Daily Disaster Recovery Files for Telecom Resellers

A reseller’s billing data is needed to invoice, reconcile payments and answer customer queries, so a plan for losing access to it belongs in any business continuity arrangement. SAFE’s Disaster Recovery Files give you an encrypted copy of that data, made automatically, which you can download or send to storage you control.

The platform’s own backups run continuously, with point-in-time recovery and copies held in geographically separate locations. Disaster Recovery Files serve a different purpose: they put a copy of your records in your hands, independent of the platform, whether for continuity, record-keeping or moving your data elsewhere.

Key Takeaways

• Disaster Recovery Files are created automatically as encrypted 7z archives; there is nothing to schedule
• They include a full database export as CSV files, invoice bundles with call-detail CSVs, and archives of older call records
• Database backups are kept for about a week and invoice bundles for 45 to 180 days, so collect the files you need before they expire
• Files can be downloaded, or copied automatically to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or Google Drive
• 43% of UK businesses identified a cyber breach or attack in the past year (Cyber Security Breaches Survey, 2026)

Key terms in this article

What does RPO mean?

RPO (recovery point objective) is the maximum amount of data, measured in time, that a business can afford to lose. A copy taken daily gives an RPO of up to a day for that copy.

What does RTO mean?

RTO (recovery time objective) is how long a business can be without a system before the effect becomes serious. For billing, it usually depends on where you are in the billing cycle.

What the Files Contain

The platform produces three kinds of file:

• Database backup: a full export of your data as CSV files, covering customers, invoices, calls, transactions, notes, tickets, emails and users.
• Invoice bundles: PDF copies of your invoices with the matching call-detail CSVs, in daily, weekly and monthly versions, both plain and on your letterhead.
• Deleted-call archives: copies of older call records, saved before they are removed from the live system.

Invoice bundles are also the way to get every bill in one download, rather than collecting invoices one at a time.

How Long Each File Is Kept

Files are kept for a set period and then removed from the list:

• Database backups: about a week
• Daily and weekly invoice bundles: around 45 days
• Monthly invoice bundles and deleted-call archives: around 180 days

A copy held only in the platform does not help if the platform itself is unavailable, so download or transfer the files you want to keep before they expire.

Opening the Files

Each file is a password-protected 7z archive, and every archive shares one password. To see it, open the Actions menu on the Disaster Recovery Files list, choose Request Archive Password and enter your current two-factor code.

Keep the password separate from the files. If both are held in the same place, a single compromised account or lost device exposes the data the encryption was meant to protect.

Keeping a Copy Off the Platform

There are two ways to hold copies independently.

Download them

Go to the Advanced tab, then Disaster Recovery Files > View / Edit Disaster Recovery Files, and download the files you need. The Download link turns green once a file has been downloaded, and the home page shows a reminder if no file has been downloaded or saved to backup storage in the last week. Viewing the list needs elevated access and data-protection access.

Send them to your own storage

The platform can copy files automatically to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or Google Drive, configured as a stored file provider under Advanced > Stored File Providers. These are advanced settings and are usually set up with our support team. Files saved this way show a blue Download link until you collect them yourself.

For programmatic access, the Disaster Recovery Files API lists and downloads files.

Disaster Recovery and Your Wider Obligations

The government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2026 found that 43% of UK businesses identified a breach or attack in the past year, with phishing the most common type. A copy of your billing data held independently helps in two ways: it supports recovery, and it gives you a record to work from when assessing what a breach has affected.

As a communications provider, you must notify the ICO of a personal data breach under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations within 72 hours of becoming aware of it (ICO, 2026). Your own incident plan should set out who assesses the breach and makes that notification.

Checking the Copy Works

A copy is only useful if it can be opened and read when needed. Periodically, take a recent file from wherever you store it, open it with the archive password, and compare a few customer and invoice records with the live platform. That confirms the files are complete, that the password is where you expect it to be, and that someone other than the person who set it up knows how to use them.

Getting Started

Disaster Recovery Files are created from the start, with nothing to switch on. Users with the right permissions can download them from the Advanced tab. To set up automatic copies to your own cloud storage, contact our support team. The Disaster Recovery Files documentation covers each step.