Data Backup

Should you back up Dropbox contents?

George Crump of Storage Switzerland discusses whether it is necessary to back up Dropbox contents in this Expert Response. Continue Reading

By

• George Crump

Microsoft ReFS backup: Ensuring compatibility and testing

Independent backup expert Brien Posey outlines important considerations for Microsoft ReFS backup in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

The importance of cloud recovery testing

Brien Posey explains why it is extremely important to perform cloud recovery testing that simulates a real recovery following a catastrophe. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Virtual machine backup and restoration in a Windows failover cluster

Learn about Windows failover clusters and their role in VM backups and restoration in this tip from Microsoft expert Brien Posey. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Performing Microsoft System Center DPM bare-metal recovery

Bare-metal recovery with Microsoft System Center DPM is easier than you might think. Brien Posey explains the process in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

HP StoreOnce Catalyst accelerates dedupe

HP StoreOnce Catalyst speeds the dedupe process by deduping at the application and backup servers before moving data to the B6200 backup target. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

Building a DR site vs. outsourcing disaster recovery

Paul Kirvan explains some of the pros and cons of using a third-party vendor to provide a backup DR site versus building your own site. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

The value of VMware’s Changed Block Tracking (CBT)

VMware’s Changed Block Tracking is an important part of VMware’s efforts to simplify and improve the VMware virtual machine backup process. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

Business continuity and disaster recovery strategies for CIOs

Many of the data storage strategy issues facing CIOs today concern efforts to bolster the enterprise's business continuity and disaster recovery. Here's what senior IT leadership needs to consider when crafting a BC/DR strategy, and the storage resources to consider -- or avoid. Continue Reading

— SearchDisasterRecovery.com

Active Directory restores: How to restore deleted objects

Brien Posey shows how to perform an Active Directory restore using authoritative and non-authoritative techniques. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Removing a bad patch using Microsoft Windows Server Update Service

This tip offers information about how to remove a bad software patch using Microsoft Microsoft Windows Server Update Service. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

IIS backup: How to protect Microsoft Internet Information Services

This tip offers information about how to perform a Microsoft IIS backup. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Five Microsoft DPM errors and how to prevent them

Microsoft DPM can produce a wide variety of errors. This article discusses how to solve five common errors that you are likely to encounter. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

ISO 22301 (International Organization of Standardization standard 22301)

International Organization of Standardization standard 22301 (ISO 22301) is a proposed standard that would call for meeting specific societal security requirements for disaster preparedness and business continuity management systems (BCMS). It is currently in draft form that, if approved, would call for requirements for creating a BCMS, as well as managing and improving that system. Continue Reading

By

• TechTarget Contributor

Backing up a Windows Server 2008 group policy

While a Windows Server 2008 group policy is copied automatically, it is easier to manage when you make your own group policy-specific backup. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Backing up VMs: Traditional apps vs. virtual machine backup software

In this tip on backing up VMs, learn about the pros and cons of traditional backup software vs. VM backup software. Continue Reading

By

• Jacob Gsoedl

Wbadmin backup tips for backing up Windows

The Windows Wbadmin backup command can appear deceptively simple to use. In this tip, we'll teach you the basics of using Wbadmin and its commands. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Printer backup and recovery tips

Learn the best way to back up and recover your printers when you upgrade a server from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Disaster recovery in the cloud explained

Discover whether or not disaster recovery in the cloud is a good choice for your organization, and the pros and cons of different cloud DR approaches. Continue Reading

By

• Jacob Gsoedl

Microsoft's Hyper-V snapshots offer quick VM backups, but with limits

Microsoft’s Hyper-V snapshots offer a quick way to back up virtual machines during upgrades, but they’re no substitute for long-term archives. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Five IBM Tivoli Storage Manager backup errors and how to prevent them

Learn how to correct the top five IBM Tivoli Storage Manager backup errors in this tip from backup expert Pierre Dorion. Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Dorion

What you need to know about automatic failover and disaster recovery automation

Learn about the benefits of automatic failover for disaster recovery, an option for companies that need zero downtime. Continue Reading

By

• Jeff Boles, Taneja Group

What you need to know about cold site disaster recovery

Get answers to your most important questions about cold site disaster recovery in this podcast with disaster recovery expert Harvey Betan. Continue Reading

By

• Harvey Betan, Risk Masters, Inc.

