Data Security and Backups

Thursday 29 September 2011

What is SAN [Storage Area Networks]?

A SAN or Storage Area Networks is a high performance storage network that transfers data between servers and storage devices and is separate network from LANs or WANs. It is used to connect all storage resources to various servers. Storage devices such as NAS, RAID, tape libraries or disk arrays are connected to servers using Fibre Channel. Fibre Channel is a highly reliable, gigabit interconnect technology that enables simultaneous communication among workstations, mainframes, servers, data storage systems and other peripherals.

A SAN's architecture works in a way that makes all storage devices available to servers on a LAN or WAN. These storage devices can be accessible from any server in the larger network.


Who should use SAN

As stated above a SAN makes all your storage device connected together through a centralized storage network, rather than buying large servers with tons of internal disk space, a SAN would make sense for your company.

Better disk utilization

SAN gives you ability to manage storage resources at network level and assign that storage more intelligently to the servers that need it.

Better Disaster Recovery solution

If you have mission critical applications running on Servers then you definitely need a SAN as you can't afford server to go down.

Multiple Critical Applications

SAN networks are used most often by organizations that have a lot of data that needs to be accessed quickly.

More flexibility

One of the main features of SAN network is flexibility, Because it is made of different storage devices, it can perform tasks away from the servers involved. This means that SAN hard drives can communicate with each other and perform routine backups or updates without taking up bandwidth or accessing outside servers at all.


Who does not require SAN

A SAN may make sense for your company only if you have trained IT staff, budget and mission critical applications running. If your storage requirements fall in one of the following categories, then you may not require SAN.

Only have a single application

If you have a single application running SAN shall not be recommended.

Only have few Servers

Main benefit of SAN comes from centralized storage management. You may gain speed and reliability benefits from SAN for few servers, but the cost shall not be justifiable.

Friday 23 September 2011

How to Backup Workstations


I have discussed with many of my clients related to workstation backups and have found, they have trouble finding a solution for the same. Today, this post shall throw light on workstations, laptop backups. 

Firstly, you should know in your organization how users are saving data. Can they save data locally or there are share drives which is given access to each user to save their data. If data is being saved locally, then you should have a system to backup that data, as most users might save their valuable data on local disk and never think of backing them unless, one fine day they lose their data. The most vulnerable are laptops or any other PDA devices used by Executives, Marketing Staff or in that case any employee of your company.


I shall be discussing in this post what options are available for Workstations or laptops or PDA devices Backups.

1.    End User takes Backup to a backup device attached
2.    Centralized Server Backups
3.    Image or Snapshot Backups

More details regarding each of these options

1.    End User takes Backup

There are various media options available to backup at the end user. You can provide them with a CD-RW / an external media or drive or even get online backup software installed.

If you decide to give the end user a media disk or a backup device to do backup, the most common problem that occurs with this is that the backups will be done infrequently or at worst the backup won’t be done at all.

Using Online Backup shall resolve this option up to a certain extent. A piece of Software shall have to be installed on each machine. This Software gives you configuration options and select files you need to backup and send data to destination Server.

Imagine, you have to backup 100-500 or even more workstations to backup, going thru this process can be challenging and time consuming, else you have to rely on the users who are using the PC to install and configure backups. If you have given limited access to your users on their computers they may not be able to install software.

2.    Centralized Server Backups

The preferred backup option is that the workstation backups can be centrally controlled thru Server.
In this method, backup Software is installed on Server and all configuration is done thru Server including setup for workstations. No software installation required on workstations, no configuration to be done on workstations. Backups are in full control through Server administrator and they can setup scheduled or CDP to do backups.

Benefits of Centralized Server Backups

Easy to setup and manage

Server based backups are easier to setup as you do not need to go to each computer to install software or configure, you can do it all from one point. Gives you better control on the system.

Saves time

No different software versions for Server and workstations. No need to deal with multiple operating systems, no need to researching compatibility issues.

Minimizes maintenance & support

Considering to use one backup solution centrally shall minimize maintenance, support and makes the backup routines more manageable.

Less resource-intensive

Traditional backup software’s which require to be installed on each computer you want to backup, takes processing power from Servers. In turn, that slows downs other applications working on Server.


3.     Image or snapshot of workstation

This is another way to do backup of workstation. A Snapshot is a read only copy of the data set at a point of time and allow applications to continue writing to their data. In other words, once the initial snapshot is taken of a data set, subsequent snapshots copy the changed data only, and use a system of pointers to reference the initial snapshot. This method of pointer-based snapshots consumes less disk capacity than if the data set was repeatedly cloned. However, all previous snapshots must be available if complete archiving or recovery of all the data on a network or storage medium is needed.

