Without question, we can agree that the amount of data available has exploded as a result of our regular work, customer databases, product data and more. This data overload puts a strain on hardware and challenges IT organizations to create solutions while minimizing downtime and business disruptions. Furthermore, we have to be concerned about security, ensuring data is available even when a backup gets destroyed or stops working, legal requirements and regulations like The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and HIPAA.
To give an idea of how bad the deluge and maintenance of data is, Taming Document Overload reports, “‘One of our clients has 42,000 backup tapes holding 2,500 terabytes of data,’ says Bob Gomes, CEO of Renew Data Corporation, a computer forensics company headquartered in Austin, Texas. ‘The Library of Congress has only 10 terabytes of data.'”
Companies want fast backups and quick data restoration, and that was not easy to accomplish until now. Thanks to the combination of several products and storage and recovery methods and service providers, companies get both. But before business leaders decide on the best solution, they should do an evaluation and analysis of their current content to determine how their data maps or relates to other data, and then they should investigate the options that will best meet their data backup and restoration needs. Having a plan is vital to ensuring business continuity and disaster recovery.
The first suggestion from our readers is the most common method for backing up large data. The second suggestion is for companies with a SAN because it usually has the ability to do “snapshot” backups. The last method, online backups, is generally for small businesses.
- Use disk-to-disk or tape backups
- Take “snapshot” backups
- Save backups online
Use disk-to-disk or tape backups
This popular option has grown more so in the wake of the 2005 hurricanes. However, many companies make their backups locally instead of in another area. When this is the case, data backed up locally may succumb to the same disasters the company’s offices face. Disk-to-disk (D2D) and tape backups can be stored locally or off-site. For obvious reasons, off-site is the better choice.
An anonymous reader says that for a time in 2003 and 2004, it looked like tapes were dying and D2D growing, but tape drives started coming back because they’re cheaper and supposedly faster and better than some D2Ds.
Some businesses even blend tapes and disk to build a disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) backup system. Without getting into the complexities here, let’s just say there are many ways to do D2D backups. One way to protect your company is to educate yourself on the topic. Vendors should also be able to provide an education.
Take “snapshot backups”
Another reader says that a company with a SAN may already have the ability to do “snapshot” backups (also referred to as “split mirror” and “point-in-time copy”), which back up data to a tape or disk that is a duplicate of a data volume at the time the data was copied. After the snapshot is taken, only changes are stored.
If a company doesn’t have a SAN solution, then it can snapshot software from a third-party vendor. This guide explains the difference between snapshot backups and traditional tape backups:
“Traditional backup to tape, and frequently other storage devices today, revolve around performing a full backup of a file system. It’s often not realistic to perform a full backup at every backup interval, especially when that occurs nightly. Generally, after a full backup, for some period of time thereafter, incremental backups are performed, where only files that have changed are backed up. Performing a restore traditionally requires that the full backup nearest the point in time a restore is needed is utilized, followed by any incremental backups after that point in time. Not fun.
“Performing snapshot backups of a file system is almost a complete reversal. In essence, you take a full backup at every interval. However, only the files that have changed are actually backed up. What’s more, only the differences between the files are transferred across the network infrastructure. Performing a restore merely requires finding the file system snapshot for the point in time you require a restore, and restoring.”
This free sample chapter from Using SANs and NAS provides a detailed look into SAN backup and recovery. This type of backup mirrors a set of disk drives, thereby creating a third mirror. The third mirror is separated from the original two, hence the name “split mirror.”
Save backups online
An anonymous reader says that online backups are possible when online storage providers download software agents on a client’s application servers and then create an initial backup of systems. Depending on the size of the data, this usually takes about 12 hours or more.
After the initial backup finishes, the provider does incremental backups on a daily basis. Restoring data typically takes just a few minutes.
While a convenient solution, its drawback is that the client has to trust the storage provider with its mission-critical and company-sensitive data. Although, according to a November 2005 Gartner Inc. survey, 55 percent of vendors encrypt the data. It’s also an expensive recurring bill, but some companies find it pays off to outsource the storage as opposed to hiring employees, buying equipment and doing it themselves.
The advantage is saving data in another location. For example, a New Orleans-based company with online backup in a state unaffected by the hurricanes doesn’t have to worry about its data since it’s out of harm’s way. Another benefit is not having to deal with a physical tape or disk.
Companies have had success with storage virtualization, and the link takes you to a detailed article on the topic. The article says virtualization “aggregates storage systems (such as arrays) from multiple providers into a networked environment that can be managed as a single pool.”
Forgive the cliche’, but no one solution fits all. New and cheaper online solutions are always coming out. One company says its hard drive can survive fire, flood and bomb attacks. A business needs to review its processes, requirements and needs to find the most effective backup process. When searching for solutions and providers, get ready to be greeted with an abundance of options.
Related:
Building the Data Center of the Future
Shavlik’s Remediator Security Digest
Meryl K. Evans is the content maven behind meryl.net, a columnist for PC Today magazine and editor of Intel’s Connected Digest.
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