A systems administrator needs to perform an urgent bare-metal restore of a critical file server. The company's backup policy involves daily incremental backups and weekly full backups to LTO tapes stored in an on-site, fireproof safe. The last known good configuration was from two days prior. Before retrieving any tapes from the safe to begin the restore operation, which of the following actions is the most critical and logical first step?
Perform a test restore of the most recent full backup to a non-production server.
Verify the backup server has the latest software patches and driver updates installed.
Retrieve the most recent incremental tape and visually inspect it for physical damage.
Consult the backup software's catalog to identify the specific tapes required for the restore.
The correct answer is to consult the backup software's catalog to identify the specific tapes required. Before any restore operation, a media inventory must be performed to identify exactly which media sets are needed. The backup software maintains a catalog or database that lists which files are on which tapes and the dates of the backups. Consulting this catalog is the essential first step to determine which full backup tape and which subsequent incremental tapes are necessary for the restore. Physically inspecting a tape is a good practice but is secondary to first identifying which tape is needed. Running a test restore is a validation step that occurs after the required media has been identified and retrieved. Verifying the backup server's patch level is a general maintenance task and not the immediate first step in an emergency restore scenario.