Handling Disasters in Stride

BACKUP AS THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE
Computers can and will fail. Hard drives, system boards, memory and other components
have a limited life. It is not a question of if they fail, but a matter of when
they will fail. That is the reason most of us have both servers and workstations
on routine replacement cycles. The disruption of an unscheduled failure can
cost significant time, money, and a loss of data that is far more expensive
than the cost of a replacement unit and installation. We also usually get the
additional benefit of greater speed when we upgrade our computers.

Backup technology has changed notably in the last few years. Backing up to
tape drive and to removable disks still works, but it is far from the most reliable,
cost effective or safest way to back up. If you have not reviewed your choices
lately in backup, you are in for a surprise with the convenience of web-based
backups either as a software-only solution or as a backup appliance.

YOUR COMMON BACKUP CHOICES INCLUDE:

• Web-based backup of files through a browser or locally loaded software
• Backup appliances that can copy files to an Internet hosting facility
• Hard drive backups
  • Removable disks – High Rely, USB NAS, etc.
  • SAN to SAN replication
• CDP (Continuous Data Protection) appliances
• Traditional Tape drives

There are many competitors in the web-based backup space with the cost of
storage varying from 25 cents to five dollars per gigabyte with most falling
in the $2/gigabyte range. Common suppliers include the following: Abacus,
eFolderBackup, eVault,
Global Data Vault,
Iron Mountain, NetRescue
and ProtectYourDataNow.

A good example product in this category is Abacus. This solution has all of
the key elements that we prefer in a web-based backup solution including, but
not limited to, extensive security, speed, reliability, customer support and
a reasonable price. For example, in security there are two levels of password
protection, data is transferred and stored with 128-bit encryption, and the
data is restricted by IP address.

The product is fast enough to back up 2 Terabytes of data daily, and has date
filtering to version data for 20 years and more. The backup is fully automatic,
can back up open files, can back up all major database formats, is replicated
to multiple servers, is housed in Montreal, Canada, to help with jurisdictional
issues and can do a Brick Level (= individual message) backup and restore for
Exchange. Customer support has extended hours, and the data is compressed highly
before the charge per gigabyte is applied.

Alternatively, you may want to consider a backup appliance such as the NetRescue
appliance or the Xilocore
appliance. Backup appliances make a backup of your data every few minutes (I
have set my NetRescue appliance to backup my firm’s data every 15 minutes),
and you can maintain multiple versions of any file. Optionally, you can backup
your data off-site every night or to another location that has an appliance.
An additional key advantage to the NetRecue appliance is the ability to run
any server that fails on the appliance itself until the server repair can be
completed.

For example, your Exchange mail server can be restarted on the appliance in
eight to 12 minutes, and the end-users will have all email through the last
copy of data, typically 15 minutes ago, and can run the Exchange server with
no changes on their desktops or laptops. Running a server on the appliance is
basically invisible to the end-user. When the failed server is repaired, the
server running on the appliance can be restored to the real or virtual server.

The other methodologies listed earlier in this article have their advantages
and disadvantages, but all are only backups of your data, which may copy your
data to another site. Many of the methods require extensive restore times and
could cause long interruptions in service. We recommended options three through
five until 2007, but only use these methods in certain situations today.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY SERVICES
There are many providers of business continuity services in the North American
market. Examples include Agility Solutions, IBM, Iron Mountain and SunGard.
Our favorite example of this category of BC/DR solution is Agility Solutions.
Agility responded to more than 400 disaster-related events in 2008 in 30 states,
the District of Columbia and one Canadian province.

The types of disasters the company has handled include power outages, communications
failures, technology failures, construction issues, flooding, HVAC malfunctions,
fires, lightning strikes, mold, rat infestation, worker strikes, hurricanes
and ice storms. Consider what you would classify as a failure against this list.
Agility has mobile trailers of equipment that they can bring to your disaster
recovery site, establish communications, and help make your computer and phone
systems run. Agility’s mission is to handle any or all of the four key
recovery elements within 48 hours of any interruption: Power, Technology, Space
and Connectivity.

Some of their services are provided à la carte such as power generators,
technology, space options — mobile, office, retail or phone re-direction.
The basic contract is quite inexpensive, and we have seen many businesses preserved
by their efforts. Agility’s ReadySuite membership solution addresses the
typical high-cost, high-frustration factor associated with business continuity
planning and gives your firm immediate protection the day you become a member.

One additional capability we recommend is their MyAgility online planning
resource. MyAgility gives you 24/7 online access to your customized recovery
plan. They have quick access to popular tools and resources. They store critical
documents and contact databases for easy communication via the Alert Notification
System, and they also maintain a fixed-asset inventory database.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING TOOLS
We want all firms to have BC/DR plans, but this task is often bypassed as a
project or given a low priority when time or money is constrained. BC/DR plans
are not trivial to create, and if you are new to this area, you may want to
get professional help or find the right expertise.

Alternatively, there are products like the MyAgility suite cited above, the
Iron Mountain planning tool or another product we like in this category like
Survivor or Statistic. These products provide the basic strategies and documents
to help your team develop a BC/DR plan.

Even with the best of these tools, we think that training is certainly needed.
K2 Enterprises (www.k2e.com)
has developed an all-day BC/DR course for the CPE market for 2010 and beyond.
This course is intended to take you from limited knowledge of BC/DR planning
to a working plan using some of the best techniques available. We will include
exposure on helpful strategies and products such as Abacus, NetRescue, Agility
and more.

THE WORST CHOICE OF ALL IS DOING NOTHING
The choices listed above are affordable for businesses of all sizes. From simple
web backups to backup appliances to full scale BC/DR plans, there are solutions
for your firm. What’s appropriate for you? You will have to assess your
risk tolerance. Many of these services are just a few billable hours in cost,
but they could save your firm from a huge short-term loss or the loss of the
firm entirely. Do you want to be responsible for that loss?