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Q&A: Back the ____ Up!

Posted By Shawn Perkins on October 13, 2015

Q: Shawn, I am the Maintenance Supervisor of my town’s Water Reclamation Facility. Yesterday the PLC that controls several critical pieces of equipment and interfaces with my SCADA system had a catastrophic failure and crashed. The program is gone and I don't have a backup. What can I do now?

data-backup-security

A: Let me start by explaining that a PLC is a “programmable logic controller” which is basically a digital computer used to automate systems, machines or equipment.

Unfortunately your options are limited at this point. If your hardware is relatively new, getting it replaced quickly is usually not a problem. Even older hardware can be found on the internet, although it may be somewhat "experienced" (not new).

The good news is this type of failure rarely happens these days. It's a long shot, but some PLC's have additional backup memory on board, so if you have a cartridge or chip installed you may be able to transfer the code to the new hardware.

This event highlights the importance of having current, accurate, and accessible backups to all of your code. Hence the title of this Q&A, Back the PLC Up!

Every company should have a documented Backup and Restore procedure that is reviewed and updated on a periodic basis – at least once a year or after any major change to the control system.

The PLC backup should be complete with current documentation and should be dated and/or have other versioning controls in place. Without it your system could be down for weeks or longer.

For more information about the importance of good documentation practices, download our free guide below. 

Backup and Restore: A Guide to Creating Industrial Backup Procedures - Download

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