Data Security and Backups

Saturday 29 October 2011

Backup Solutions for SMBs - Part Two

I shall be continuing my post from previous one discussing “Backup Solutions for SMBs – Part One

4.     Tape Backups
Tape backup is a form of data storage that is used to create a copy of the data stored in a system at a specific point in time, so that, in the event of a hard disk crash or comparable failure, the data will not be lost. The data are copied onto a magnetic tape, and can be permanently archived for future reference.

Pros

§  Reliability. Considering the structure of the tape media, the heads in the
  tape media are separated from the media. Hence even if the head of the
  tape fails; then also the media is still in the working condition.
§  Offsite Storage Available. The second major advantage that is in
  existence along with the usage of the tape drive is that the tapes are
  usually stored as the offline. If there any natural disaster you always
  have option available to restore as tapes are stored offsite.
§  Ease of Use. You can find support for tapes, with some good software’s
  available that make restore of data easy

Cons

§  Costly. Although, once tape backups were the most economical backups
  but now with hard disk prices dropping or online backup becoming cheaper,
  this media now turns to be more expensive.
§  Unsecured Storage. Tapes are bound to be stolen. Not like online backup
  where the data is stored in at a secured server. You must find the same
  tape drive to read tapes in the event of system loss (theft/fire).
§  Difficult Restores. The access time is more in case of the tape drives
  than in comparison with the other media storage devices. Tapes are
  sequential-access devices, and are best suited for full-system restores.
  Finding and restoring individual documents can be a long, slow, and
  cumbersome process.


5.     Blu-ray / DVD Backups
Blu-ray discs are the most advanced optical media used today. Blu-rays are created through the use of a short wavelength laser and may consist of up to 16 layers containing 25 GB each. Since each such layer is six times more capacious than layers used in DVDs, Blu-rays appear to be perfect media to store data on.

Pros

§  Storage Capacity. Compared to DVD / CD, blu-ray have a much larger
   capacity to store data.
§  Easily Mobile. It is also safer to store and to transport, as data backup
   on a Blu-Ray is less subject to damage than one on a pack of CD or
   DVD disks.

Cons

§  Manual Backups. Backups have to be done manually, which defeats the
   purpose of backup. If you forget to take backups regularly, it’s as good as
   no backup.
§  Security. Anyone can walk away with disks. Valuable information if stored
   can be lost.
§  Offsite storage.  No offsite automatic data storage. Storage of backups to
   a secure offsite location is a critical part of backup strategy.

Friday 28 October 2011

Backup Solutions for SMBs - Part One

I would like to discuss today about Backup options for SMBs [Small and Medium businesses]. As from my experience with my customers sometimes it becomes cumbersome to decide on backup system. One of the reason, could be not aware of all pros and cons of a backup system to be implemented.
This article shall discuss regarding those issues

First things first, every business need to take backup regularly. Research shows failing to do backup can lead many companies going out of business within less than 12 months. It may happen that you may not be able to back up the entire contents of all the desktops, laptops or Servers in your business, in such a situation you shall have to prioritize. It’s important to backup data rather than software’s.

Let’s summarize some of the backup options.

1.     Online Backup
What is Online Backup? A backup technology that can be setup to automatically backup files from your computer to remote data servers using internet. You can access these files remotely.

Pros

§  Automatic Backup. Setup once and your backup shall always be taken.
   More reliability than manual backups.
§  Secured Storage. All data is stored using best encryption technologies
   available which prevents from data been vandalized.
§  Remote data access. Get the flexibility of accessing your data from
   anywhere.
§  No capital investment. You do not need to invest in purchasing high
   end infrastructure and save on office space.
§  Cost. Costs are low. You can start from as low as $2/GB.

            Cons

§  Your computer system may slow down during backup. This should not
   be problem as most of the businesses have robust systems.
§  You should properly analyze where your data shall be stored. As
   generally your data should be stored in a safe and secure data center
   location.
§  The company can go out of business. You should have clear information
  what shall happen if company goes out of business.



2.     NAS Devices
Network Attached Storage [NAS] devices provide fast, simple and reliable data access. NAS devices can be used for multi-purposes like sharing data, storing and access files on network or for backup.

Pros

§  Automatic Backup. You can set all desktop computers and servers to
   do backup automatically. It takes out the hassle to do manual backups.
§  Easy to Deploy. You can configure a NAS device quickly with little IT
   knowledge.
§  Availability. Data available even during network outages as NAS devices
   run independently of network servers.


