08.07.14
by

Resilient Data Must Stand Up to More Than Just a Catastrophic Event

To say that data is resilient is more than just saying the data can be recovered after a catastrophic event. Resilience must also take into considerations processes that are ongoing and may be taking a toll on the data’s stability over a period of time. This is especially true of Big Data. Data that is a combination of internal business processes data and data from outside sources, such as Social Media.

resilient dataData should be treated as we treat our own bodies. We exercise and eat well to have a backup of energy and muscle to take over when our body might tell us that some repetitive motion, or lack of motion, has caused harm.

Just as our bodies, data can be slowly eroding in its quality due to an incorrect assumption by a systems analyst or an unknown error in applications code. But, in the case of data, where is the reserve? The answer is in the data backup. Resilience exists only if you have the ability to go back to a time before the errant processes began to erode the value of the data and then selectively recover.

There was no event that occurred, or, disaster that rung bells and stopped applications. There was only a slow erosion of data quality that now needs to be reversed so that the data provides value into the future.

These are the scenarios that professional data backup and recovery specialists consider.  These nuances cannot be overlooked and ignored. As we have stated in an earlier blog  ENTERPRISE DATA BACKUP IS MORE THAN JUST BEING ABLE TO GET THE DATA BACK, there are real life situations that require the ability to “look back in time”. To be able to just restore data from last night’s backup is not sufficient.

Salvus Data Consultants assist companies in evaluating your data backup and recovery processes to ensure that all scenarios are considered to ensure your data is resilient, not just backed up. Then Salvus can manage your entire backup and recovery processes remotely without your data ever leaving your control.

07.31.14
by

Consider an MSP for Data Backup That Knows Tivoli Storage Manager

Outsourcing data backup processes is an approach that should be considered. Outsourcing to an American Managed Service Provider is often the preferred choice; especially if the data can remain within the control of the company and only the backup and recovery procedures are performed remotely by the data backup and recovery MSP.

IT managed servicesA major benefit for a business outsourcing data backup is to free up the time of the IT staff to focus on core business strategies instead of training on the new Backup and Recovery techniques and then spending hours each day looking at logs and emails. The Storage Administrator can be released from the endless cycle of repeating the same tasks over and over again. And, the processes can be designed and performed by experts in the field of data backup.

In the search for an outsourced Data Backup and Recovery provider, a company should look for having direct access to a team of senior certified consultants which utilize top rated backup and recovery processes and software platform.

IBM’s Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) provides a platform to resolve both tactical and strategic backup solutions. Salvus Data Consultants is an MSP that provides IBM’s TSM backup environments. IBM Tivoli Storage Manager is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for storage management needs. It is the flagship product in the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager family. As stated by IBM, “TSM enables outstanding efficiency, simplicity and scalability for virtual, physical and cloud backup environments of all sizes.” TSM’s flexible deployment options include cloud services, integrated appliances and capacity-based solution bundles.

So, the data can remain within the customer’s control while the management of backup and recovery processes can be handled remotely by the MSP. The customer’s IT staff is released from becoming data backup and recovery experts.

When considering a new approach to your Data Backup and Restore, consider outsourcing to an American MSP that will partner with you in the design and execution of a proactive strategy. Contact Salvus Data to explore the benefits that an experience data backup and recovery MSP can provide your business.

07.16.14
by

Enterprise Data Backup is More Than Just Being Able to Get the Data Back

The purpose of enterprise data backup is more than just being prepared to restore data in the case of a catastrophic event resulting from weather or machine failure.

Court oder on data requirementsData backup and recovery strategies must also meet company policies regarding regulatory requirements, data breaches, ability to respond to court orders, and more. These requirements go beyond just putting the data back the way it was before the disaster.

Company policies may have varying stipulations for retention and restore requirements from the different areas of responsibilities. For instance:

Regulatory Requirements

A company knows what regulatory bodies they must comply with. However, that coordination is not always formalized between the IT staff responsible for data back and recovery and the department responsible for the regulatory compliance. Regulatory compliance can become quite complex and is often changing. For instance, an organization may find that they must comply with HIPAA because they handle medical records on their employees or students, FFIEC because they handle money, and FISMA because they participate in government grants. Each regulatory requirement can have unique data recovery responsibilities that are being modified on a sporadic basis.

Data Breaches

The Business Continuity department of large organizations is finding that their responsibilities have grown beyond people, facilities and information systems. The Business Continuity people are now approached with the responsibility of handling response, protection and recovery procedures if enterprise data is compromised. Data breaches are becoming more of a threat, both from a technical perspective and a reputation perspective. Data resilience is critical to the business regarding the increase in data breaches over the recent years.

Court Orders

An enterprise has the responsibility to be prepared to respond to court orders for information requests. In the case of litigation, the duty to preserve evidence can start with reasonable anticipation of litigation. As the litigation process proceeds, the data retention requirements may need to be dynamically altered from current standard company procedures.

Consider that data is not only to be backed up for protection of a catastrophic event, but, it also needs to be restored for many different purposes and meet varying requirements. This requires coordinated strategies and testing. Data Backup strategies must be planned and tested to assure all company requirements regarding data retention and recovery are met.

Consult with Data Backup and Recovery specialists, such as Salvus Data Consultants to ensure your organizations is taking into considerations all data recovery requirements.