In an industrial environment, Backup & Restore refers to the protection and recovery of all production-critical systems, data, and configurations—ranging from PLC logic and machine parameters to edge gateway settings. Unlike traditional IT, simply backing up files is insufficient. An OT backup must reproducibly preserve the exact operating state of a plant so that after a failure, cyberattack, or operator error, the equipment runs under the same conditions as before.
In classic IT, "Restore" means: boot the server, install software, import data, and you're done. In Operational Technology (OT), this is a dangerous misunderstanding.
A CNC machine or a bottling line does not have an operating state that can be reconstructed from a data backup alone. Parameter sets, recipes, calibration data, interface configurations, PLC ladder logic, and firmware versions together form the "production-ready" state. If even one component is missing or a version number is incorrect, the plant either won't start—or worse, it will run with incorrect parameters.
In manufacturing, wrong parameters don't just lead to scrap. In pressure systems, dosing units, or safety-relevant processes, incorrect settings can cause physical damage to equipment or pose a risk to human life.
An OT-capable backup is not a single file—it is a comprehensive concept addressing multiple system levels simultaneously:
| System Level | Content to be Backed Up | Risk Without Backup |
| PLC / Controller | Ladder logic, function blocks, firmware | System won't start; days of re-programming |
| HMI / Interfaces | Visualizations, alarm configs, user rights | Operator cannot monitor or control process |
| Machine Parameters | Process limits, tolerances, axis parameters | Quality issues; equipment damage |
| Recipes | Product-specific parameter sets | Production of specific items impossible |
| Edge Gateways | Connection configs, protocol mappings | No data flow between machine and MES |
| Network Config | IP addresses, VLANs, firewall rules | Communication loss between systems |
| Production Data | Measurements, test logs, batch data | Traceability gaps; compliance violations |
The most common problem in industrial backup management is not a missing backup—it is the missing restore test.
Backups often run automatically for years without ever being tested. When an actual emergency occurs, the restore fails due to corrupt files, incompatible firmware updates, or missing license keys that weren't part of the backup.
A backup without a regular restore test is not a backup—it is the illusion of a backup.
Minimum Standard: Perform a documented annual full-restore test under realistic conditions. For high-risk systems, a semi-annual cycle is recommended.
A medium-sized manufacturer performs a firmware update on a press brake. The update fails, and the controller won't boot. The latest full PLC backup is 14 months old.
In those 14 months, parameters for three new products were manually tuned on the machine. These changes only existed in the hardware, not the backup. Restoring the old backup gets the machine running, but the product settings are gone. Re-tuning the parameters takes two full workdays of downtime. An automated, versioned monthly backup would have reduced this recovery time to hours.
In an OT context, a restore is only successful if four conditions are met:
Professional OT backup management is about Operational Resilience. The difference between a company that resumes production two hours after a cyberattack and one that stays offline for three weeks is rarely the quality of their firewall—it is the existence of tested, versioned backups and a practiced restore process.