| New technologies and recent storm reports have | | | | businesses. Only the ones that were prepared for |
| forced many companies to review disaster | | | | a disaster will reopen their doors. Some of the |
| recovery plans and data protection | | | | less fortunate businesses did not have their data |
| policies.Hurricanes striking the Gulf Coast and | | | | (backup tape) in an off-site location or had it in a |
| Eastern seashore have a significant impact on the | | | | nearby location that was also devastated by the |
| businesses operating in their path. Hurricanes | | | | same disaster. Even with a disaster recovery plan |
| Katrina and Rita have IT managers and company | | | | in place, companies are still faced with the |
| owners all over the United States evaluating or | | | | possibility that their data cannot be restored due |
| creating disaster recovery plans. They recognize | | | | to corrupted data on disks or tapes. The following |
| the need to be prepared for what would | | | | passage, retrieved from the National Archives and |
| otherwise be a devastating scenario.Many | | | | Records Administration in Washington, D.C., is an |
| companies that were very diligent in protecting | | | | eye-opening statistic regarding business continuity. |
| their data to tape or disk onsite found their | | | | 93% of companies that lost their data center for |
| offsite protection was inadequate. Some had a | | | | 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for |
| total data loss as a direct consequence of a | | | | bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. 50% |
| natural disaster. An example of this occurred in | | | | of businesses that found themselves without data |
| Houston, when Tropical Storm Allison hit in June | | | | management for this same time period filed for |
| 2001. The threat this storm posed was widely | | | | bankruptcy immediately. Companies that backup |
| dismissed. No one foresaw the disastrous impact | | | | their data to a secure off-site location can move |
| it would have on Houston businesses. During the | | | | their operations to a new location and continue |
| height of the storm, the basements of many | | | | their business as usual. The companies who are |
| corporate, governmental and medical buildings | | | | prepared with a comprehensive disaster recovery |
| flooded. The basements of these buildings housed | | | | plan, including an offsite backup of there data, are |
| power equipment, computer mainframes, and | | | | much better prepared to deal with a catastrophe. |
| data storage for medical research. Many of these | | | | Those companies will be the ones that endure this |
| basements were connected by tunnels and | | | | type of extreme event.When choosing or |
| walkways, so when one basement flooded, the | | | | evaluating your backup solution, pay particular |
| adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a | | | | attention to the type of media you are using.A |
| disastrous domino effect that either damaged or | | | | nationwide study has shown that:Over 34% of |
| completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of | | | | companies do not test their backups and of those |
| tape and data storage of medical research were | | | | that tested 77% found their tape backups fail to |
| lost.In this instance, inadequate preparation caused | | | | recover. (Storage Magazine) Nearly 50% of |
| data recovery to be expensive or impossible. | | | | tape-based backup fail to restore correctly. |
| Many of the organizations affected by this | | | | (Gartner Group) Tape-based backup systems are |
| disaster have made changes to their | | | | difficult to administer, and as you can see from |
| infrastructure and disaster recovery plans. Moving | | | | the above statistics, often fail to restore your |
| centralized computer systems and emergency | | | | data. Tapes appear to be a sturdy media on the |
| power backup equipment out of the basements | | | | surface; however, according to an industry leading |
| was a starting point. Most of these organizations | | | | tape manufacturer's specifications, tapes must be |
| have also incorporated remote data backup into | | | | stored between 41 and 89 degrees and 20-60 |
| their disaster recovery plan. Several of these high | | | | percent relative humidity. Tape rotations require |
| profile stories were from large Fortune 500 | | | | human intervention, and with that you get |
| companies that have money and resources to | | | | inherent errors and a flawed process.If you |
| recover from a disaster. Small and medium | | | | choose to use tape to store your data, make |
| businesses must plan ahead if they are to survive | | | | sure your tapes are safe and working with the |
| a site disaster.Here are some things to think | | | | following procedures:Clean your tape drives once |
| about when putting together a disaster recovery | | | | a month. Replace tape media regularly. Rotate |
| plan. It is by no means a comprehensive list; each | | | | your backup tapes off-site every night via a |
| business has its unique requirements:Prioritize your | | | | bonded vaulting provider, while keeping them close |
| business needs and identify each class of data. | | | | enough that they are easily accessible. Test and |
| Determine which services need to be restored | | | | restore once a month. Keep at least a 20 |
| immediately and which ones are less critical.Mission | | | | quantity backup rotation.Have easy access to |
