Free tool · Policy, 3-2-1-1-0 check, schedule, snippets
Backup Runbook Generator
Answer ten questions about your platforms, data, RPO, RTO, retention, compliance and sites. You get a written backup policy your team can adopt, a 3-2-1-1-0 check of your answers, a schedule table, retention counts with a storage estimate, and config snippets for the backup tools you already use. Nothing is ranked or sold.
Question 1 of 10Ten questions
1Platforms and tools
Which platforms hold the data? Pick all that apply.
Which backup tools do you already use?
2Data size and growth
Yearly growth
3Virtual machines and databases
4RPO and RTO
RPO: how much work can you lose? (RPO vs RTO explained)
RTO: how fast must service be back?
5Retention requirement
How long must a restore point stay available?
6Compliance
Which frameworks apply? Leave empty for none.
7Sites and offsite copies
How many sites?
Where can an offsite copy go? Pick all that apply, or none.
Is at least one copy immutable or offline (Object Lock, tape in a safe, a pull-only backup server)?
8Budget
9Who restores
10Restore testing today
How often do you restore something as a test now?
3-2-1-1-0 check, live from your answers
Three copies of the data
Two different media
One copy off site
One copy offline or immutable
Zero errors after verification
Free. Three runbooks per day; a repeat of the same answers is free. Only these answers are sent to our server: no hostnames, IPs, user names or files.
How the generator works
1. Your answers become a plan, in code
Tiers, the schedule, grandfather-father-son retention counts, the storage estimate and the 3-2-1-1-0 verdicts are computed from your answers with fixed rules and the assumptions printed in the document. The same code runs in your browser for the live check.
2. Our engine writes the policy wording
The eight policy sections are written from that plan, in plain English. A section is accepted only when every number in it already appears in the plan; otherwise the standard template text is used, so no number is ever invented.
3. Snippets for what you already run
Proxmox vzdump and Proxmox Backup Server jobs, a Velero schedule, restic and rclone cron files and a wbadmin command are generated with your retention and RPO, each linked to its official documentation. Every snippet is parsed in our tests before it ships.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Backup Runbook Generator produce?
A policy document with eight sections (purpose, scope, roles, schedule, retention, restore testing, exceptions, review cadence), a 3-2-1-1-0 check of your answers, a schedule table derived from your RPO, retention counts and a storage estimate with the assumptions shown, compliance notes with their sources, and config snippets for the backup tools you already use.
Does it recommend a backup product?
No. It configures what you already run. When a platform has no tool at all it names an open-source default: Proxmox Backup Server for Proxmox VE, Velero for Kubernetes, restic or Bacula for Linux, Windows Server Backup for Windows. For VMware it points to the Enterprise Backup Ledger instead of picking for you.
What leaves my browser?
Only the answers to the ten questions: platform names, counts, sizes and the options you pick. No hostnames, IP addresses, user names or files are asked for or sent. Every number in the document is computed in code; our engine writes only the policy wording and may not change a number.
More free tools: check a vendor claim with the Infrastructure Fact Checker, or get a ranked shortlist from the Hypervisor Advisor. All tools are on the tools page.