It’s pretty much a given that every organization must not only backup its data but do it with frequency—and let’s not forget—do it well. With that said, there is the much harder task of making that statement a confident reality. If impetus is needed, there’s a lot at stake: think about job security, your company’s viability and, of course, getting a good night’s sleep.
First off, brace yourself with the proper point of view. Because the act of backup should be looked at as much more than just having your vital data duplicated on disk and/or tape in case there’s an emergency. Start with the goal of doing all you can to ensure your backup data is called into duty as few times as possible.
Fortunately, this is now easier as more and more IT departments are embracing disk-based appliances that make possible storing weeks—if not months—of data. Disk also makes IT staffers look like superstars because most restores are instantaneous. But how do you know much backup disk is needed? Begin with a capacity planning exercise.
Determine exactly what data gets backed up. How much data are you backing up now? By what percentage do you expect the data to grow? If the rate of your growth is unclear, use IDC’s baseline that typical storage grows by 60 percent per year. What is your company’s retention policy? For instance, do you need to keep on hand one month of weekly fulls, one year of monthly fulls, three years of quarterly fulls, seven years of annual fulls? What does your data look like? While compression technology has been a good friend to the backup process, if you’re working with lots of video and audio, don’t count on a 2:1 ratio because those files already are compressed. Public companies must take into consideration all Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.
The good news is embracing the proper amount of disk-based backup permits taking better advantage of incremental backups, which saves disk space over full backups. With today’s technology, you can schedule a full backup every Friday with daily incrementals and feel pretty good about getting that good night’s sleep. You can make better use of your storage space by performing more incrementals and fewer fulls, which results in taking up less storage space. But this isn’t always necessary as disk-based offerings, such as Overland’s REO SERIES of disk-based backup and recovery appliances scale extraordinarily and economically.
If it’s of any consolation, no tiered data protection strategy can unequivocally guarantee data will never be lost. But remember, even baseball’s best hitters are out more than six times out of 10. With a well-planned backup strategy, IT departments will far exceed this average and reach all-star status in the data protection league.
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Jeff Graham
Senior Product Manager