There are various software’s available for each of these categories. Do your research and get control of all your data including workstations.

Friday 16 September 2011

Understanding Data De-duplication

What is De-duplication

De-duplication explained in simple terms could be, the managing software will look at data, compare it to existing data that is already stored and if that data is identical, instead of storing that second copy of data the de-duplication technology establishes a link to the original data. Rather than storing the whole file it establishes a link which takes less storage space.

Imagine if you needed 100TB's of storage but one of your providers only needed to supply you with 50TB because they had this technology, clearly that provider would have a significant advantage in winning your business.

How it works

For example, suppose a company has 100 employees and each one has their mailbox. If an email which is 5 MB is send to each of these employees, the data stored shall be 500 MB. Instead, in de-duplication that same shall be stored as 5 MB for the first and thereafter other instances shall establish as a link to that first instance.

In the above example, a 500 MB storage can be reduced to 5 MB. Data de-duplication ensures that only the unique data is saved to disk. Subsequent iterations of the data are only saved as references which point to the saved copy, so that end-users still see their own files in place.

Why de-duplicate - Benefits

Basically, de-duplication as the term suggests, is to remove duplicate data that keeps getting stored over and over again consuming lot of unnecessary storage space, power, internet bandwidth and increasing costs for resources to maintain.

Some of the benefits are listed as below:

§  Lowers storage costs since eliminating redundant data

§  Ideal for organizations wishing to backup, consolidate and improve
   performance during backups.

§  In cases where the data is being backed up or archived over and over
   again, the realized storage savings get better and better, achieving 20:1

§  Eliminating redundant data can significantly shrink storage requirements
   and improve bandwidth efficiency.


Three kinds of de-duplication technology
§ File de-duplication. Only one copy of each identical file is stored. This
   technology is also known as Single File Instance technology.

§ Block-level de-duplication. Divide the information into blocks and
   only one copy of each identical block is stored.

§ Byte-level de-duplication. Analyze the content of the information to
   be de-duplicated at byte-level and store only the unique data. This is
   the only technology which guarantees fully redundant elimination.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

5 Advantages of Online Backup for SMBs

Online Backup offers several advantages for small and medium businesses [SMBs]. The major benefit is disaster recovery as data is stored offsite. As SMBs cannot afford or do not require large storage facilities or datacenters, by paying a monthly fee they can get enterprise class storage. They can implement hassle-free backup cycle in place. Data Recovery can be fast and easy and whenever required.
Other benefits are listed as below:
ü  Automatic, No Manual Backups
One of the biggest reasons for SMBs to go for Online Backup is that the backup process is automatic. As SMBs may not have a dedicated person for Backup or even for IT this is such a great asset for them. The Software provides the facility to setup once and backup keeps working. No need to remember or do manual backups. People tend to forget manual backup and even if they do backups it’s not everyday. You can concentrate on your business development rather than taking backup or reminding staff to do backup. You can setup a schedule to do backup or if your software has CDP it shall keep doing backup automatically.

ü  Secure, Encrypted Storage
Another major concern for SMBs is storing their data. Many business users store their sensitive information like financial records or taxation documents in unsecured storage like CDs, external drives or USB sticks. What happens if the sensitive information is stolen? Online Backup removes this risk through powerful encryption and secured storage facilities wherein only the user has access to their data.

ü  Affordable, Simple Monthly fee
No investment in buying backup equipments. There are no ongoing media costs or staff costs. Running costs are limited to paying a monthly fee. No need to invest time in managing backups and rely on CDs or other backup devices.

ü  Convenient, Ease of Use
Online Backup Software’s are designed in simple format as can be setup and used by any average consumer. You do not need to be a computer expert to take backups. For SMBs, it's simple and affordable. It’s worry-free backup.

ü  Easily Accessible, Remote Data Access
Your data is accessible to you anytime from anywhere where you have internet access. While you are travelling or you wish to work from home or any location, no need to carry USB sticks or external drives. This feature is really very handy, instead of going for huge investments to setup your infrastructure like Servers, Security checkpoints, large internet bandwidth and maintaining the same, Online Backup providers give this facility without any complexities.

Monday 5 September 2011

What features should the Online Backup Software Provide?

As discussed in my previous post regarding 9 things to look for when choosing online backup, I thought to go further more detail regarding what features should be in the Software part of Online Backup.
The Software plays important role in transmitting data from Source Computer to the destination Backup’s Providers datacenter.

