| New technologies and recent storm reports have | | | | Disaster recovery planning and advanced data |
| forced many companies to review disaster | | | | protection is not just for large companies. |
| recovery plans and data protection policies. | | | | Businesses of all sizes have become increasingly |
| Hurricanes striking the Gulf Coast and Eastern | | | | dependent on data for their very existence. A |
| seashore have a significant impact on the | | | | large number of the companies affected by the |
| businesses operating in their path. Hurricanes | | | | recent hurricanes were small to medium |
| Katrina and Rita have IT managers and company | | | | businesses. Only the ones that were prepared for |
| owners all over the United States evaluating or | | | | a disaster will reopen their doors. Some of the |
| creating disaster recovery plans. They recognize | | | | less fortunate businesses did not have their data |
| the need to be prepared for what would | | | | (backup tape) in an off-site location or had it in a |
| otherwise be a devastating scenario. | | | | nearby location that was also devastated by the |
| Many companies that were very diligent in | | | | same disaster. Even with a disaster recovery plan |
| protecting their data to tape or disk onsite found | | | | in place, companies are still faced with the |
| their offsite protection was inadequate. Some had | | | | possibility that their data cannot be restored due |
| a total data loss as a direct consequence of a | | | | to corrupted data on disks or tapes. The following |
| natural disaster. An example of this occurred in | | | | passage, retrieved from the National Archives and |
| Houston, when Tropical Storm Allison hit in June | | | | Records Administration in Washington, D.C., is an |
| 2001. The threat this storm posed was widely | | | | eye-opening statistic regarding business continuity. |
| dismissed. No one foresaw the disastrous impact | | | | 93% of companies that lost their data center for |
| it would have on Houston businesses. During the | | | | 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for |
| height of the storm, the basements of many | | | | bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. 50% |
| corporate, governmental and medical buildings | | | | of businesses that found themselves without data |
| flooded. The basements of these buildings housed | | | | management for this same time period filed for |
| power equipment, computer mainframes, and | | | | bankruptcy immediately. Companies that backup |
| data storage for medical research. Many of these | | | | their data to a secure off-site location can move |
| basements were connected by tunnels and | | | | their operations to a new location and continue |
| walkways, so when one basement flooded, the | | | | their business as usual. The companies who are |
| adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a | | | | prepared with a comprehensive disaster recovery |
| disastrous domino effect that either damaged or | | | | plan, including an offsite backup of there data, are |
| completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of | | | | much better prepared to deal with a catastrophe. |
| tape and data storage of medical research were | | | | Those companies will be the ones that endure this |
| lost. | | | | type of extreme event. |
| In this instance, inadequate preparation caused | | | | When choosing or evaluating your backup solution, |
| data recovery to be expensive or impossible. | | | | pay particular attention to the type of media you |
| Many of the organizations affected by this | | | | are using. |
| disaster have made changes to their | | | | A nationwide study has shown that: |
| infrastructure and disaster recovery plans. Moving | | | | Over 34% of companies do not test their |
| centralized computer systems and emergency | | | | backups and of those that tested 77% found |
| power backup equipment out of the basements | | | | their tape backups fail to recover. (Storage |
| was a starting point. Most of these organizations | | | | Magazine) Nearly 50% of tape-based backup fail |
| have also incorporated remote data backup into | | | | to restore correctly. (Gartner Group) Tape-based |
| their disaster recovery plan. Several of these high | | | | backup systems are difficult to administer, and as |
| profile stories were from large Fortune 500 | | | | you can see from the above statistics, often fail |
| companies that have money and resources to | | | | to restore your data. Tapes appear to be a |
| recover from a disaster. Small and medium | | | | sturdy media on the surface; however, according |
| businesses must plan ahead if they are to survive | | | | to an industry leading tape manufacturer's |
| a site disaster. | | | | specifications, tapes must be stored between 41 |
| Here are some things to think about when putting | | | | and 89 degrees and 20-60 percent relative |
| together a disaster recovery plan. It is by no | | | | humidity. Tape rotations require human |
| means a comprehensive list; each business has its | | | | intervention, and with that you get inherent errors |
| unique requirements: | | | | and a flawed process. |
| 1. Prioritize your business needs and identify each | | | | If you choose to use tape to store your data, |
| class of data. Determine which services need to | | | | make sure your tapes are safe and working with |
| be restored immediately and which ones are less | | | | the following procedures: |
| critical. | | | | - Clean your tape drives once a month. |
