Data Management

Credit NetApp

Microsoft’s plan to store Data for 10,000 years

Microsoft’s Project Silica aims to show that glass is the future of long-term data storage. To prove its usefulness outside the lab, Microsoft partnered with Warner Bros. to write the 1978 Superman film into glass with lasers. To see the whole process and the Superman glass, we visited Microsoft’s Research Lab in Cambridge, England and Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.
Credit CNET

How Trucking Companies Master Data Collection

Trucking companies are strategically using data to track engine hours, fuel consumption, and vehicle maintenance. In the next 20 years, we’re going to see chains of trucks working together, anticipating one another’s next move with the help of 5G.

Why Did Microsoft Put a Data Center Underwater?

Why does Extra Data Cost Money?

Have you ever gotten a phone bill and wondered why it was so high? Mobile data in the US is expensive. Companies like Verizon and AT&T charge customers overage fees for exceeding their data plan. And depending on where you live you might be paying high taxes and fees every month. Even with an unlimited plan, your speed may be throttled. Your cellphone bill helps pay for repairs, network upgrades, and administration costs. But competition is what really affects data prices. And that competition could be even harder to find in the US if Sprint and T-Mobile merge.

Blurring Industry Lines

How Business is being revolutionized by new emerging Technologies and BigData.
How new technologies can help businesses create new Value in their day to day Services.

In the race to incorporate Technology into every aspect of a Business, the critical issues of Disaster Recovery and Business continuity (usually abbreviated to DRBC) can get overlooked or at least pushed far down the ‘to do’ list.

Just like an insurance policy, the value of DRBC protocols tend to be most often realized in hindsight. So how can you avoid being that business which failed to effectively prepare for a catastrophic IT meltdown?

Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment
Two processes every tech-heavy company should initiate as standard are a business impact analysis (BIA) and a risk assessment. Although these two tools support one another and should be carried out around the same time they are very different in their focus. A BIA deals with gathering the information necessary to put a realistic figure (in dollars and cents) on the implications of various IT failures whereas the risk assessment looks at the probability of such failures occurring. Whereas the BIA aims to be more or less fixed and certain and is focused on costs and timeframes, the risk assessment is less tangible in nature. The more risk averse companies will probably capitalize their DRBC fund properly, based on the worst case scenario thrown up in the BIA. Risk-takers may opt for a more basic DRBC provision, particularly if the risk assessment suggests a low likelihood of service disruption.

DRBC as an Extension of Change Management
Although disasters usually come out of the blue, they are nevertheless examples of change – and that is something that IT people live and breathe. Thinking of DR and BCP as an extension of change management can help to structure the preparedness planning process, with the result of the BIA and risk assessment acting as the agent of change and the senior management forming the evaluation committee.

To get the process off the ground, particularly in larger companies, it is important that the BIA and risk assessments are trusted by the decision-makers.  In 2015, the ISO rolled out the first ever quality benchmark for BIAs, the ISO 22317, designed as a flexible tool for helping organizations to implement a powerful Business Impact Analysis. There are also many quality standards which apply to risk assessments (e.g. the ISO 31000 family) and conforming to these can help with securing company buy-in to an effective DRBC provision.

Once the green light has been given, a project manager and change implementation team can be tasked with creating the DR and BCP.

Thorough disaster recovery preparation enables businesses to take into account every element of their IT network and not just the obvious ones. For example, how is their back-up system handling open files? Are these currently being skipped, leading to incomplete back-ups or are real time shadow copies being taken? Are emails capable of being restored? Are all servers being backed up (file servers, domain servers, communication servers, database servers, etc.)? What about backing up from VMs? Will this require a shut-down or are their tools in place to copy VHDs, snapshots and configurations while in operation. These are just some of the issues that your DRBC implementation team need to be able to address because just one overlooked component could hijack your business continuity and cost you time and money.

The key is to have a structured approach which identifies clear protocols that will be followed in the event of a disaster. It helps to break the IT function down into systems, with all technical specifications (server models, location, IPs, DNS records, serial numbers, etc.) and key contacts documented. This will all save valuable time in a crisis.

