A better solution to Tape Backups.

I just had a conversation with an administrator who just finished a 27 hour day trying to restore a backup from a failed SQL Server. I asked "27 hours? what took so long?"



In short, the backup solution that was being used by this company did not, in fact, back up the data to the tape device as it had recorded in its log files. Every tape for over 30 days was "blank"...Yes, BLANK! He had to go back into the tape vault and retrieve tapes that he knew were not blank and could be used to perform a partial restoration. Much of the "workable" data is back but data loss has taken its toll.



As a backup administrator in a previous life, my heart went out to him as he uttered the words, "The IT director wants everyone in the office at 7:00am sharp for a meeting". The dreaded aftermath meeting.



Ok, no matter how large or small a company is, data backups is the heart of business. No data, no business, it's just that simple. However, stop and think about the cost involved with protecting your data. First, what vendor to you choose, CA? Veritas? Legato? Next, what data has to be backed up? SQL, Oracle, File and Print? Next, How much data has to be backed up and how often. What kind of tape devices will be used? How many tapes will need to be purchased for backups? How often will you replace the tapes? Will the tapes be stored "off site?" What is the cost? Now lets talk about training on the product....



If you are in some way associated with the responsibility of data backup, I am sure you have already though about additional topics that I did not list. Which brings up this simple question, "How can I backup my data, restore my data and secure my backup data in the most cost effective fashion?".



The answer, online backup solutions. Now before you navigate away from this page, just read a bit further. Online backup solutions is not like driving your father's Oldsmobile (am I dating myself). Due to new standards and regulations for data security, online backup solutions allow companies to backup data to a remote online location. One backup provider I work with, Dakota Backup can accommodate up to 3 TB worth of data! How much would it cost to backup that amount of information in your orgnization?



What is also nice is that with onlinne backup firms, you can perform "Bare Metal" restorations of Exchange, Sharepoint, SQL among others. Plus you can back up your VMWare ESX host server and / or guest operating systems.



What is also nice is you can encrypt you backup data for security. Since your data located on an "off site" location, this will allow you to keep in compliance based upon different directives. The next question presented, "what if the "Off site" location goes "Offline?" They won't! Dakota Backup has implemented disaster recovery measures, including redundant Natural Gas power generators in their site, redundant live replication storage to other DR Sites, multiple copies customers backup data distributed to other Dakota Backup servers and locations.



The point I want to make is that the days of supporting software and backup hardware is coming to an end. If you are a mediacal practice, law firm, small to large business and data backup, protection and recovery is always on your mind, visit norman-benjamin.com or call us for more information on the benifits of online backup solutions.

Security training and education is the future of IT.

Security Training is a primary focus of Norman-Benjamin. We have championed the necessity for individuals and businesses to take a close look at security practices and training.

If you are looking for a career that grows beyond administration of networks and will require skilled professionals for years to come, take a look at the article from Techworld.com, and contact us for more information regarding a challenging and rewarding career in Network Security.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/68311.html?wlc=1254974108

Article from eWeek.com regarding Virtualization

An interesting article from eWeek.com regarding how companies are looking more toward virtualization solutions.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Virtualization/Enterprises-Understanding-Need-for-Virtualization-Management-CA-651425/

"Gone Virtual"

If you are associated with Information Technology or are pursuing a future in IT, then you have heard of the term "Virtualization". Virtualization technology uses hypervisor technology to allow multiple operating systems to coexist on a single physical server.


Instead of investing in multiple physical servers that each will be will be responsible for one operating system and providing services for one or a few applications, you can now invest in one large scale server that will be responsible for hosting multiple operating systems and line of business applications.




With Virtualization, you can host multiple operating systems and associated applications on one server. This type of configuration provides greater scalability, cost savings and increased availability. Example, when faced will having to install a messaging system (Exchange), database solution (SQL) and Collaboration solution (Sharepoint), you will have to budget for either one large server for installation of all products or multiple servers to distribute the various solutions.




However, what if additional disk space needs to be added for Exchange services, or maintenance needs to be performed? If Exchange is installed on the same physical server as Sharepoint, you will have to schedule down time to perform the operation, which will also cause Sharepoint to be unavailable during the disk upgrade. Or worse, the Exchange server is critically low on diskspace during normal business hours ? This will affect the performance and operation of Sharepoint.




By using Virtualization technology, additional diskspace can be added for the Exchange server services dynamically without having to "shutdown" the server or any type of user disruption. This also applies to adding additional resources such as Memory and Processor.




There are also solutions that will assist you to transform physical servers to virtual servers. By using virtual technology, better allocation of resources, tighter security, and lower TCO has made this solution a must for businesses of ALL sizes.