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Recovery Versus Backup - a Crucial Difference

This topic was already selected before Rita, but it is certainly timely.  We at EBS will be contacting our clients over the next few days to setup a post Rita discussion of backup and disaster recovery plans - what could be done better, ideas and suggestions for improvements - for your peace of mind and business continuity the next time!

Recovery is the only reason for backing up information. The ability, on demand, to recover your systems, data and information to a useable state is the only goal that matters. 
The following excerpts, from an article provided by Dell[1] points out the important difference between backup and recovery and how to address the latter: “Unless information can be recovered with pinpoint accuracy within a certain time frame, the whole backup paradigm is useless and an organization could suffer significantly. Data corruption, physical disaster [think hurricanes!], media disintegration, and compliance regulations are just a few reasons that organizations are looking for new ways to improve data protection and the associated operational processes. Organizations can insure physical assets from most natural disasters, but they cannot insure their most important asset - information and the information’s integrity.

Some disaster recovery elements
"Proper planning and regular testing of an organization’s recovery plan is essential to maintaining effective business continuity. Organizations need to consider every recovery scenario.
Information restoration is only a single element of an effective disaster recovery and business continuity plan. It’s important not to confuse restore and recovery. Restore is the copying of information from backup to primary storage; recovery is collection of other processes that ensure the information is in a useable state to resume production."

Test restores and recovery tests
"Unless information restoration and recovery has been tested and the process validated, an organization doesn’t have an effective backup plan. Generally, restores are done at the individual element level, and a full-scale application-level restore is an operational process that involves many individuals, processes, and tools to get information back to the state in which an organization needs to resume operations. Many organizations have not performed a large scale recovery, and are hoping they will never be faced with that task. However, the risk associated with apathy has a cost much greater than the cost of the technology."

Nearline storage as part of the answer
"With backup and data replication merging, nearline storage coming to a price point that is more attractive, and the advancement of archival tools, organizations should integrate these elements into an IT strategy that will advance recovery objectives. "

OK what is “nearline storage”?
According to an article in Computer Technology Review[2] , “Nearline defines the level of storage between online disk storage and offline, manually mounted data storage devices.
Some of this technology uses less expensive ATA disk drives instead of high-performance SCSI or Fibre Channel drives (hence the name nearline instead of online), these appliances offer capacity at a lower price. ATA-based disk drives receive data faster than tape drives and can shorten growing backup windows.

Nearline technologies are not intended as a tape replacement but as an intermediate step. In fact, since a nearline device supports most popular tape backup software, it acts as a repository of tape data. Backing up to a nearline storage solution and then to tape could enhance data protection management and improve primary storage and tape library performance.
 

HELP: For help with backup, disaster recovery and other IT issues, give us a call or email EBS and we will be glad to be of assistance: 713.522.3480

Sources:
[1]Recovery: The Only Reason for Backup
By James Geis, Director, Storage Solutions, Forsythe
[2]Filling the storage gap: nearline innovations extend scope of existing enterprise storage capabilities - SAN - Buyers Guide
Computer Technology Review, Feb, 2003 by Michael Marchi
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BRZ/is_2_23/ai_98709776
A Disaster Recovery Success Story [3]
"The 40 employees of PricewaterhouseCoopers' New Orleans office are now spread across at least four states — Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
Managing director Kathy Nieland believes that her home was destroyed by floodwaters from Lake Pontchartrain. ... Pricewaterhouse's office, in the battered downtown area, may not be in much better shape.

But just two days after Hurricane Katrina passed, Nieland determined that most of her office's data were safe. "We have 95% of what we need, if not more," she said. "We're in good shape."

It wasn't luck. It was a high-quality backup system.
Katrina is reminding companies of all sizes that it's not just hackers and viruses that wipe out corporate data — and perhaps prompting some to consider long-postponed backup and recovery systems.

Pricewaterhouse, a global company, had the kind of contingency plan that many tech analysts advocate. Staffers regularly store work on distant computer networks. That's convenient, because employees can access their files from almost anywhere. But it's also safe.

To be sure that all data were protected, Nieland rushed to the office in the hours before the storm and backed up important files to computers in Tampa. Then she and her staff evacuated.

Two days after the storm, the team reconnected via conference call. Pricewaterhouse had set up telephone lines and hotel rooms for them in Houston. A few were already back online.

Pricewaterhouse's preparation paid off."

 [3]Backing up data keeps companies running, By Michelle Kessler, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/
management/2005-09-06-backup-usat_x.htm

 

For professional, cost effective help with your computer and network issues - Windows, Linux, Exchange, VPN, security, email, backup - all of your systems needs; please give us a call or email

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