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What is a backup target?

A backup target is the storage system where backup software writes its copies and keeps them until they are restored or expire. Common targets are tape, disk or block storage attached to a backup server, deduplicating appliances and S3-compatible object storage. The target sets restore speed and decides whether stored copies can be deleted.

What does a backup target do?

The target holds every restore point the backup software creates, keeps it for its retention period and serves it back during recovery. The software decides what to copy and when, and keeps the catalog of what exists. The target decides how fast copies can be written and read, and whether anything can remove them early. Software can be reinstalled. Copies lost from the target cannot be recreated.

What types of backup target are there?

  • Tape: low cost per terabyte and offline once a cartridge is ejected. Restores are slow because a cartridge has to be located, loaded and read in sequence.
  • Disk or block storage on the backup server: simple and fast for small environments. The logins that reach the server also reach the disk, which leaves the copies exposed to anyone who controls that server.
  • Deduplicating disk appliances: fast ingest and reduced stored capacity through deduplication. Growth usually means adding or replacing appliances.
  • S3-compatible object storage: in a public cloud or on premises. Public cloud is off-site by default, but large restores are limited by the internet link and often carry egress fees. On-premises object storage grows by adding servers and protects data across them with techniques such as erasure coding.

Which performance figure matters for recovery?

Ingest speed, how fast backups land, is the figure most often quoted. The figure a recovery plan depends on is restore throughput: how quickly the target returns data when many systems have to come back at once. A target that absorbs backups quickly but reads slowly turns a restore measured in hours into one measured in days.

Who can delete the copies on a backup target?

If retention exists only as a setting in the backup console, anyone holding a console login can shorten it or delete restore points, and attackers do this early in an intrusion. A target that enforces its own retention lock, such as S3 Object Lock in compliance mode, refuses deletion requests from every account until the lock expires. The test is whether a stolen backup administrator login can shorten retention. If it can, the copies are not immutable.

Where does the backup target fit in a backup plan?

A plan combines backup software, one or more targets and a second copy somewhere else. The 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule describes the arrangement: three copies on two kinds of media, one off-site, one immutable or offline, and zero errors on restore tests. A fast local target handles everyday restores. An off-site or locked target covers the case where the local one is lost.

Frequently asked questions

Is a backup target the same as a repository?

A repository is the name some backup applications give to a configured destination. The backup target is the storage system underneath it.

Can a backup target be in the cloud?

Yes. Public cloud object storage works as a target and is off-site by default, but large restores are limited by bandwidth and often carry egress fees.

Does a backup target need to be immutable?

Attackers target backup copies, so at least one copy on a target that enforces its own retention lock keeps a recovery option available when logins are stolen.