Business Continuity Planning

Transcription

1 Business Continuity Plnning A Stte of the Art Dt Bckup nd Disster Recovery Solution tht bullet proofs your dt. TechAdvisory.org SME Reports sponsored by Highlights of the Service: A complete solution tht is designed to reduce ny server down time with the use of specilized bck up nd virtul server pplince. Allows ner rel-time bckups-s frequent s every 15 minutes. Offers offsite storge t n ffordble cost. Provides low cost, speedy disster recovery process. Dt is encrypted so it is not ccessible to nyone, either on the NAS or t the remote storge fcility without the psskey. Elimintes the cost nd time of mnging on-site tpe bckup. We monitor nd mnge the entire process. All costs-frequent on site bckups, on site virtul server, remote storge, disster recovery in the event of disster nd 24x7 mngement of the entire process re bundled t price tht is comprble to the overll cost of buying nd mnging tpe bckup. If you re plgued by system downtime, viruses, spywre, losses of productivity nd computer problems tht constntly cost you time nd money, the experts t Computer Revolution cn help. We provide ffordble nd relible technology support to compnies nd home users tht need help with their technology, for frction of the cost of hiring n in-house IT professionl. When you prtner with our tem of experts, you cn finlly Executive Summry A recent study discovered tht, of compnies experiencing mjor loss of computer records, 43 percent never reopened, 51 percent closed within two yers of the loss, nd mere 6 percent survived over the long-term1 For smll nd medium-sized businesses (SMB s) in prticulr, these sttistics suggest the necessity of crfting Business Continuity Plnning (BCP) strtegy grounded in robust dt bckup nd recovery solution. sy goodbye to computer problems once nd for ll! 1

2 Business Continuity Plnning Unlike enterprises, mny smller compnies cnnot fford optiml inhouse strtegies nd solutions in service of BCP. These compnies re consequently t n elevted risk of being put out of business due to ny mjor loss of dt. Loss of dt could men emils lost, ccounting dt lost, ptient or client files lost, compny records lost, client legl records or orders lost nd so on. This white pper evlutes the scope of BCP for smller compnies, by exmining their chllenges, rnge of existing solutions nd their drwbcks. We ll lso discuss how our solution overcomes commonly fced chllenges to offer the most comprehensive solution out in the mrketplce. Business Continuity Plnning for Smll nd Medium Size Businesses BCP is the blueprint for how businesses pln to survive everything from locl equipment filure to globl disster. Dt-oriented BCP, n indispensble component of business plnning regrdless of orgniztion size, poses the following chllenges. Smller businesses generlly lck the in-house IT resources to chieve these demnding plnning, technicl nd process requirements. Therefore, mny SMBs either neglect to implement ny dt-oriented business continuity pln or else pproch dt bckup nd recovery in spordic, rudimentry fshion tht fils to conform to the best prctices of BCP. Understnding the risks of not hving pln in plce: Understnding Regultory Complince requirements in your industry. Regultions such s the Helthcre Insurnce Portbility nd Accountbility Act (HIPAA) nd the Grmm-Lech-Bliley Act (GLBA) nd other lws- stte nd federl. Understnding how to mitigte the risk of losing vitl business dt, such s customer records. Being wre of the environmentl hzrds tht the business infrstructure is exposed to due to your geogrphicl loction. Estimting time it would tke to build the business bck if disster strikes without hving ny BCP in plce. Understnding ROI for hving BCP in plce. 2

3 Business Continuity Plnning Technicl Chllenges: Identify the lowest-cost, highest-performnce dt bckup medium (tpe or disk) bsed solution nd keeping brest with the ltest nd gretest in the industry. Ensure tht ll bcked-up dt is encrypted nd otherwise sfegurded from theft. Ensure tht bcked-up dt cn be restored to different kinds of hrdwre. Ensure tht dt bckup continues even during ctive recovery phses. Opertionl Chllenges: Identifying wht dt to bck up. Identifying how frequently to bck up nd relted costs nd ROI. Retin the bility to recover not only the most recent dt, but lso dt from older time horizons, such s pst qurters nd yers. Retin the bility to monitor nd mnge the integrity of ongoing dt bckup processes so tht bckup filures cn be dignosed nd remedied before dversely impcting the BCP lifecycle. The need to hire Stff who cn understnd, design, implement nd keep BCP running 24/7 nd be vilble to get business bck in ction fter disster strikes. Trditionl Solution vs. Emerging Technology Implementing dt-oriented BCP strtegy first requires designtion of specific dt storge medium. Mgnetic tpe nd disks re the two leding medi for dt bckup storge. While mgnetic tpe is currently dominnt, nlyst Dve Russell of Grtner believes tht Recovery will move to online disk-bsed storge in the future. This will cuse mjor shift in the bckup mrket during the next four to five yers. 2 3