| CriticalBusiness CriticalOperationally important Once | | | | your backup software if you have to re-install it. |
| you've established the relative priority of your | | | | Make sure your data is fully encrypted before |
| business applications you need to determine your | | | | being written to tape. The main risk of using tape |
| recovery objectives for each category of data. | | | | systems is that they can malfunction, but appear |
| Recovery Time Objective (RTO) - The time | | | | to be working. All indications are that backups |
| objective to bring the system back on line | | | | were successful until you try to restore. If you |
| following a failureRecovery Point Objective (RPO) | | | | want to continue to use tapes as your primary |
| - The acceptable amount of data loss from the | | | | backup, consider using an off-site backup service |
| last good backup prior to the point of | | | | as a secondary backup solution, just in case your |
| failureIdentify potential data loss events that can | | | | primary backup system fails. Remember, |
| happen to your business. Develop a plan to | | | | redundancy is the key to data protection. Most of |
| minimize the impact of these events.File loss | | | | our clients were not aware a cost effective |
| (83%) - Due to human error, overwrite, etc.File | | | | automated off-site data protection solution |
| loss (10%) - Due to corruption from viruses, | | | | existed. Some were not convinced they needed |
| application error, etc.Storage loss (5%) - Failure of | | | | to store their data off-site in a safe and secure |
| primary storage, corrupt raid, bad hard drive, | | | | location. A fireproof safe seems like a good |
| etc.Site loss (2%) - Site disaster, fire, flooding, | | | | location to store your tapes, but two problems |
| etc.Server loss (1%) - CPU failure, theft, various | | | | exist with that solution. First, in the event of a |
| catastrophes, etc.Create a chart or correlation | | | | fire, your office will be inaccessible for several |
| that identifies the recovery objectives (RTO and | | | | days while the fire marshal determines the cause. |
| RPO) for each class of application relative to the | | | | Secondly, fireproof safes are not necessarily |
| scope of the data loss event. For instance, a lost | | | | water proof and tapes that are exposed to damp |
| file may have a RTO of 15 minutes. If the file is | | | | or wet conditions may not be readable.Off-site |
| lost due to a site disaster, the first 4 hours may | | | | data vaulting is not just for large companies with |
| be dedicated to the safety of your employees | | | | multiple data centers. It is a data protection |
| and your data RTO may be hours or days | | | | strategy that should be employed by all |
| instead of minutes. Define your backup system in | | | | organizations regardless of their size. Secure |
| accordance with your data recovery goals and | | | | Backup's off-site data vaulting service can scale to |
| budget. Determine what data needs to be backed | | | | meet all of the data protection needs in your |
| up and how many generations you need to | | | | customer's environment, whether it is preserving |
| store.Establish a backup schedule to meet your | | | | and protecting an individual PC or the corporate |
| recovery objectives.Maintain a copy of your back | | | | server farm. This scalability combined with the |
| up data offsite that will meet your data recovery | | | | automated remote vaulting of data creates a |
| goals. For example, if you can only afford to lose | | | | powerful data protection solution that plays a key |
| 24 hours worth of data then taking a tape offsite | | | | role in your customer's disaster recovery |
| every Friday does not meet that goal.Designate | | | | planning.In conclusion, data storage and disaster |
| an emergency response team and educate them | | | | recovery are two important factors in managing |
| on their role in bringing the company back online | | | | business continuity. Today companies cannot |
| after a disaster.Make a list of emergency contact | | | | operate without their business applications and |
| information for all employees. Make sure you | | | | data. Owners and managers of businesses, who |
| know how to contact them and they know how | | | | do not place a high value on the importance of |
| to contact you.Make a list of critical vendors and | | | | their company's data, risk the financial future and |
| their emergency contact information.Make a list of | | | | viability of the organization. The company's |
| vendors for replacement computer and operating | | | | historical and current data is its life blood. Without |
| equipment that is necessary to resume | | | | data protection and disaster recovery policies in |
| business.Make a list of possible replacement | | | | place, a company risks the possibility of not being |
| sites.Disaster recovery planning and advanced | | | | able to recover from a data loss event. Whether |
| data protection is not just for large companies. | | | | it is caused by human error, a disgruntled |
| Businesses of all sizes have become increasingly | | | | employee, hardware or software failures, or even |
| dependent on data for their very existence. A | | | | worse, a fire or natural disaster, you need to be |
| large number of the companies affected by the | | | | prepared.Mike Colesante is a writer at Terian |
| recent hurricanes were small to medium | | | | Solutions and can be reached at 713-482-6900. |