Better data availability for the masses
Commentary by Steve Duplessie
Unfortunately, it took a heinous act to bring this topic to the forefront of our IT consciousness, but it's still a topic that needs covering. Fortunately you'll hear stories soon about how things worked perfectly -- in the face of disaster, hot sites came up and business kept running. There will be some other stories of ultimate failure, but those will hopefully be few and far between.
New York is the economic capital of the world. As such, it has always been the primary place where DR (disaster recovery) and BC (business continuance) have been more than fancy terms. In NY, they have been the beacons of technology, allowing for the ability to withstand massive failure and continue operations.
There were hundreds of businesses located in the World Trade Center that continue to operate -- even though there is no more World Trade Center. This article speaks to everyone about ways to improve overall availability.
We've already heard a lot of stories where large shops running EMC's Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) were put through the ultimate test -- and came up exactly as planned. There are dozens of Sungard, Comdisco and IBM disaster recovery clients that were back in business within a day of the disaster. Many more experienced only minutes of downtime. (We hope that this horrific event will give pause to those mid-tier companies out in Kansas.)
Some general rules-of-thumb for DR and BC planning
For most users, the concept of DR has been equated to massive cost structures. I'm here to tell you that every organization can improve their ability to deal with a major outage, without breaking the bank.
The first thing (really the only thing) to understand when looking to recover from an outage is recovery itself -- meaning all of this is only worthwhile if you can actually recover good data. That gets me to backup -- the first l
To continue reading for free, register below or login
To read more you must become a member of SearchStorage.com
ine of typical defense. We deal with local data loss by restoring from tape. We hope the stuff on the tape is valid.
Here are a few basic rules that can help you to better achieve data availability:
You can take either the "no-cost" or "low-cost" approach to DR
I'm not advocating that you break the bank in order to build a better infrastructure. I'm simply saying that there are probably no-cost ways to improve (such as, evaluating your overall processes), as well as low-cost ways. I'm also still saying that if you can afford to be totally bulletproof, you should be.
The point here is that DR or Business Continuance is not only for the mainframe shops. It is for you. You already run multiple servers. You already have multiple locations, most likely. All you need is a little thought and a little insurance money in order to dramatically improve your ability to deal with an outage -- whether that outage results from a simple accidental deletion or a major catastrophe.
Other advice?
Here are a few other suggestions to consider:
Make it better. Our economy -- and the economy of the world -- is based on business. You are the business. We count on you. So, be there for us.
Additional Resources:
* For more information about any of the companies mentioned in this commentary, run a searchStorage TargetSearch.
* Check out this recent searchStorage Q&A interview with NSI Software's CEO about customer demand in the wake of terrorist attacks.
* How many terabytes can one person manage? Check out this searchStorage Administrator tip for some answers.
About the author: Steve Duplessie is the founder and senior analyst of Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Storage Group, one of the storage industry's key independent authorities on the enterprise-class mass storage market. His role as advisor to the A-list of storage vendors gives him unique insight into the breadth of storage solutions available. Prior to ESG, Duplessie founded Invincible Technologies Corp. (ITC), a high-end NAS and clustering vendor, which he sold in June 1998. Before that, Duplessie held senior management positions with other storage companies, including Clearpoint Research, and EMC, where he began his career.
