Off-site Storage - Once you have organized the media that you are storing on-site, it's time to consider off-site storage. There are two ways to store your data off-site:
|
|
Business Related Topics...
Computer Related Topics...
Entertainment, Recreation & Sports Related Topics...
Health & Fitness Related Topics...
Home & Family Related Topics...
Shopping Related Topics...
Would you like to submit articles to our site? Have a question or a problem?
You are here: DIME Home > Computer Security > Off-site Storage
Once you have organized the media that you are storing on-site, it's time to consider off-site storage. There are two ways to store your data off-site:
• The typical method of sending copies of your volumes to someone
• Real-time off-site storage
Author: George Lange
Date: Jan 21, 2010 - 7:32:02 AM
Once you have organized the media that you are storing on-site, it's time to consider off-site storage. There are two ways to store your data off-site:
• The typical method of sending copies of your volumes to someone
• Real-time off-site storage
The latter is more expensive but is much easier to use during a disaster. That is, of course, what off-site storage is meant to prepare you for—the destruction of your media and/or the building that holds it. If you have a complete set of backups in another location, you would be able to recover from even the worst local disaster.
Choosing a media vaulting vendor
Choosing a media vaulting vendor is an important a task as choosing your backup software. Choosing the wrong vendor can be disastrous. You depend on that vendor as your last line of defence, which is why you are paying them. Therefore, their storage and filing procedures need to be above reproach. Their movement-tracking procedure must be free of holes. Here is a list of things to consider when choosing an off-site storage vendor:
Individual media accountability
The first media vaulting vendor I ever used stored all of my volumes inside cases. They never inventoried the individual pieces of media. It was up to me to know which volume was in which case. When I needed a volume from one of the cases, they had to go in and get it. Once that was done, there was no log of where that volume actually existed. This is reffered to as container vaulting. Most media vaulting companies also offer individual media vaulting. This method ensures that every volume is being tracked.
Bar-coded, location-based inventory
Again each volume should have a bar code that allows your storage vendor to scan every volume in and out. They should scan volumes into their vault when they arrive and scan them out when they give them back to you.
Electronic double check
If you are keeping track of every volume's location, and your vendor is too, you should double-check each other. One or both of you can print out an export of your database that shows volume locations. You can write a program that cross checks the location of every volume against the other inventory. I can't tell you how many times such a program has saved me. It's great to find an error when it happen, instead of weeks later when you need a volume that got misplaced.
Testing your chosen vendor
See if your vendor is on their toes. One tricky thing you can do is to see if they leave you alone in the vault. You are a customer of this company, so ask them if you can do an inventory of your media alone. See if they allow you unrestricted access to the inside of the vault. If they leave you alone inside the vault with no supervision, you have access to other companies' media. That means that at certain times, other companies may have access to your media. Run, don't walk, away from this company.
Make surprise inspections. Make spot checks. Ask for random volumes back, and see how quickly they can find them. Ask for volumes you just sent them. Volumes in the process of being inventoried are the hardest to find, but they should be able to do it. If you regularly send them five volumes a day with an inventory, put four volumes in one day, but list five on the inventory. See if they notice. If they don't, raise a ruck's! Their procedures should protect you from these types of human errors. If they don't, these procedures need to be improved. Be unpredictable. If you become predictable, you may be overlooked. Keeping them on their toes will make them remember you - and how important you think your volumes are. (By the way, your ability to make surprise inspections and spot checks should be spelled out in your contract. Make sure that it is OK for you to do this. If it is not...well, you know what to do)
Vendors store two types of volumes: Those that rotate in and and those that stay there indefinitely. As you rotate the cyclical volumes in and out, they are inventoried. Your archive volumes are another story. If a volume has been there for two years and has never been touched, how do you know that it's OK? You should make a full inventory of those volumes at least once, preferably twice, every year.
Electronic vaulting
Electronic vaulting is becoming quite popular. It can be expensive, but it's a beautiful thing. If you can afford it, I highly recommend it. The premise is that your backups are sent directly to a storage system at the electronic vaulting vendor. One question you need to ask yourself is, "What happens if they burn to the ground?" All your data could be lost. Don't let this happen. Make sure that this storage company is not the only location for your backed-up data. In addition, make sure that you know how you're going to do a large restore. While a small network link may be large enough to do a continuous incremental backup, it's probably not large enough to do a 100 GB restore. If this is a concern, ask your electronic vaulting vendor about a local recovery appliance.
Backup Data Offsite is an online provider of
offsite data backup solutions and you can use the services of them to store data offsite.
Cybercriminals Target Rabobank with DDoS AttacksMay 3, 2011 - 6:17:36 AM Recently, Rabobank suffered distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack resulting in disruption of Internet banking and mobile banking services. Customers of the bank were not able to login to their online accounts. Rabobank with Headquarters in Utrecht, Netherlands operates in 48 countries across world and specializes in food and agricultural finance. Information security professionals are investigating the attack and are yet to determine the source of attack. The attack follows a similar attack on a Dutch government website, rijksoverheid.nl. The latest attack reportedly hampered operations of the Dutch payment system iDeal, making it difficult for associated banks to process payments.... [Read the full story] |
Don't Take Destruction of Data for GrantedApr 2, 2011 - 11:02:01 AM The prompt and secure destruction of data and confidential company documents should not be taken for granted. As the amount of data increases in the world, as does the need to securely destroy it to prevent unscrupulous individuals or of groups well organised criminals accessing it for their own illegal needs. However, the skills and techniques that these people use are also ever-developing, and the rightful owners of this data need to try to stay one step ahead with advice from companies that specialise in protecting and destroying your personal data. It can be compared to the virus / anti-virus war, and burglars versus locks, and if you want to look at it in its most basic or original form; predator versus prey in a... [Read the full story] |
Mozilla Makes Firefox Version 4.0 PublicMar 24, 2011 - 8:09:36 AM |
Security Researchers Alert Facebook Users on New ScamMar 23, 2011 - 8:19:01 AM |
Search for articles: |
Latest Articles in All Categories |
Putting Up a Small Commercial Printing Business |
So You Might Be Unemployed And Desire To Become A San Francisco Real Estate Investor Now |
Meditation and Mindfulness: Dealing With Emotion |
CPA Websites: Five Essential Ideas for Composing Convincing Articles |
Set Goals In Order to Come Up With Your Action Plan |
Is the Air in Your Home Safe to Breathe? |
Coarse Fishing Tackle Review: The JW Young 13ft Trotter Rod |
Section 1031 Exchanges For San Diego Real Estate Investors |
Phoenix Real Estate Investing For Highest Possible Earnings |
Legendary are the Volk Racing TE37 Wheels |
Developing the Next Generation Wall Station (ChaseDesk™) for Healthcare - A Case Study |
What are step down transformers? |
Introducing Sharehype, the Revolutionary Tool for Online Marketers |
Rewards To Shopping For Austin Real Estate On The Web |
Hydroponics for Beginners |
Would you like submit your articles and have them approved on a priority status? Find out more about how you can become a Priority author for pennies a day! Click here.
Dime-co.com Home |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disclaimer: Dime-Co.Com is an online information article and video article network. All articles, video articles, comments, and other features herein are for informational purposes only and are provided "as is" without warranties, representations or guarantees of any kind. The views and opinions expressed in an article, comments, links or blogs are the author's own, and not necessarily those of dime-co.com's owners. For full disclaimer, please read our TOS.