High availability guidelines and VMware HA best practices

Elias Khnaser discusses VMware High Availability best practices in this chapter excerpt. After you read the excerpt, download the full backup and high availability chapter. Continue Reading

By

• Elias Khnaser, Gartner Inc.

Hyper-V recovery: Top tips for restoring Hyper-V virtual machines

Good backups are only one half of a solid data protection plan. Check out our best tips for solving common Hyper-V recovery problems. Continue Reading

By

• Rob McShinsky

Tape backup encryption best practices

Tape backup encryption is being used for many organizations, but figuring out how to implement it can be challenging. Learn about tape encryption best practices in this article. Continue Reading

By

• Jeff Boles, Taneja Group

Free disaster recovery planning templates

Download our free templates today to help create the best disaster recovery plan for your business. Continue Reading

By

• SearchDisasterRecovery Editorial Staff

Bulletproof your disaster recovery planning process

Learn how to bulletproof your disaster recovery planning process with this free guide. Continue Reading

By

• SearchDisasterRecovery Editorial Staff

Disaster recovery security: The importance of addressing data security issues in DR plans

Data security issues have a constant presence in the IT industry and should be addressed in DR plans. It's not enough for storage managers to only cover basic security measures. Continue Reading

Disaster recovery planning for your help desk: A help desk template

The help desk is a vital part of IT operations, but it's often not included in disaster recovery plans. Download our help desk template for DR planning. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPOD) vs. RTO and RPO

Learn what maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPOD) means for disaster recovery planners vs. the terms RTO and RPO. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Choosing the best Oracle backup strategy for your environment

Find out which Oracle backup strategy is right for you in this FAQ: user-managed backups, RMAN or import/export backups. Continue Reading

By

• W. Curtis Preston

Solving common data deduplication system problems

Still not getting the deduplication ratios vendors are promising? Learn about the most common problems with deduplication systems and how to fix them. Continue Reading

By

• W. Curtis Preston

Off-site disaster recovery: DR solutions for remote offices

Learn how to find the right off-site disaster recovery solution for your remote or branch office. Continue Reading

By

• Harvey Betan, Risk Masters, Inc.

How to back up and restore domain controllers with Windows Server Backup

Learn how to back up and restore domain controllers with Windows Server Backup in this backup tip by Brien Posey. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

CommVault Simpana 8 backup tips: Storage policies and data retention

Learn important data backup tips using CommVault Simpana 8 about storage policies and data retention. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Common NAS backup challenges

Curtis Preston discusses some of the most common challenges associated with NAS backups, the pros and cons of NDMP and other technologies that help simplify NAS backup in this Q&A. Continue Reading

Network disaster recovery and business continuity technology tutorial

Whether you are getting started with server virtualization, are creating a disaster recovery network checklist or need to learn more about protecting your VoIP systems, we have the answers in our disaster recovery networking tutorial. Continue Reading

Troubleshooting common NDMP backup errors

Learn how to troubleshoot the most common NDMP backup errors, and what you can do to prevent them. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

What is a business impact analysis questionnaire and what types of questions should be included?

Harvey Betan explains that a BIA questionnaire is used to gather valuable and important data about a company, the industry and other background information in this expert response. Continue Reading

By

• Harvey Betan, Risk Masters, Inc.

Data backup and storage networking basics: Why back up network hardware?

Learn about why it's important to back up your network hardware, get troubleshooting tips and expert advice about network hardware backup in this article. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Due diligence on a disaster recovery plan enables business continuity

Creating an effective disaster recovery plan is essential to business continuity, regardless of ambiguity around IT controls for data protection. Continue Reading

By

• Steven Ross, Risk Masters, Inc.

