Tag Archives: data backup

01.28.15
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Server Replication Using Cloud Computing Is Not The Total Solution for Disaster Recovery

Cloud computing is providing opportunities for faster disaster recovery processes. These opportunities are causing companies to leap before they they have considered all aspects and objectives of their Disaster Recovery processes.

Restore BackupWith cloud computing, the data backup can be accomplished by encapsulating the entire server through virtualization. Then this virtual server can be copied to the off-site location. This seems to be a very attractive alternative to the traditional method of disaster recovery due to its ease and speed. However, there are further considerations that must be considered.

Richard Cocchiara, who is CTO and the Managing Partner of Consulting for IBM’s Business Continuity & Resiliency Services states in an article called Cloud computing causing rethinking of disaster recovery “So in addition doing replication of data to another server, we still recommend backup because you can recover individual files to a point in time.”

There are real life situations that require the ability to “look back in time”. Data backup and recovery strategies must meet company policies regarding regulatory requirements, data breaches, ability to respond to court orders, and more.

Consider that data is not only to be backed up for protection of a catastrophic event, but, it also needs to be restored in different ways for 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.

When the term “cloud” is mentioned, we visualize an “all or nothing” scenario. We think that the data must be replicated to its backup site. We also imagine that the management of the DR processes and the data together must be in the cloud. But, these models are not the only that are possible.

In the case of data backup and recovery, for instance, the data can alternatively remain within the customer’s network and deployed off site at the customer’s choice location. The DR processes can be managed in the cloud. The data does not have to be in the cloud with the data backup administration. These two entities can be distinct.

There are Data Backup/Recovery Managed Service Providers that provide remote management of the Backup process, along with professional Disaster Backup and Recovery consultation. To further discuss the subject of cloud data backup and recovery management, contact Salvus Data Consultants.

 

01.13.15
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The Internet of Things Creates the Demand for Big Data Solutions

The Internet of Things (IoT) is generating a demand for the management of Big Data. There is a need for data from specialized devices and applications be made available to business applications for increased corporate value.  Businesses are integrating these specialized devices and applications with core business processes for analytics and advanced business processing. This data is a mix of varied data types and has now become corporate data. This complex data creates the demand for new technology.

HadoopHadoop has arrived to answer the challenge. The global market revenue, which was estimated at $2.0 billion in 2013, is rapidly expanding and may grow up to a staggering $50.2 billion by 2020.

While Hadoop is offering answers to the need to handle Big Data, Hadoop requires skills and training. Finding those human resources can be challenging. Another issue is to be able to backup Big Data for the purpose of regulatory requirements or recovery of a catastrophic event.

A Big Data implementation using Hadoop presents a need for even more focus on the ability to recover from a catastrophic event quickly. However, the SMB is not often staffed or tooled to design and execute a backup strategy of this level of complexity.  The other consideration is that since the attractiveness of Hadoop is to use local servers, there is a further need to implement a data backup and recover strategy that can be managed remotely but not have a requirement that the live data be transferred to or running in a cloud environment.

There are Data Backup/Recovery Managed Service Providers (DB/R MSP) that provide remote management of the Backup process, along with professional Disaster Backup and Recovery consultation. Contracting an DB/R MSP with the model of remote DB/R management allows the SMB to maintain their data locally without the need to hire new staff or train existing staff in sophisticated data backup and recovery processes. Additionally, the SMB can have a comprehensive Data Backup and Recovery strategy while housing their Big Data locally.

12.19.14
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Data Backup is One Necessary Step in Staying Prepared for Unexpected Events

There is a continuing conversation on what effects climate change and fracking are having on our environment. However, there seems to be no disputing the increase of natural disasters in the past few years when compared to periods in the previous century.

Internet of Things backupAs stated in the Iron Mountain Blog post What’s Shaking: Preparing for the Next Big One “According to a recent U.S. Geological Survey report, the number of major domestic earthquakes (magnitude 7 or greater) in the first quarter of 2014 was more than double what the national average has been since 1979. And that doesn’t even include hundreds of smaller, man-made temblors caused by fracking and oil drilling; incidences of these events quadrupled in Oklahoma this year.”

In the world of enterprise data, there are other trends impacting the perspective of business, while they prioritize their data backup and resilience programs.

Big Data

Customers using Data Backup and Recovery Solutions are reevaluating their present backup and recovery strategies. This is being motivated due to the increase in data complexity because of data variety, velocity and volume.

Hadoop

To help businesses of all sizes manage Big Data, there is Hadoop. The Hadoop software library is a framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using a simple programming model.

The Internet of Things

Businesses are integrating specialized devices and applications with core business processes for analytics and advanced business processing. This data from these specialized devices in cars, water meters, etc., has now become corporate data.

These new data types present a need for even more focus on the ability to recover from a catastrophic event quickly. However, the SMB is not often staffed or tooled to design and execute a backup strategy of this level of complexity. The solution is a Data Backup/Recovery Managed Service Providers (DB/R MSP) that provides remote management of the Backup process, along with professional Disaster Backup and Recovery consultation. Contracting a data backup consultant with the model of remote DB/R management allows the business to maintain their data locally without the need to hire new staff or train existing staff in sophisticated data backup and recovery processes.