Cons

§  Not Offsite is not alright. Data gets stored in NAS device, which is a
  server kind of computer. Data is not stored offsite. If you want to
  you need to get connected to additional offsite server.
§ Slower Transfer speed. If you have multiple computers backing up to
  NAS device, transfer speed can be slow, which in turn can slow down
  your computer.
§  Cost. NAS devices generally start for $200-$300 with low capacity but
  if you are looking for a good one for your business it can be about $900
  or more.

3.     External USB Hard Drive Backups
An external USB hard drive provides easy to manage backup solution that caters from small to medium businesses. If you already possess a unused hard disk you can simply purchase an external USB drive enclosure to start using as a backup disk.

Pros

§  Portable. External USB drives are compact to carry and can be
  connected to any computer to do backup. Once backed up
  you can store the disk in an external location to safeguard from
  natural disasters like theft, fire.
§ Connectivity. USB drives are available on every computer having
  multiple ports. You can connect and disconnect USB hard drives
  without having to restart computer – when connected it is
  automatically detected by operating system as a drive letter and
  ready to use.
§  Easy to Manage. Compared to tapes, USB drives are easy to
   manage.

Cons

§ No Remote Access of data. Cannot access data remotely,
  you have to carry hard disk with you. Inconvenient for someone
  who requires data frequently.
§ Storage Size. Limited storage size. Compared to tape, external
  USB drives are limited in space.
§ Manual Backups. No automatic backup, you have to connect
  device to each desktop to do backups. Imagine you have 50
  pc’s to backup. Purpose of backup gets defeated due to manual
  backup.
§ Unsecured Storage. As data is stored on a hard disk, anyone
  can take the hard disk and walk away. Biggest risk of security.
I shall be discussing further regarding Tape Backups and Blu-ray Backups in my continuing next blog.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Tape Backups

I shall be discussing today regarding Tape backup. One of the oldest methods to do backup and still currently running, although I must say they are running out of time. Tape Backups are still available, though they are primarily used by large, commercial operations, not by average users.
Tape backup is a form of data storage that is used to create a copy of the data stored in a system at a specific point in time, so that, in the event of a hard disk crash or comparable failure, the data will not be lost. The data are copied onto a magnetic tape, and can be permanently archived for future reference. Before the advent of the compact data disks, using a backup of this type was common for many businesses that relied heavily on computer databases.
Tape backup can be done manually or, with appropriate software, be programmed to happen automatically.
Tape backup can be used for backing up personal computers to backup up large amounts of data. It can also be used as part of storage area networks SAN in large organizations.
Tape backup also includes the ability to restore data that has been backed up back to hard disk storage devices when needed.
There are two common tape rotations that balance performance, cost and safety.

1.     The most simple and least expensive solution is the six-tape (or tape set) rotation. This consists of two alternating full backup tapes and one partial backup tape per day (based on a five-day work week).
2.     Expanding this to seven tapes gives you a separate full backup for off-site storage and keeps you from overwriting your only full backup copy.

You can do Incremental Backups from Monday to Thursday, full backup on Friday and 1 backup to transfer at off-site location.

Following are some of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Tape Backup

Advantages of Tape Backup

Reliability Considering the structure of the tape media, the heads in the tape media are separated from the media. Hence even if the head of the tape fails; then also the media is still in the working condition.

Offsite Storage Available The second major advantage that is in existence along with the usage of the tape drive is that the tapes are usually stored as the offline. If there any natural disaster you always have option available to restore as tapes are stored offsite.

Ease of Use You can find support for tapes, with some good software’s available that make restore of data easy


Disadvantages of Tape Backup

Costly Although, once tape backups were the most economical backups but now with hard disk prices dropping or online backup becoming cheaper, this media now turns to be  more expensive.

Unsecured Storage Tapes are bound to be stolen. Not like online backup where the data is stored in at a secured server. You must find the same tape drive to read tapes in the event of system loss (theft/fire).

Difficult Restores The access time is more in case of the tape drives than in comparison with the other media storage devices. Tapes are sequential-access devices, and are best suited for full-system restores. Finding and restoring individual documents can be a long, slow, and cumbersome process.

Tape backup was only one of the options we had for backup in previous days. But now we have various inexpensive alternatives for backup like Online Backup, Disk Backups, SAN/NAS devices, de-duplication technologies.

