AI and Backups: What Actually Works?
AI isn’t just for chatbots and image generation – it’s making real changes in how we handle backups. The combination of AI and backups brings practical improvements to data protection that go way beyond marketing buzzwords.
This blog post summarizes the main points of my latest podcast episode. If you’d like, you can listen to it or watch it at https://www.backupwrapup.com/
How AI Makes Backup Scheduling Better
One of the biggest headaches in backup is scheduling. Even with modern backup tools, you’ve got to balance system resources, manage different backup types, and handle varying workloads. AI and backups work together to optimize these schedules automatically. Take Rubrik’s approach – instead of manually scheduling backups, you specify your RTO and RPO requirements, and their system figures out the rest.
AI-Powered Protection and Discovery
Ever had a server that wasn’t getting backed up because nobody told you about it? AI helps detect unprotected systems and can even identify what type of application is running. Say it finds a SQL Server – it can automatically apply the right backup policy. No more surprise servers showing up months after they were deployed.
Making Deduplication and Storage Smarter
Storage prediction with deduplication has always been tricky. Delete a backup from three months ago, and you might free up 0.1% of your storage – or nothing at all. AI and backups combine to analyze deduplication patterns and predict storage needs more accurately. This means better capacity planning and fewer emergency storage purchases.
Anomaly Detection and Security
AI brings smarter threat detection to backup systems. It can spot unusual backup sizes that might indicate ransomware, detect mismatched file types, and flag suspicious admin behavior. Think of it as another layer of protection against threats.
Better Recovery Testing
Nobody likes writing DR plans, but AI can help generate test scenarios and identify potential failure points. It’s like having a really smart assistant who’s read every DR plan ever written and can help customize one for your environment.
Looking Forward
As companies build their own AI models, backing up these models becomes crucial. The training data and resulting models represent significant investments that need protection. It’s a nice bit of symmetry – using AI to improve backups while also backing up AI.
Remember, AI isn’t magic – it’s just another tool in our backup toolkit. But when used right, it makes our backups more efficient, more reliable, and easier to manage. That’s something every backup admin can appreciate.
Written by W. Curtis Preston (@wcpreston), four-time O'Reilly author, and host of The Backup Wrap-up podcast. I am now the Technology Evangelist at S2|DATA, which helps companies manage their legacy data