Physical vs. Cloud Backup
One major decision the DRBC team will have to make is whether the company is going to favor the physical backup of data or use the cloud. Physical backups offer the advantage of speedy resumption of service (once the business has reached its new premises) and close control of data but, depending on the nature of the emergency (e.g. a hurricane or wildfire scenario), hard storage media may be vulnerable to damage during transit. Cloud backup will take longer to get a business back in action but will take sensitive data right out of harm’s way, storing backups in another state or even a different country. Rather than put all their eggs in one basket, many businesses use both physical and cloud backup. For example, DCG Technical Solutions, who offer Disaster Recovery as part of their small business IT services (Los Angeles), combine both onsite and out-of-state backup via their Dependable SafeSTORE system.

Overall there are several benefits in preparing for disaster ahead of time. It gives businesses the breathing space to make sensible, unrushed decisions; the time to train key personnel and the opportunity to carry out contingency testing.

About Contributor:
Brent Whitfield is the CEO of DCG Technical Solutions Inc. DCG provides the specialist advice and IT support Los Angeles businesses need to remain competitive and productive, despite their often limited IT infrastructure expenditure. DCG Technical Solutions offer Dependable SafeSTORE as a powerful DRBC tool for small businesses. Twitter @DCGCloud

Due to the importance of the data centre, providers need to give ample
considerations to the design and overall structure of the installation.
It needs to be optimised for space, as well as having good expansion options.

Constantly improving the responsiveness of the facility is the one of the
main priorities of every data centre manager, as well as optimising
the operation for greater speed and efficiency.

There are a number of ways that data centres can maximise their resources without
putting an extra burden on the system or indeed their staff.

1. Storage Management Systems
There area a number of multi-level storage management tools available that can offer automated storage tasks. Most offer automated file resizing, defragmentation, RAID configurations and volume resizing. Advanced tasks, such as multi-pathing, data distribution and dynamic storage tiering can also help to optimise an operation, thus cutting costs and improving overall service levels.

2.  Availability Solutions
Availability solutions such as clustering tools can help to improve efficiency by monitoring working applications and moving them to other servers if it detects a fault or problem. Once this is done, the application will be shut down on another server and then restarted; it will then be automatically connected to another storage device to resume normal functionality.

3.  Data Recovery
Cluster tools can also be used to recover data. Cluster tools can be combined with replication technologies to automate the entire replication process. This, of course, cuts out the need to use manual replication procedures. A single tool to manage both virtual and physical environments can help to save time and money.

4. Data Protection
The latest generation of data protection can be used to lessen operation costs of protecting and archiving data. With automated data recovery and data protection all combined into one tool, IT organisations can significantly reduce their overall operating costs and improve efficiency.

5. Virtualisation
Storage and server virtualisation can be used to improve existing hardware, thus eliminating the need for an IT organisation to invest in new resources. However, due to the complexity of virtualisation, the implementation of management frameworks that offer architectural flexibility is required. Once installed, virtualisation technologies can significantly reduce operating costs.

6. Data Centre Environments
Data centre environments need to be carefully monitored to remove the chances of any hot or cold spots. These temperature differences can cause a drain on power and effect airflow circulation. To create the perfect storage environment, you will need to carefully examine flooring, rack placement and aisle control. If you improve the environment you can significantly reduce your overall operating costs.

7. Storage
Storage options are forever increasing in size but not every IT organisation utilises their storage units for optimum efficiency. To improve on storage utilisation, many companies now use leverage management solutions. This helps to understand which applications are connected to each individual unit and allows for monitoring of how much storage is actually being used by each application. It is a very effective way to improve storage efficiency and drive down overall operating costs.

If a data centre harnesses the very latest in technological breakthroughs it can significantly reduce its operating costs, as well as providers a faster and more reliable service. Increasing efficiency and maximising the usage of existing resources should be on the very top of every IT manager’s priority lists.

Author Bio
Alice Harrison is a writer who loves to blog about business technology. She currently works on a freelance basis for Matrix CMS, a leading provider in the UK, the US, and in Australasia of project data management software and other management systems.