BandL Weblog

3 Things Hurricane Irene Can Teach Us about IT Disaster Recovery

Tweet Share

Over the past several days, Hurricane Irene has wreaked havoc on the East Coast of the U.S. where our company is based, impacting millions of people with wind, rain and flooding. Millions remain without power or even any idea of when it will be restored. Homes have been damaged. People have been displaced and injured, and lives have been lost. Our thoughts are with those who are even now still feeling the impact of this destructive act of nature. 

At the same time, given the nature of our business, our thoughts turn to the disaster recovery implications of a natural phenomenon like Hurricane Irene. Clearly, this most recent natural disaster is a wakeup call to those businesses that have not made IT disaster readiness a priority—including half of all small to medium-sized businesses, according to the Symantec 2011 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey.

Just what is it that makes disaster recovery planning such a challenge for many organizations? While the lessons learned will continue to shake out over the coming weeks and months, the East Coast’s experience with Hurricane Irene underscores the reasons why:

1. The disaster proves the value of the recovery plan.
   There was no way to know until Irene hit whether all of the disaster planning conducted up and down the East Coast—from preparations at the Amazon Web Services data center to full evacuations of whole counties. Skeptics questioned whether all of these steps were really necessary. Now, in the immediate aftermath of the storm, I don’t hear many people questioning the lengths that businesses and governments went to to prepare for this disaster.
   
   In the same way, IT disaster recovery planning seems to many organizations like overkill—until a disaster hits, that is. Especially with budgets stretched to the max and organizations struggling to keep their networks humming along in the here and how, some firms just haven’t invested in protecting themselves from hypothetical events. This mentality quickly changes the first time the organization suffers extensive downtime or data loss in the wake of a disaster. Suddenly, it’s easy to justify the budget for that “nice-to-have” disaster readiness plan.
   
   
2. The threat is unknown, but the danger is real.
   As Irene bore down on the East Coast, no one really knew what to prepare for. A simple rainstorm, or a serious hurricane that would gather strength on its travels? Power outages? Flooding? Governments, businesses and citizens could only act on the best information they had and prepare as well as they could for the most likely scenarios.
   
   When it comes to IT disaster recovery planning, many organizations face a similar challenge. Sure, a disaster—natural or otherwise—could strike at any moment, but what would it look like? Why bother to plan when we don’t know what we’re planning for? Clearly, it’s impossible to plan for every scenario. But failing to plan for any scenario is just bad business.
   
   
3. You can never be too prepared, but preparedness has its limits.
   Hurricane Irene proved the value of all of the disaster readiness preparations up and down the East Coast. But even extensive preparations couldn’t prevent Irene from having a significant impact.
   
   Any organization’s IT disaster recovery plan also has its limits. You can protect your data, but probably not all of your data. You can limit downtime, but probably not prevent it entirely. Every disaster recovery plan—not to mention budget—has a limit. The key is to understand what data is critical to protect and what the acceptable recovery timeframes are for your business, and build this understanding into your plan.

Has Hurricane Irene or another disaster changed your business’ disaster recovery plan for the better? How can IT demonstrate the value of disaster recovery planning before a disaster strikes?

Overcoming The Top Five Tape Backup Challenges

A very interesting webinar took place yesterday from George Crump of Storage Switzerland. In fact it was so good, I thought we'd embed it here on our blog. It's definiely worth the listen.

If the player doesn't appear below, you can access the webinar here.

4 Tips for Storing Data Smarter

Tweet Share

It’s no secret that data is “Big” these days—and it’s only getting bigger. Experts predict that we’ll be dealing with no less than 1,842 exabytes of data by the end of this year. But just because data volumes are growing exponentially, that doesn’t mean your budget for storage media will grow at the same pace—nor should it. If there’s one positive outcome so far from the challenge of trying to get our arms around the data explosion, it’s that we’re being forced to get smarter about how we store all that data.

Before you invest in storing all of that data “bigger” by adding disk arrays or expanding your tape library—not to mention covering the operating costs to support more storage media—here’s some food for thought on how to store it “smarter” (more cost-effectively and efficiently, that is):

#1: Use data reduction technologies and techniques
Data reduction can help your organization make Big Data smaller. Today there are a range of viable data compression and deduplication tools for both backup and primary storage. These technologies and techniques reduce the space required to store your data, allowing you to store more data on your existing storage media.

#2: Implement a tiered data storage model
Tiered data storage involves assigning different categories of data to different types of storage media based on criteria such as how frequently a data set is accessed and how mission critical it is. Tier 1 data is stored online on the most expensive media, while lower tiers are stored on less expensive media and offline if appropriate. The result: lower total storage cost.

#3: Consider active archiving
Active archiving takes tiered data storage to another level, adding a file system front-end that provides access to files stored both online and offline on tape. An estimated 80 percent of data in production catalogs is inactive data that can be moved to cost-efficient tape yet still readily accessed in an active archive if needed.

