| If you are thinking about starting a business, | | | | enough access rights to successfully backup the data |
| information systems will probably factor into your | | | | that needed to be saved. The last thing I did, before |
| plans at sometime. The business will require some | | | | I left, was setup the backup to login with an account |
| sort of application software and the requisite | | | | that had sufficient rights to see all the data that |
| information created from the application - whether | | | | needed to be backed up. I came back the next day |
| the solution is simply an Excel spreadsheet or | | | | to verify the back-up ran successfully and the data |
| something more advanced and automated like | | | | was properly backed up. I saw the data was being |
| Quickbooks Pro or an enterprise resource | | | | backed up properly. After I got the backups working, |
| management system. Subjects like disaster recovery, | | | | the company hired someone full-time to take care of |
| data protection, cyber security, web filtering, etc., are | | | | the network and computers. |
| subjects entrepreneurs should be thinking about. This | | | | Here was the problem for this little disaster, to |
| is the first article in a series of articles that will | | | | backup all the data successfully, the backup process |
| introduce the new,and experienced, business owner | | | | had to be run as a admin-type user that can read all |
| to information technology intricacies that should be | | | | of the files and folders. There are actually three |
| included in your business plans. The first issue | | | | take-aways from this event: |
| introduced will be the idea of disaster recovery and | | | | 1.Watch and verify backups are being done, finishing |
| data backup. | | | | without errors and backing up everything that has |
| As a business owner, you must define what | | | | been identified as important. |
| constitutes a disaster, how long it should take to | | | | 2.Identify someone to be responsible to watch and |
| restore operations, and what systems are critical to | | | | verify backups are being performed properly. That |
| the function of the business. How long can the | | | | individual may not have to fix the backup, but the |
| business operate in a degraded mode, or not at all, if | | | | person will have the responsibility to make sure the |
| none of the systems are available. How about email? | | | | backup gets fixed. |
| If your email is not available at all, how long can you | | | | 3.Verifying backups are being completed is only half |
| survive? What about your phone system? Your | | | | of the task. You must practice to recover files and |
| accounting systems? Your website? | | | | verify the data recovered is readable. |
| What constitutes as a disaster for a business? Here | | | | Restoration of data is the single most important task |
| are some events to think about: | | | | of doing backups. This concept seems self-evident |
| Upgrading software, servers or workstations that | | | | but almost always missed. You can setup a backup |
| fails or corrupts data. | | | | and walk away for months without ever worrying |
| Migrating data to centralized storage that fails or | | | | that the data is being backed up because the logs |
| corrupts data. | | | | are being watched. Then, the day comes when you |
| Computer theft. | | | | must restore a file, an application, or, even worse, a |
| Fire, flood, hurricane, and other acts of God. | | | | server. This is not the time to be learning how to |
| Virus breakout - both medical or cyber. | | | | restore a file. The business is down, people can't |
| Hazardous material event, chemical spill, gas leak, etc. | | | | work because the data is unavailable. |
| Communication systems failure. | | | | If the business has only one person and computer, |
| For disaster recovery, there are two components to | | | | find an online backup service that will backup your |
| recovering data - the backup and the most | | | | data for your business for a fee. Some of these |
| important, the restore of data. These are two very | | | | services can be very economical. You might also think |
| important distinctions. As an example, I had been | | | | about virtualization. Depending on how computer |
| doing some side work for a small health facility that | | | | savvy you are, you can use a utility from VMware in |
| had been hit by lightning and I was recovering the | | | | which you can perform a virtualization technique |
| network connectivity. After I got the network | | | | known as a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion. The |
| operational, I left for the evening. The next day, the | | | | P2V will allow you to virtualize your computer leaving |
| president of the company was working on the | | | | the physical machine completely intact. In the event |
| accounting system and accidentally hit the key that | | | | something goes terribly wrong (a disaster), in a |
| did the year end close on the books and it was only | | | | reasonable amount of time, you can have your |
| October. | | | | cloned computer running. The virtual machine may not |
| The conversation went something like this: | | | | be completely up to date, but at least you did not |
| "Can you please come in and restore the accounting | | | | lose everything like account payable or receivable |
| data? I accidentally closed our books for the year." | | | | information or your all important customer database |
| "Do you have a backup?" | | | | and contacts. |
| "Yes, we back up every night." | | | | For larger systems with centralized servers, |
| "Perfect, I can be there in about an hour." | | | | virtualization is a good option but like the above |
| When I get to the facility, I asked where I can find | | | | scenario, the data may not be up to date. Then, |
| the machine that did the backups and where the | | | | there is another do it yourself option, in which, the |
| tapes were located. The software was BackupExec, | | | | business takes on the expense of backup software |
| I knew that software well. I bring up the | | | | and media. One "do it yourself" option for a backup |
| management screen and look when the last time the | | | | solution is an open source solution called Zmanda. The |
| backup ran. Last night, perfect. Now, what was | | | | first benefit is the software is free to install and use. |
| backed up? Uh-oh - two directories, one was a | | | | Just make sure you read all of the requirements |
| WordPerfect directory and the other was a user's | | | | needed for a successful implementation. Larger |
| home directory. I looked at other tapes - same thing. | | | | implementations can be outsourced, also. I am |
| No other network data was being backed up, or at | | | | personally adverse to not having complete control |
| least nothing that was important to the accounting | | | | over the data but the solution is like any other |
| system. | | | | "cloud" solution. If you do not have the expertise in |
| I had to go to the president of the company and | | | | house, the outsourced solution may be best for your |
| deliver the bad news. I am sorry but your backups | | | | environment. |
| are worthless. The backup machine did not have | | | | |