Network server backup best practices: Backing up clustered servers

Backing up network servers can be tricky, especially if you're backing up clustered servers. Learn clustered server backup best practices in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Data deduping explained: Deduplication in data backup environments tutorial

Learn everything you wanted to know about data deduping in our tutorial on data deduplication and data backup. Continue Reading

Service-level agreement management considerations when using online data backup services

There are many service-level agreement management considerations to be aware of when using online data backup services. Read our list before you sign on the dotted line. Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Dorion

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager disaster recovery best practices

In this tutorial on SRM disaster recovery best practices, learn what you need in place to use SRM, how to test and execute your DR plans and if SRM is a good fit for your DR strategy. Continue Reading

How to back up encrypted files and how to use the Encrypting File System

With data backup security being such a high priority, more organizations are encrypting the contents of their file servers. Although encryption improves security, it can complicate an organization's backup efforts. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

The pros and cons of tape media storage for backup and recovery in SMB environments

Learn about the pros and cons of tape media storage, and if tape storage is the right fit for your SMB environment. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Brownstein

The pros and cons of IT disaster recovery outsourcing

Outsourcing DR is becoming a popular option for many companies because of its lower cost. Learn about the pros and cons of outsourcing DR in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• James Damoulakis, GlassHouse Technologies

Using different types of storage snapshot technologies for data protection

Storage snapshots are commonly used to enhance data protection systems and dramatically shorten recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs). Here's a look at the different types of snapshot technologies and the pros and cons of each. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

What's the difference between a disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan?

Kevin Beaver describes the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity planning in this ask the expert response. Continue Reading

By

• Kevin Beaver, Principle Logic, LLC

Disaster recovery site options: Hot, warm and cold sites

Learn about the pros and cons of three disaster recovery site options: hot, warm and cold sites. Continue Reading

By

• Jacob Gsoedl

Solutions for backing up open files in a Microsoft Windows environment

Just because a file is open doesn't mean it shouldn't be backed up. Learn solutions for backing up open files in a Windows environment in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Using Symantec Backup Exec Advanced Open File Option

Symantec Backup Exec has been around for more than a decade. Learn about using its Advanced Open File Option to back up open files. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

File-level versus image-level data backup: Chapter excerpt from "VMware VI3 Implementation and Admin

Learn about file-level backup versus image-level backup, and attaching tape drives to ESX hosts in our chapter excerpt from "VMware VI3 Implementation and Administration." Continue Reading

Backing up your virtual environment

Learn all about backing up your virtual environment, whether with traditional backup and backup scripts in this except of Eric Seibert's new book "VMware VI3 Implementation and Administration." Continue Reading

Mobile data recovery services for disaster recovery FAQ

Paul Kirvan discusses mobile recovery services for disaster recovery (DR) in this FAQ. Paul has more than 20 years experience in business continuity management as a consultant, author and educator. He is also secretary of the United States' chapter of the Business Continuity Institute. He details the pros and cons of mobile recovery services, mobile recovery service vendors, and important things to consider when deciding if a mobile recovery service is right for your needs. Continue Reading

Using bare-metal recovery to migrate physical machines to virtual machines with VMware

Learn how to use the bare-metal recovery procedure to migrate physical machines into virtual machines in VMware. Continue Reading

By

• W. Curtis Preston

Data replication tools for disaster recovery

For companies whose recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) for business-critical applications is a few minutes, data replication tools represent an efficient strategy for disaster recovery (DR). Continue Reading

By

• Ed Tittel

Using an autoloader tape drive for data backup in SMBs

For SMBs, an autoloader tape drive offers more convenience than a standalone tape drive, and a lower price than a tape library. Learn more about using an autoloader tape drive in an SMB environment. Continue Reading

By

• Rick Cook

Understanding data deduplication ratios in backup systems

Data deduplication ratios can be very confusing. Learn about how to estimate a data deduplication ratio in your backup system and how to evaluate a dedupe product in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• Lauren Whitehouse

EMC NetWorker backup best practices

Brien Posey shares EMC NetWorker backup best practices and troubleshooting tips in this article on EMC NetWorker backup. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager backup software tips

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) has been a popular data backup software product for more than 15 years. Learn about TSM implementation best practices, and how to troubleshoot common Tivoli Storage Manager issues. Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Dorion

Data deduplication technology: The business case for dedupe

If you've considered implementing data deduplication, you may be asked how it will benefit your business. This tip will help you decide if dedupe is right for your business. Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Dorion

Oracle backup and recovery best practices

Backing up Oracle is one of the most important tasks a backup/storage administrator can do today. Learn about backup best practices with Recovery Manager and Automatic Storage Manager. Continue Reading