4 Business Continuity Plnning Smller Compnies in prticulr will benefit from the shift, s recent dvnces in design nd mnufcturing lower the totl cost of disk-bsed storge in terms of storge per bit. Flling prices, combined with the vrious performnce dvntges tht storge industry nlysts cite, render disk incresingly ttrctive. Grtner Group highlights the suitbility of disk for these orgniztions by explining tht, The need for high performnce online recovery of dt, combined with the vilbility of low-cost disk rrys, hs influenced enterprises nd smll nd midsize businesses to dopt disk-bsed pproch for bckup nd recovery. 3 Tpe, in contrst to disk, is physiclly delicte nd esily compromised by environmentl fctors such s het, humidity, nd mgnetic interference. Moreover, tpe crtridges must be replced frequently (every 6-12 months). Tpe s innte sensitivity contributes to high filure rtes, with nlysts estimting tht nywhere from 42 to 71 percent of tpe restores fil. Even when mgnetic tpe bckups re successful, tpes themselves re subject to loss or theft, nd my be in the possession of n employee or vendor unble to rech recovery site. Thus, even when physicl bckup nd restortion processes succeed, tpe my not prove to be s timely nd pproprite medium for dt storge s disk. Time is crucil considertion becuse ech hour of server, ppliction, nd network downtime endured until dt restortion comes t high cost, especilly to smller businesses. Anlyst Jon Oltsik of Enterprise Strtegy Group lso points out tht tpe is seldom encrypted, compounding the destructive impct of tpe theft: Very few people encrypt bckup tpes, which mens tht they rely on the security of the bckup nd off-site rottion process. 4 Disk offers not only lower cost encryption but lso other dvntges. In contrst to tpe, disks re more durble, lst longer, withstnd more overwriting nd you don t need to clen ny heds, ccording to Rinku Tygi of PCQuest. Additionlly, When it comes to bcking up using disks, they re esier to mnge. Disk bckup systems include mngement tools, often browser-bsed, for you to esily configure settings nd check sttus from nywhere. 5 4

5 Business Continuity Plnning HP enumertes other dvntges of disk storge, noting tht Dt is bcked up to disk much fster thn tpe, which trnsltes to less impct on production server vilbility. Disk is lso more relible medi thn tpe nd less prone to error, which trnsltes to less filed recoveries. 6 While disk offers dvntges over tpe, it is not pnce. After instlling disk technology, Compnies will still be responsible for monitoring nd mnging bckup processes, encrypting nd sfegurding bcked up onsite nd offsite dt, restoring dt to new hrdwre, nd other functions. Without implementing lyer of governnce over disk-bsed dt bckup, these Compnies court the dnger of filed bckups nd delyed restortion of dt, thereby jeoprdizing their chnces of successful recovery from mjor dt loss. Smller Compnies unble or unwilling to invest in the humn expertise nd infrstructure support systems necessry for dt-oriented BCP cn leverge our dt bckup nd recovery solution, which removes cost nd complexity burdens from your stff. A Complete Solution tht ddresses ll of your BCP Needs Ner Rel-Time Bckups: Our Incrementl Forever methodology cptures ll chnges to the initil imge in increments of 15 minutes. The Incrementl Forever technology not only bcks up recent dtsets but lso llows end users to reconstruct the stte of their dt s it stood t the end of vrious 15-minute restortion points. This level of forensic nd uditble dt recovery my stisfy vrious regultory requirements (such s HIPAA nd GLBA) for dt retention nd dt record reconstruction, nd lso serves stkeholders such s supply chin plnners, wrehouse nlysts, uditors, nd legl counsel. 5