#4: Maximize energy efficiency
For files that must be stored online, power-managed disk drives can help reduce energy consumption, driving down operating costs. Energy-efficient tape will keep down storage costs for backup and archiving purposes. While managing power and cooling costs won’t reduce your storage media acquisition costs, it can go a long way toward keeping a handle on your storage operating costs.

When it comes to managing rapidly expanding data stores, this is one case when bigger is definitely not better. What are some other ways you’re storing data smarter? Let us know in the comments section.

And of course, if you'd like to talk to us directly about this issue or how we can help alleviate many of the problems of "big data", just contact us any time.

 

4 Critical Aspects to eDiscovery Readiness

Tweet Share

Increasingly, IT has partial—if not full responsibility—for the collection and preservation of data for eDiscovery purposes. Once the sole domain of the corporate legal department, eDiscovery now requires more efficient and effective means to sift through more data housed in multiple applications, systems, locations and storage media—clearly the purview of IT. So, with the eDiscovery ball in your court, how can you make your organization’s eDiscovery preparedness efforts a success?

Experts advise following these best practices when it comes to managing eDiscovery, and our own experience implementing eDiscovery tools for our clients has proven these same guidelines to be critical:

1. Start now, and start with process
   Don’t wait for the subpoena. As with any business process, the right policies and processes—particularly an active data retention policy—must be in place before you implement a tool to automate your workflow, according to CMS Wire. Work with legal to get the right eDiscovery processes and policies first and then implement technology to support them.
   
   
2. Integrate it
   “The eDiscovery product should integrate with existing information management technology,” says Christine Taylor of the Taneja Group—advice seconded by yours truly. You want a solution that easily integrates with your existing storage management platform.
   
   
3. Feel a need for speed
   When it comes to meeting eDiscovery deadlines, speed is the name of the game. Find a solution that centralizes data, allows for quick searching and finds the right data first, eliminating random searches and tape restores in favor of more organized searches of smaller data sets.
   
   
4. Ensure data integrity
   Also according to Taylor’s report, one of IT’s key responsibilities in eDiscovery is to preserve data to maintain “legal defensibility”—that is, to ensure that the organization can demonstrate it’s done everything in its power to keep collected data intact and protect it from being altered, damaged or destroyed. Maintaining data backups on tape and implementing a solution for efficiently locating and collecting this data will help ensure you can meet this requirement.

The bottom line is, well, your bottom line. It’s now up to you to ensure that your firm can respond to eDiscovery requests quickly enough to avoid expensive court sanctions. How prepared is your organization for its next eDiscovery request?

 

What’s Ahead for LTO

Yogi Berra once said, “You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.” Aside from the obvious humor in this quote, there’s also some truth in its twisted logic: To get where you want to go, you’ve got to have a clear plan for getting there.

The folks behind the LTO (Linear Tape-Open) Program have given data center managers just that with the LTO roadmap. By way of quick introduction, LTO is far and away the leading tape format, comprising 90 percent of the overall tape market. HP, IBM and Quantum together manage the development and roadmap of LTO. LTO’s mere existence is proof of tape’s ongoing role in data storage. LTO continues to evolve, becoming better and faster with each generation to meet customer demand. Tape evolves, ergo it lives.

The LTO Consortium has published a roadmap outlining plans for continued development of LTO technology, which is currently in generation 5. The roadmap commits to three more generations of LTO, allowing data center managers to plan ahead for their tape storage needs as far as LTO-8.

The roadmap promises a 100 percent increase in capacity and a 50 percent improvement in speed with each of the next three generations, along with a 25 percent improvement in compression levels. Subsequent generations will continue to offer WORM and encryption features, as well as the partitioning capability that allows LTO to work together with LTFS to make tape easier and faster to use. While the roadmap doesn’t specify a timeline, generations are expected to be about two years apart.

With licenses now available for the still-under-development LTO-6, the next step for LTO tape is in progress. As the LTO roadmap shows, data center managers have a lot to look forward to when it comes to the future of tape.

What do you think about the LTO road map? Does it give you more confidence in tape stroage?

Tape Backup Trumps Decentralization for SMBs

Tweet Share

I read an interesting post recently promoting a decentralized data storage model, with data stored redundantly at multiple physical locations. The author proposes this model for companies looking to avoid suffering these alleged woes of backing up to tape: a single point of failure, unmanageable backup windows and lost tapes. The article goes on to focus on how companies implementing a decentralized model can use WAN optimization technologies and strategies to avoid overloading their networks with large data transfers.

The author makes a respectable enough case for a decentralized storage model. But I would argue that, while this model might be ideal for a larger organization with vast resources at its disposal, it’s simply out of reach for your average small to medium-sized business (SMB).

