This document outlines the approach taken by Synergist Express Ltd for database and document attachment backup when using the Synergist Cloud Hosting Service, in order to minimise the chance for potential data loss. All times quoted in this document are based on the base time-zone configured for each Synergist instance.
Database
We will configure each Synergist Instance that we are hosting under our service so that each day at 8pm, a safe and consistent copy of the database is completed. This consistent copy process ensures that any data is first written to the instance’s data volume and then copied to another folder. The configuration will be set to retain a rotation of 5 consistent copies. During the consistent copy process, each instance’s database is “quiesced” to ensure consistency. This means that user operation during this process will be paused for a period. The period of time needed will depend of the size of an instance database.
We will also configure each Synergist Instance that we are hosting under our service to have a database journal file in which is recorded each database transaction since the last consistent copy was done. A journal file allows for the potential to re-play transactions into the database “up to the minute”, in the unlikely event of needing to recover the database from a consistent copy.
For ensuring the safety of each instance volume from data loss, we will also configure a backup schedule, each day at 10pm, to take a snapshot of each Synergist instance volume using the Amazon Web Services built-in facility. These snapshots will be stored in a separate location within the Amazon Web Services hosting service.
In the rare event of a significant problem with an instance or its associated volume, the data will be recovered from either one of the consistent copies and associated journal, or from a volume snapshot. Any potential down-time and data loss will be kept to an absolute minimum as far as is practical.
We will monitor using automated systems both the consistent copy process and the snapshot process for each Synergist instance hosted using our service. If there is a problem with either of these processes for a particular instance, we will correct it.
In the event that maintenance of an instance or volume with regard to data safety or other configuration is needed, we will contact you to arrange a convenient down-time period for your instance. In some cases a particular maintenance event may be time sensitive and we will advise you if that is the case.
Document Attachments
It is possible to attach and subsequently download documents to and from certain records from within the Synergist software. These documents are stored using the Amazon S3 (Simple Storage System) service. The Amazon S3 service provides a backup service for documents hosted there by automatically replicating those documents over several disks based in multiple locations. In this way, the chance of data loss is eliminated as far as is possible.