By

• Deni Connor, SSG-NOW

Including employees in your disaster recovery plan

To really ensure business continuity, organizations need to protect and support employees while continuing to manage the business. This tip examines key issues that are affecting employees in business continuity and disaster recovery situations. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Data backup and recovery technology tutorials

Learn about the latest data backup and recovery technology trends in our technology tutorials. Continue Reading

A comparison of data compression and data deduplication technologies for SMBs

Data deduplication can often refer to technologies that aren't really deduplication at all. In this tip, we'll discuss the different types of data compression, the pros and cons of each and offer recommendations for SMB storage environments. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

How to back up and restore a certificate store

One type of server that is critical to back up is your enterprise certificate authority. If you lose your certificates, you lose data. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Data deduplication methods: Block-level versus byte-level dedupe

Block-level and byte-level data deduplication methods deliver the benefit of optimizing storage capacity. When, where and how the processes work should be reviewed for your data backup environment and its specific requirements before selecting one approach over another. Continue Reading

By

• Lauren Whitehouse

Top 10 things to ask a vendor when buying backup software

Before you rush out to buy new data backup software, here are 10 questions you should ask potential backup vendors to help you decide what is best for your backup environment. Continue Reading

By

• Deni Connor, SSG-NOW

Benefits and drawbacks of incremental and differential backup

The differences between incremental and differential backups continue to generate many debates and cause confusion. Read this tip to learn how incremental and differential backups differ, and the benefits, drawbacks and uses of each. Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Dorion

Backup and recovery basics: Testing your backups

All too often testing is the missing step in making backups. This tip explores how often you should be testing your backups and some things to look out for. Continue Reading

By

• Rick Cook

The pros and cons of file-level vs. block-level data deduplication technology

Some data deduplication approaches operate at the file level, while others examine data at a block level. This tip explores advantages and disadvantages of each method. Continue Reading

By

• Lauren Whitehouse

Can you define failover and failback?

Failover is the process of shifting I/O and its processes from a primary location to a secondary disaster recovery (DR) location. This typically involves using a vendor's tool or a third-party tool of some type that can temporarily halt I/O, and restart it from a remote location. Continue Reading

The differences between block-based and file-based data backup

This tip examines the differences between block-based and file-based data backup and will help you choose what's best for you. Continue Reading

By

• Rick Cook

Data deletion or data destruction?

It's often assumed that once data has been marked for disposal, it no longer requires much attention. But when data backups or archives are deleted, are they really gone? Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Dorion

A step-by-step guide to implementing data deduplication

The best way to select, implement and integrate data deduplication can vary depending on how the deduplication is performed. Learn some general principles that you can follow to select the right data deduplication approach and then integrate it into your environment. Continue Reading

What is server-free backup, and how does it work?

Server-free backup is an umbrella term for two different kinds of backup. The general distinction is that it is backup that is going to be done outside of the server that is being backed up -- hence the name. Some of the methods for doing server-free backup actually use another server, so some people don't consider them server free. Continue Reading

Four ways to streamline your data backup process

Are your data backup operations out of control? Here are four tips to help you streamline your data backup and recovery process. Continue Reading

By

• Russ Fellows, Evaluator Group

What is electronic vaulting?

Electronic vaulting usually fits between tape backup and disk mirroring as part of an overall data protection plan. Continue Reading

By

• Russ Fellows, Evaluator Group

What is the difference between a traditional file-level backup and a virtual machine backup?

Most traditional client/server architecture remains the same in the server virtualization environment where the client has an agent installed. However, this can become cumbersome. We still have to manage agents... Continue Reading

Backup software product specifications

Backup and replication software are powerful tools used to protect data against loss due to hardware failure, natural disasters, and other problems. Features like encryption, key management, compression, data de-duplication, WAN support and content indexing are frequently found in enterprise backup products. The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross-section of enterprise-class backup software products. Continue Reading

How to estimate your data deduplication ratio

This tip details the factors that influence data deduplication ratio (the ratio of data before deduplication to the amount of data after deduplication), so you can estimate the data deduplication ratio you can reasonably expect to achieve. Continue Reading

By

• Jerome Wendt