Managed servers are a little bit different than your ordinary dedicated server. Managed servers could be anything from a shared hosting solution to a complete server that is simply “managed” by the hosting company. However, in general, most managed servers give you less control than servers that are dedicated and simply located on a rack at a data center. While this might not mean much to most people, it can have a serious effect on what you are able to do in the case of an emergency with your server. Contingencies are meant to be planned out so that they never ever have to be used. Still, many dedicated/shared hosts find themselves with unique situations that require them to put a plan into action quickly and efficiently. This is why you need to contact your hosting company early on to see what sort of backups that they have in place. Many hosting companies know how to deal with problems, and will help you with certain strategies. This could be anything from weekly backups, to daily backups and more. Some hosting companies may even allow you to request a backup from the past day or two if you have a hacker/virus attack your managed server. Thanks to technology you can typically setup an automated backup whenever it is a good time to do so. Many server owners choose to have their server backup during the overnight hours, when server usage is lower and the server will be able to tolerate it better. However, if you are not sure how to do this, you can always contact your hosting company who will be more than happy to help you moved here. Another good contingency plan for your managed server is to be able to reboot it remotely. Most, if not all, managed server hosts offer this feature now. In case your server ends up having problems or is extremely sluggish, you can remotely restart it. This saves you time and anger as well as labor for the host. Data centers can often have some of the best backup systems in the world. You must simply know what you are doing in order to make sure you have the right catastrophic backups in place. Most data centers that deal with managed servers know how to deal with large scale issues. However, it never hurts to talk with them about the problems that could come up. They may be able to tell you about their plans, and security of your data. The more that you can work together with your host, the better off you are going to be in the case of a real emergency