| - Mission Critical | | | | - Replace tape media regularly. |
| - Business Critical | | | | - Rotate your backup tapes off-site every night |
| - Operationally important | | | | via a bonded vaulting provider, while keeping them |
| Once you've established the relative priority of | | | | close enough that they are easily accessible. |
| your business applications you need to determine | | | | - Test and restore once a month. |
| your recovery objectives for each category of | | | | - Keep at least a 20 quantity backup rotation. |
| data. | | | | - Have easy access to your backup software if |
| | | | you have to re-install it. |
| 1. - Recovery Time Objective (RTO) - The time | | | | - Make sure your data is fully encrypted before |
| objective to bring the system back on line | | | | being written to tape. The main risk of using tape |
| following a failure | | | | systems is that they can malfunction, but appear |
| 2. - Recovery Point Objective (RPO) - The | | | | to be working. All indications are that backups |
| acceptable amount of data loss from the last | | | | were successful until you try to restore. If you |
| good backup prior to the point of failure | | | | want to continue to use tapes as your primary |
| 3. Identify potential data loss events that can | | | | backup, consider using an off-site backup service |
| happen to your business. Develop a plan to | | | | as a secondary backup solution, just in case your |
| minimize the impact of these events. | | | | primary backup system fails. Remember, |
| - File loss (83%) - Due to human error, overwrite, | | | | redundancy is the key to data protection. Most of |
| etc. | | | | our clients were not aware a cost effective |
| - File loss (10%) - Due to corruption from viruses, | | | | automated off-site data protection solution |
| application error, etc. | | | | existed. Some were not convinced they needed |
| - Storage loss (5%) - Failure of primary storage, | | | | to store their data off-site in a safe and secure |
| corrupt raid, bad hard drive, etc. | | | | location. A fireproof safe seems like a good |
| - Site loss (2%) - Site disaster, fire, flooding, etc. | | | | location to store your tapes, but two problems |
| - Server loss (1%) - CPU failure, theft, various | | | | exist with that solution. First, in the event of a |
| catastrophes, etc. | | | | fire, your office will be inaccessible for several |
| Create a chart or correlation that identifies the | | | | days while the fire marshal determines the cause. |
| recovery objectives (RTO and RPO) for each | | | | Secondly, fireproof safes are not necessarily |
| class of application relative to the scope of the | | | | water proof and tapes that are exposed to damp |
| data loss event. For instance, a lost file may have | | | | or wet conditions may not be readable. |
| a RTO of 15 minutes. If the file is lost due to a | | | | Off-site data vaulting is not just for large |
| site disaster, the first 4 hours may be dedicated | | | | companies with multiple data centers. It is a data |
| to the safety of your employees and your data | | | | protection strategy that should be employed by |
| RTO may be hours or days instead of minutes. | | | | all organizations regardless of their size. Secure |
| Define your backup system in accordance with | | | | Backup's off-site data vaulting service can scale to |
| your data recovery goals and budget. | | | | meet all of the data protection needs in your |
| | | | customer's environment, whether it is preserving |
| 1. - Determine what data needs to be backed up | | | | and protecting an individual PC or the corporate |
| and how many generations you need to store. | | | | server farm. This scalability combined with the |
| 2. - Establish a backup schedule to meet your | | | | automated remote vaulting of data creates a |
| recovery objectives. | | | | powerful data protection solution that plays a key |
| 3. - Maintain a copy of your back up data offsite | | | | role in your customer's disaster recovery planning. |
| that will meet your data recovery goals. For | | | | In conclusion, data storage and disaster recovery |
| example, if you can only afford to lose 24 hours | | | | are two important factors in managing business |
| worth of data then taking a tape offsite every | | | | continuity. Today companies cannot operate |
| Friday does not meet that goal. | | | | without their business applications and data. |
| 4. Designate an emergency response team and | | | | Owners and managers of businesses, who do not |
| educate them on their role in bringing the | | | | place a high value on the importance of their |
| company back online after a disaster. | | | | company's data, risk the financial future and |
| - Make a list of emergency contact information | | | | viability of the organization. The company's |
| for all employees. Make sure you know how to | | | | historical and current data is its life blood. Without |
| contact them and they know how to contact | | | | data protection and disaster recovery policies in |
| you. | | | | place, a company risks the possibility of not being |
| - Make a list of critical vendors and their | | | | able to recover from a data loss event. Whether |
| emergency contact information. | | | | it is caused by human error, a disgruntled |
| - Make a list of vendors for replacement | | | | employee, hardware or software failures, or even |
| computer and operating equipment that is | | | | worse, a fire or natural disaster, you need to be |
| necessary to resume business. | | | | prepared. |
| - Make a list of possible replacement sites. | | | | |