6 Business Continuity Plnning On-site Virtul Server: If ny of your servers fil, our server virtuliztion technology embedded in the Network Attched Storge (NAS) llows customer servers nd pplictions to be restored nd rebooted in less thn 30 minutes in most cses. As you my sometimes endure wit of severl dys in order to receive replcement servers from vendors, your NAS cn hve your business up nd running. The NAS multitsks so tht, even while functioning s virtul server, it cn continue to bck up dt from other devices plugged into the NAS. Our technology thus llows you to remin in business without ny significnt loss of dt bckup, server functionlity, or ppliction downtime. A Complete Imge: We generte n imge of ll hrd drive prtitions vi n gent, which is wrehoused on the NAS device physiclly locted t your loction. The dt is stored using AES-256 bit encryption nd compressed. We employ block-level, not filelevel, bckup, which mens tht dt is cptured t the level of 1 s nd 0 s. Block level dt is rw dt which does not hve file structure imposed on it. Dtbse pplictions such s Microsoft SQL Server nd Microsoft Exchnge Server trnsfer dt in blocks. Block trnsfer is the most efficient wy to write to disk nd is much less prone to errors such s those tht result from file-level bckups. Additionlly, block level bckups re not ffected by open files or open dtbses. The block-level imge is n exct digitl duplicte of the on-site server. Intuitive nd Flexible Restortion: A good bckup system should llow for quick nd flexible restores. Our solution llows for recovery of files, folders, prtitions, milboxes/messges, dtbses/tbles using quick nd intuitive process. In cse of complete server filure we do support bre metl restore to new hrdwre which hs different configurtion, hrdwre nd drivers s compred to the filed server. Our 15 minute incrementl bsed bckup llows restores to be done from ny point in time, llowing for multiple versions of files, folders, messges/milboxes, dtbse/tbles to be restored. 6

7 Business Continuity Plnning Secure Remote Storge: After imging the servers to which it is ttched, the NAS device then cretes n independent 256-bit encrypted tunnel nd trnsmits the imged dt to secure offsite loction where it resides in n encrypted, compressed formt. Tht remote site then replictes gin to n lternte dt center, creting totl of three copies of the dt in three geogrphiclly distinct regions. Since the dt is encrypted nd only you hve the key, no one hs ccess t ny of the remote storge fcilities. Trnsmitting dt to remote site is key component of BCP. It gurntees tht, in cse of physicl dmge to the client s network or NAS, or even regionl disster, the dt is sfe in uncompromised loctions. Encryption is n importnt step in the process of trnsmitting dt between the NAS nd the remote sites, becuse it gretly reduces the risk of dt loss incidents tht plgue mgnetic tpe nd prevents mn-in-the-middle ttcks during trnsmission. We employ the 256-bit Advnced Encryption Stndrd (AES) lgorithm becuse it hs never been broken nd is currently considered the gold stndrd of encryption techniques nd render trnsmitted dt immune to theft. Secure, Bndwidth Throttling Trnsfer: Trnsmission itself occurs over your Internet connection, nd cn esily be configured to minimize bndwidth consumption. Our NAS leverges Adptive Bndwidth Throttling, which only utilizes unused bndwidth or llows us to set n outbound limit. Our UDP bsed smrt trnsfer technology utilizes host of innovtive lgorithms to speed up dt trnsport nd resume from filure. We cn therefore exercise fine control over the dt imging nd trnsmission processes. 24x7 Completely Mnged Solution: Our 500-person Network Opertions Center (NOC) monitors your NAS units nd the ttched servers 24/7. Filed processes generte immedite lerts to our engineers, who often remotely correct errors within minutes of receiving notifiction. In cse of more serious NAS issues, we will conduct repirs t your site. If ny NAS units re irreprbly dmged or destroyed, t n dditionl cost we will overnight ship replcements -pre-loded with ll stored dtdirectly to your loction. 7

8 Business Continuity Plnning Affordble Cost: We offer pricing pckged tht is ll inclusive of the complete bckup nd disster recovery service-with no hidden costs. All your costs re bundled nd include the NAS, the Incrementl Forever Methodology, file restortions, file integrity checks, secure dt trnsmission nd remote storge. References 1 Cummings, Meve; Hg, Stephen; nd McCubbrey, Donld Mngement informtion systems for the informtion ge. mcgrwhill.com/sites/ /informtion_center_view0/. 2 Russell, Dve Recovery will move to disk-bsed, mnger of mngers pproch by Grtner Group. 3 Russell, Dve Recovery will move to disk-bsed, mnger of mngers pproch by Grtner Group. 4 Jon Oltsik, quoted in Shred, Pul Bnk s tpe loss puts spotlight on bckup prctices. Internetnews.com. 5 Tygi, Rinku Wht s for your bckup: Disk or tpe? PCQuest. 6 HP HP prolint dl100 g2 dt protection storge server-questions & nswers. 8

9 Business Continuity Plnning Computer Revolution Miling Address 2395 Firview Avenue North, Roseville, MN Phone: Fx: Emil: Web: 9