Backup Services

Backup and recovery continues to be an important but perplexing part in an otherwise solid data management and protection plan. The usual suspects include growing data loads, nonexistent backup windows, too much network traffic or poor performance, inefficient storage hardware, media management problems and poor backup reporting. However, these problems generally all stem from one common source: A lack of in-depth understanding of the storage environment and how it satisfies business objectives.
Many business environments have data consisting of mainly small and medium-sized files--and a lot of them. Others may have fewer larger files, and still others a combination of small and large. The complicated nature of data management makes backups a crucial issue in IT. Businesses need to be assured their backups are successful and that they're backing up what really needs to be backed up.
Data type may vary dramatically (such as e-mail, databases, multimedia and graphics) and data may serve one or multiple related applications. Data also exists under differing degrees of confidentiality, such as company financial information, employee records or customer transactions. There may also be a significant amount of prohibited data if company policy is against employees keeping MP3 files or unauthorized software on the network.Advertisement
Depending on the size and nature of the organization, some decisions about backup and recovery may or may not be flexible. Federal, state and local governments have imposed requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley to ensure that enterprises are conducting business properly. You may be subject to regulations from the ATF, DOD, DOE, DOJ, FAA, FDA, IRS, SEC, and a handful of others.
In order to better manage disparate backup needs and requirements, and before acquiring new storage hardware or adding another layer of network complexity to achieve better backup, perform a thorough assessment of the storage environment and the data itself that correctly identifies the problems. Are backups taking too long because unchanged, obsolete data is being backed up too often? For example: Are there a small number of large files to back up, or a large number of small files? Is the data available during its scheduled backup, or is it in use? And if it is in use, is it always or sometimes? Are unnecessary or old data files being repeatedly backed up. Once you have thoroughly evaluated the data and the available storage resources, you will likely find more options than reactively purchasing hard disks or ever-larger tape libraries to solve a data management problem.
To make an intelligent decision on data protection, you need visibility into the backup and storage environment. The first step in gaining visibility is finding out why the data exists, who owns it, where it resides, when it was last accessed, what level of archiving versus availability the business application requires, and then determining whether current technologies can meet these needs.
Once the data itself has been evaluated in relation to application and usefulness, a more granular view of the environment is achieved by proceeding to an evaluation of the repositories where data is kept and where it must be duplicated for backup and recovery. This includes DAS, NAS, and SAN resources, file servers and application servers such as DNS servers, SQL and Exchange, as well as desktops and notebooks, which may contain data that is just as valuable and irreplaceable to the operation as data stored on servers.
As part of your assessment, note the storage capacity both in use and available for backup destinations to estimate the overall health and lifespan of these systems in order to help with capacity planning. This task may require a forecasting or trending tool depending on the size and complexity of the network, preferably one that will also identify wasted storage space or 'islands.' Some questions to consider include: Is server consolidation an option? Is it possible to compare allocated versus unallocated storage space? Which are the fullest systems, and what is the likelihood of maintaining them at present capacity?
Once the data and the storage environment have been evaluated, the next step is to consider the requirements for protecting the data to determine if these requirements can be reduced. Determine how necessary it is to access the data, how frequently requested the data is, and how quickly it must be recovered--including how tolerant executive management may be in the event of downtime.
An assessment of your storage environment and backup systems is the first step in establishing and clarifying effective policies and procedures for managing data. Policy-based tools to manage storage resources are gaining in popularity and usability. This category can include information lifecycle management, compliance with data retention regulations, assigning certain applications performance priority, assigning certain departments access priority, and other operational goals to be met.