Rehearse recovery when the newest backup is unusable
The latest backup manifest is valid but one required object version is unavailable.
- Focused work estimate
- 3h + prerequisites
- Priority in the scenario
- High
- Engineering practice
- Disaster recovery
Estimated field mix
- Site reliability70%
- Storage systems30%
Field percentages are editorial estimates of the ticket's engineering focus. They total 100%; they are not measured time, proficiency scores, or ownership evidence.
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Project context
A fictional reporting service has successful backup jobs but no recent restore rehearsal. Database rows reference objects with different retention schedules.
Setup prerequisites
- Create disposable local database and object-store fixtures with synthetic reports; author backup and corruption examples.
Preceding work
Complete these dependencies, or supply their agreed outputs before taking this ticket.
- BRESTORE-101 · Inventory the data required to restore one report
- BRESTORE-102 · Define a consistent backup manifest across stores
- BRESTORE-103 · Guard restore commands against non-scratch targets
- BRESTORE-104 · Verify backup bytes before applying restored data
- BRESTORE-105 · Restore database references before enabling object reads
- BRESTORE-106 · Rebuild derived indexes from restored authoritative records
- BRESTORE-107 · Check application compatibility against restored schema versions
- BRESTORE-108 · Measure recovery time and recoverable data loss separately
Acceptance criteria
- Select an older complete recovery set explicitly.
- Report the increased data-loss window.
- Preserve evidence of why the newest set was rejected.
Implementation constraints
- Never merge unrelated backup generations without a defined consistency rule.
Verification to include
- Recover from the previous complete set.
- Reject an inconsistent mix of database and object generations.
Deliverables
- Backup fallback rehearsal.
Rollout and recovery
Keep multiple complete generations until retention review permits removal.
Value of the work
For the engineer: Practice recovery consistency, integrity validation, and honest recovery objectives.
For the team: Replace backup-job optimism with a repeatable restoration assessment.
Evidence boundaries
Outcome Evidence: Tests, patches, and runbooks are requested deliverables. They become Outcome Evidence only through a qualified Mission and immutable Evidence IDs.
Ownership Evidence: Independent adaptation must be observed under a declared verification policy and cite immutable Evidence IDs. Completing a planning ticket establishes no Ownership Evidence.