Backup, Disaster Recovery, and Glass Break

Backups

Backups are routine copies of critical data that protect against accidental deletion, corruption, or other data-loss incidents. Secret Server supports both manual and scheduled backups of the database and IIS directory, providing a reliable way to safeguard the data itself. These backups ensure that individual records or files can be restored even if the production system remains intact. Administrators can also export secrets to a CSV file as an additional precaution to strengthen data protection. See the Backup section for details.

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is the broader strategy for restoring the entire Secret Server environment after a major outage or catastrophic event. While backups preserve the data, disaster recovery focuses on bringing the full application and all related services back online. Secret Server enhances this capability through SQL mirroring and automatic failover, which minimize downtime and keep privileged access secure and accessible. These measures enable rapid restoration of both the application and database, ensuring operational continuity when a disaster occurs. See the Disaster recovery section for details.

Break Glass Access

The Break Glass concept provides emergency access when standard methods are unavailable because of infrastructure failures or other emergencies. It ensures continuity and access to essential information during outages or disasters. Secret Server supports several Break Glass options, including exporting secrets for secure retrieval when systems are down, maintaining resilient secrets that remain accessible during outages, allowing mobile app offline caching so authorized users can retrieve cached secrets without connectivity, and enabling PCS/Server Suite Agent offline operation, which uses policy-cached authentication and machine-specific MFA for secure access when servers cannot be reached. See the Break Glass Concepts section for details.