
* New workflows for developers and architects
* An emerging ecosystem around backup and recovery for containers could result in non-standardized solutions
Who does Red Hat partner with?
------------------------------
Red Hat partners with trusted companies to help deliver data protection solutions.
Here are some examples of how we work together.
* [Kasten by Veeam](https://www.kasten.io/partner-red-hat)
* [Commvault](https://documentation.commvault.com/v11/essential/122305_backups_for_openshift.html)
* [Dell Technologies](https://www.delltechnologies.com/resources/en-us/asset/white-papers/products/data-protection/h18715-dell-emc-powerprotect-data-manager-protecting-openshift-workloads-wp.pdf)
* [IBM Fusion Backup](https://www.ibm.com/products/storage-fusion)
* [Storware](https://storware.eu/webinars-tag/openshift/)
The official Red Hat blog
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Get the latest information about our ecosystem of customers, partners, and communities.
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Keep reading
------------
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Security automation uses technology to perform tasks with reduced human assistance to integrate security processes, applications, and infrastructure.
[Read the article](/en/topics/automation/what-is-security-automation "article | what is security automation")
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SOAR refers to 3 key software capabilities that security teams use: case and workflow management, task automation, and a centralized means of accessing, querying, and sharing threat intelligence.
[Read the article](/en/topics/security/what-is-soar "article | what is soar")
### What's an insider threat?
An insider threat is leaked or misused data that—whether released accidentally or purposefully—could be used in malicious ways or viewed by individuals who shouldn’t have legitimate access.
[Read the article](/en/topics/security/what-are-insider-threats "article | What's an insider threat")
Security resources
------------------
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