Many SMBs just don’t have the physical locations or space needed for redundant data storage—not to mention the IT staff, budget and sophistication to manage this storage model and the WAN optimization techniques and technologies it might require. As an alternative, SMBs can look at hosted storage solutions that eliminate the need for multiple locations, but these still require hands-on IT management time and expertise to make sure you’re capturing and testing the data.

Instead, SMBs need a simple, practical way to back up their data. They need a method that doesn’t require multiple data centers and involves minimal management from their IT staff. At the same time, just like the Fortune 500s, SMBs can’t afford to sacrifice security, reliability or cost-effectiveness. Which is why tape remains the primary backup method for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Tape gives SMBs an easy and straightforward way to back up data that’s low-cost, durable, reliable and green.

So, does storing backups on tape mean SMBs are doomed to an existence of single points of failure, unmanageable backup windows and lost tapes? In a word, no.

Tapes are portable, which means they can easily be moved and stored offsite for disaster recovery purposes by vendors who specialize in these services. Data management solutions keep tape backup windows from becoming unmanageably long. And tape management solutions mean there’s no excuse for lost data tapes.

Of course, all of this is not to say that tape is dead in larger organizations. It continues to have a place in a balanced enterprise storage strategy and is poised to play an even bigger role as active archiving becomes more widespread.

Does a decentralized data storage model offer some key advantages? Absolutely, and Mr. Ghory makes a great case for this model. But it’s just not practical for many SMBs, who will continue to rely on tape to store their backups simply and efficiently.

Social Media, Compliance and the Law: Part 3

Tweet Share

The challenges of managing social media data to meet compliance and legal requirements can be daunting, especially as many companies are still struggling to understand how to incorporate these emerging requirements. And even after you understand your business requirements, have built company and data retention policies specific to social media and have determined how you’ll capture social media content—there’s still the issue of how to store all that data.

It’s no secret that social media is a major contributor to the data explosion. “Today social media generates more information in a short period of time than was previously available in the entire world a few generations ago,” according to ZDNet. With the amount of data businesses must manage continuing to grow at dizzying rates—possibly doubling every 14 months or so, thanks in part to social media—cost-effective storage becomes paramount.

That’s where tape comes in. Not only is tape cost effective, it’s also highly reliable, secure, long lasting, durable and green—making it the perfect medium for long-term archival of data for legal and compliance purposes, which is exactly why organizations are retaining social media data. And if the organization does need to allow frequent or ongoing access to social media content—for analytics purposes, for example—an active archive can do just that, while still letting you capitalize on tape’s efficiency and effectiveness as an archival medium.

There you have it: An old medium can help us manage all of that data being produced by new media. If your organization is being tasked with retaining, storing and managing social media data, you may just find that tape and active archiving are a key part of the solution for your business.

Read Social Media, Compliance and the Law: Part 1, Social Media, Compliance and the Law: Part 2

Social Media, Compliance and the Law: Part 2

Tweet Share

Recently I started a discussion about the challenges companies are facing in managing social media data to meet compliance and legal requirements. As companies grapple with these challenges, some elements of the solution are beginning to emerge. Foremost among them: policy, tools and storage. 

Policy

No doubt about it, your company needs an overall policy that specifically covers acceptable use of social media. Experts advise that a good social media policy should “demonstrate that [the company is] exercising due diligence to promote ethical conduct and prevent criminal conduct in the context of social media activity.” Needless to say, an effective policy is not only one that is actively enforced but also one on which employees are trained and informed.

Aside from the need for an overall policy, a demand that’s even more relevant for IT is the requirement to have a data retention policy that specifies how the organization will treat social media content. Making sure your retention policy addresses social media data will help ensure that you retain files that you need to meet compliance timeframes and requirements.

It also can help minimize your legal risk. The trick is to set a policy that strikes a balance between retaining too much data—creating unnecessary legal exposures, driving up legal costs and delaying e-discovery—and not enough data—resulting in court sanctions for destroying potential evidence. A consistent social media data retention and discovery policy minimizes these risks, while also demonstrating that any data destroyed prior to a lawsuit was purged methodically, according to a policy, rather than targeted for destruction as potential evidence. This balance is going to be different for every organization.

Tools

Of course, being able to manage retention of social media data depends on a company’s ability to obtain that data in the first place. The method for capturing relevant social media content ranges from manually monitoring social media sites and saving screen captures to using tools and services from providers like Arkovi, Iterasi, Erado and LiveOffice. The right solution depends on your company size, budget and where this need falls on your priority list (near the top for regulated industries, for example).

In the final post in this series, I’ll get into the data management aspect of this challenge. What other elements should be a part of this solution? Are there things your organization has learned the hard way about meeting social media compliance and legal challenges?

 

Read Social Media, Compliance and the Law: Part 1

Read Social Media, Compliance and the Law: Part 3