Features to expect in Backup Software

1.     Automatic Backup
The Software should do automatic backup. Backups can be scheduled wherein, the Software has been programmed to do backup at given time and day or days. You can define what files to backup and how often.
The Software may have other option of backup which is called Continuous Data Protection [CDP], where data is backed up continuously, mean to say as soon as data is saved it gets backed up, leaving almost no room for loss of data. The backup setup should be easy, convenient and fast.
2.     Ease of Use
The Software should be easy to setup. For example, software should offer the facility to select all docs / xls files or for that matter all known extension files automatically throughout your drives, so that you do not miss out any of those important files.
3.     Incremental and Compressed Backups
Initially full backup can be done, but there after backups should be in incremental and compressed form which shall greatly reduce the network bandwidth usage. Incremental backups shall transfer only the modified portions of file.
4.     Encryption
Software should provide Bank Grade Encryption, which is the most reliable encryption technology. As data shall be transmitted over the internet encryption has to be best, which shall keep data secure. Backup providers generally use industry standard encryption technologies like Blowfish, triple DES, or 128 bit.
5.     Remote Data Access
Your Data should be accessible whenever you want.  The Software should provide you convenience of accessing your data from any computer with internet access.
6.     Open files
Open files are files which are in use. Software should have the capability to backup files which are in use. This feature is especially useful in backing up exclusively locked files, such as for example, the Outlook 'pst file' in case of Outlook backups. Most Software have this facility but very important to confirm cause if it does not that means any files when in use shall be skipped. The more important part to clarify is that it supports all operating systems you use.
7.     File Versioning
Multiple file versioning should be supported, where in you get option to save more than one copy of the same file. This can be useful in case if you have entered incorrect information in the updated data and want to restore older version of the same file. Most Software give options to have 10 or even is user-defined [wherein you as a user can define number of versions] versions of the same file, select carefully as having more copies of data can increase your data storage on the server which can cost you.
8.     Easy Restores
When required, data should be available within few clicks. In case, if required to restore old file versions, the software should be able to clearly provide information regarding software version, date and time backup taken. The restored file should not overwrite existing file.
As restores shall be quick, less downtime = more efficient work. No specialist or IT people required to restore data, it so simple anyone can do it.
9.     Manage LAN Backups
Imagine you have 200 computers and want to backup all the PCs. Installing Software on every PC and to configure backups on each workstation can be hell of task. Instead, if your Backup Software can be configured by installing on a Server or a computer for all the workstations, how easy it would be to configure and support backups. Managing Backup Software from a single Server can be beneficial in multiple ways:
a)      Easier to support
b)     No need for internet on each PC
c)      Less resource-intensive
d)     Saves time to manage

More features can also be confirmed depending on your database you use. For example, some of them can be listed as below:
§  Exchange Server Backup
§  Exchange Server Mail Level Backup
§  MSSQL Server Backup
§  Active Directory Backup
§  Outlook Backup
§  MySQL Server Backup
§  Oracle database Backup
§  MS Share Point Server

Overall, your Backup Software should be fast, simple and easily manageable. The most important factor shall be Support provided for the Software. It may not be possible for all the features to be in a product, yet if it covers max number of features you are looking for and Support is good you can bank on the same.

What is NAS [Network Attached Storage]?

What is NAS?
Network Attached Storage [NAS] is a computer data storage connected to multiple computers in a environment providing data access to heterogeneous networks.  NAS provides fast, simple and reliable data access. NAS solutions are suitable for small and mid-sized businesses needing large data space accessed by multiple users over the network. For example, if there are about 50 or more users in a company, a NAS Server provides a central place to securely store and share all of your data. NAS can be thought of as a hard drive or multiple hard drives that are available to your entire network rather than for just one computer.
Especially when SMBs do not have dedicated IT departments, NAS is easy to deploy and manage.  NAS is often made as a computer device – a specialized computer built from the ground up for storing and serving files. An NAS solution may also offer print-server capabilities, which lets multiple users easily share a single printer.
Benefits of NAS
ü  Sharing of data by all the users on the network
ü  Store and access files from any pc on the network
ü  Backup and protect your data with RAID
ü  A NAS solution may include multiple hard drives in a RAID (Redundant
    Array of Independent Disks)
ü  NAS device runs independently of network server, the storage remains
    accessible even during network server outages.
ü  Easy to deploy. You can configure a NAS Server quickly and with little
    IT knowledge.
ü  Automatically and continuously backup data to give you peace of mind


Overall, NAS system allows you to consolidate storage, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing costs, simplify storage administration and data backup and recovery.