Re-examine Your SMB Backup Strategy

Advancements in research mean that new deployment options might become available or that earlier impractical strategies become viable over time. As such, it only makes sense to review various facades of one's IT operations from place to place.

I in a few words went through a list of recommended IT projects for small- and mid-sized businesses last week. Today, let's take a closer look at the current state of storage research so that you can better determine whether your SMB's current backup strategy needs a refresh.

The latest catch phrase on practically everyone's lips

Cloud computing is the latest catch phrase on practically everyone's lips, although it's not a new concept. Even as some SMBs have had a somewhat knee-jerk reaction against storing their business-critical data on the Internet, others have already made cloud storage part of their business operations. Personally, I would urge SMBs to consider online backup as they would any other storage option, and not adopt it blindly.

On the plus side, businesses can stand to quickly tap into a ready, purpose-built backup infrastructure without having to spend a dime on capital cost. Personally, I make use of an online service called SugarSync that performs a "continuous" backup of my files in the background. It has already saved me once when I accidentally deleted an entire folder with a few hundred important files, only realizing it weeks later. Thankfully, all my files were recoverable thanks to its support for file versioning.

The line between Network Attached Storage

The line between Network Attached Storage and Storage Area Network hardware is rapidly blurring where features and storage capacities are concerned. Today, it is not uncommon for mid-level NAS to sport dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, iSCSI support, or anything from five hard disk drives with the option for expansion to a single unit packing 24TB out of the box. Just in case, most NAS is certified for virtualized environments these days, during others even offer replication between appliances.

On the other side of the spectrum, the prices for SAN have as well come down to a price point where mid-sized businesses should have no problem affording it. Organizations that demand the highest performance or that want to architect a high-availability virtualized infrastructure will truly want to consider this option. Clearly, SAN deployments however rate on the high-end of the cost scale, as they do as a rule require trained staffers to operate. To tell the truth, improper ratification of a SAN error by an IBM engineer brought down a major bank's network for several hours in Singapore last year.

I recently spoke to representatives from Tandberg Data who took time to highlight the continued relevance of tape research in SMBs in an previously blog.  During they have an obvious interest in promoting tape-centric options, I thought what business unit manager Ted Oade shared on the distinct advantages offered by tape makes sense. For one, tape might be mandated by compliance requirements for controlled, off-site backups, should the contingency arise to the inherent "off-line" portability afforded by tape cartridges. The latter offers protection against inadvertent corruption, and instills a certain level of traceability that can help guard against deliberate data modifications. Moreover, alternative solutions just as cloud-based backups might be unsuitable for large volumes of data. Tape on the whole offers the lowest storage cost today.

In closing, my advice would be to carefully consider the merits of each research to come up with a solution that achieves your RTO and data backup needs, as opposed to being stuck with a specific appliance or category of hardware.

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