Monday 10 October 2011

Virtualization - Basics

Virtualization is the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as an operating system, a server, a storage device or network resources. It is a method of running multiple independent virtual operating systems on a single physical computer.
Computers are vastly underutilized as they run a single operating system and a single application, virtualization lets you run multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine, with each virtual machine sharing the resources of that one physical computer across multiple environments.
You already know a little about virtualization if you have divided your hard drive into different partitions. Different virtual machines can run different operating systems and multiple applications on the same physical computer.

There are 3 different categories of Virtualization,


  1. Storage Virtualization: is pooling physical storage from multiple network storage devices so that they appear to be a single storage device. Storage virtualization is commonly used in Storage Area Networks SANs.

  1. Network Virtualization: is the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity. A virtual network treats all hardware and software in the network as a single collection of resources, which can be accessed regardless of physical boundaries. In simple terms, network virtualization allows each authorized user to share network resources from a single computer.

  1. Server Virtualization: Server machines that host files and applications for computer networks are powerful machines. Computer network administrators usually dedicate each server to a specific application or task. Most Servers use only a small fraction of their overall processing capabilities. The problem that network administrators can face is when computer network gets larger and complex, the servers begin to take up a lot of physical space. Server virtualization can resolve this issue. By using specially designed software, an administrator can convert one physical server into multiple virtual machines.
    There are processor manufacturers like Intel and AMD offer processors with the
    capability of supporting virtual servers already built in. The hardware does not
    actually create virtual servers, software’s are required to create one.

The usual goal of virtualization is to centralize administrative tasks while improving scalability and work loads. Virtualization helps in cost saving and provides flexibility.

Saturday 1 October 2011

How to Overcome Setbacks?

My this post talks about something which almost me, you or any other person might have came across in their life and that is “Setbacks”. My last post which was not related to Data Security and Backup was “How to Set Goals”.
Our attitude determines how we look at a setback.

Setbacks can come in everyone’s life. Imagine you have worked hard for one of the most important exams along with all the mates in your class and when result comes out you find out you have not been able to clear exams, or you have worked hard to launch a product in market and was not accepted or unsuccessful as you would wish. These can be setbacks, but to a positive thinker, it can be a stepping stone to success. To a negative thinker, it can be a stumbling block.
Thomas Edison at age 67, lost his factory, to fire. Edison watched his lifetime effort go up in smoke and said “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burnt up. We can start a new.” In spite of disaster, three weeks later, he invented the phonograph.
I have come across a couple of real life examples related to setbacks. Let me share with you 2 of those.
This example is of one of my buddies, who had 3 paint factories and about 100 people working for him. His business was doing well and I use to go for our Software Implementation. Down the line after couple of years, [we were not connected with each other as once the software was implemented they had decided to go by themselves], I incidentally had got a contract to implement software in a nearby company of the same. As, I went the first day at the new implementation company, I saw the paint factory was kind of closed. During, implementation I had a discussion regarding the paint factory, one of the employees their stated the company and owner went bankrupt and the owner once who had a fleet of cars, was running a small paint trader shop in the nearby area. I was shocked and went on to meet the owner. We had a cup of tea together and ran through some emotions. Anyways, life moves on, the man had courage, now he has setup back to his own factory. Although not 3 which he had before but he has started 1 now.
It takes lot of courage and character to stand up from this situation.
Setbacks are inevitable in life. A setback can act as a driving force and also teach us humility. In grief you will find courage and faith to overcome the setback. We need to learn to become victors, not victims. Fear and doubt short-circuit the mind.

Ask yourself after every setback: What did I learn from this experience? Only then will you be able to turn a stumbling block into a stepping stone.

 
The journey to being your best is not easy. It is full of setbacks. Winners have the ability to  overcome and bounce back with even greater resolve.

My second scenario is of someone whom I know for years. The guy was a franchisee owner of a fortune 500 branded company in the field of Electronics. Again, I had done Software Implementation for them and the owner had a close relation with me. One fine day, for whatever reason I heard he had lost his franchisee the company with whom he was doing business. That was not it, he had gone in debt of few millions. When you tie up with any major companies as franchisee they ask for deposit amount and stocks to keep, despite all debt already mounted, to come out of this situation he tied up another company.  When I met him the last time, about a year and a half back he had cleared all his debt and was back to profit wheels.
These people had setbacks in their lives, they could have hung up, cried and never stand up, but instead of that they decided to take challenge. Even, today I speak to these people and enjoy discussing good and rough times of life.
When problems seem insurmountable, quitting seems to be the easiest way out. Winners are struck but not destroyed. We all have had setbacks in life. Failing does not mean we are failures.


Hope I was able to send my message across. Feel free to share this article if you like.