Disaster recovery planning - management

Sunkist Growers reaps the benefits of managed disaster recovery services

Sunkist Growers turned to DRaaS to make its disaster recovery options more practical for the company and its employees. But while the market is maturing, it might not work for all businesses. Continue Reading

Malware response plan recovers data in 6 steps

Responding to and recovering from malware is a complex process that requires significant preparation. With a response plan in place, you can be ready to prevent a malware disaster. Continue Reading

GDPR and disaster recovery: How to ensure you're covered

After all of the preparations and changes your organization has gone through to prepare for GDPR, make sure disaster recovery doesn't get swept under the rug. Continue Reading

Highlight these 4 areas in your malware incident response plan

The malware threat is on the rise, and recovery is no simple process. When planning a malware response, it's vital to get down specifics and eliminate unknown factors. Continue Reading

Preventing ransomware attacks is a top storage vendor claim

Storage vendors advance silly and not-so-silly claims about how data backup and protection technologies are the answer to ransomware prevention and growing ransomware fatalism. Continue Reading

Backup snapshots and replication supplement standard backup

Traditional backup or data snapshot and replication technologies alone don't meet the data protection and DR needs of modern enterprises. Combine them all together and they do. Continue Reading

Recovering from ransomware: Defend your data with best practices

What does it take to recover from a ransomware attack? In most cases, it's planning, testing and resources. Is your organization prepared for the worst? Continue Reading

4 areas where compliance with GDPR and disaster recovery intersect

Your disaster recovery plans may have to change following the need for compliance with GDPR. These four elements involve backups, personal data, security and archiving. Continue Reading

What standards for business continuity aid in compliance?

Business continuity and disaster recovery compliance is a valuable asset and may require a deeper understanding of modern standards and changes your organization needs to make. Continue Reading

What does the ISO 22330 business continuity standard cover?

With ISO/TS 22330, the International Organization for Standardization covers the issues related to the people involved in BCDR incident response. Continue Reading

With a data recovery plan, take advantage of all resources

Data security and data recovery have a lot in common, and both can cause a lot of strife if not handled properly. Are you using every disaster recovery resource available to you? Continue Reading

Five tips for disaster recovery insurance and funding

Having a complete disaster recovery plan is essential. So is having DR insurance and the money available to fund the recovery. These steps will help you succeed with the latter. Continue Reading

Five data recovery planning steps to protect vital assets

Accurately restoring lost data after disaster strikes requires planning, patience and logic. If your goal is a smooth recovery process, here's what you'll need to know beforehand. Continue Reading

Can you recover from ransomware? Take our quiz and find out

Ransomware recovery is a complex, often expensive process. Are you prepared in the event of an attack? It may be time to ask yourself the difficult (or perhaps easy) questions. Continue Reading

Is your cloud DR strategy agile enough?

As business requirements evolve, not every DR tool can keep up. In the age of agile IT, there are drawbacks to consider with a cloud-based disaster recovery strategy. Continue Reading

3 signs you may need a business continuity service provider

Using a BC/DR service provider may give your recovery plan a much-needed boost. As new technologies and standards arise, a partner can address changing needs. Continue Reading

Disaster avoidance requirements ensure business continuity

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A data replication strategy for all your disaster recovery needs

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Container applications need backup: Who knew?

The concept of containers, ephemeral applications running across private and public clouds, has grown in popularity over the last few years. It has quickly become clear that the transient nature of containers and container applications isn't compatible with the enterprise, however. As a result, data persistence has arrived in the world of containers and made it necessary to back up container data, protecting it the same way as all other enterprise data.

Securing container data has its own set of processes and requirements, though, and how container backups and data protection are implemented depends largely on the design of the container ecosystem. Vendors take a variety of approaches -- including products, agents and plug-ins -- to back up container applications. This article tells you what you need to know about backing up container data and explores the options available for container backups.

Ransomware is a serious threat that's having a deleterious impact on businesses worldwide. While backing up data is an important tool in the war on ransomware, an unlikely ally has emerged in the form object storage technology, which can add an extra layer of protection beyond traditional backups. When properly implemented, object storage can reduce the chances of ransomware encrypting your data. It could even help get all or some of your data back after an infection without paying a ransom. Find out how object storage can help better protect your valuable data from ransomware.

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A data replication strategy for all your disaster recovery needs

Know your IT environment inside and out to choose the right data replication product for your organization's current and future disaster recovery requirements. Continue Reading

Disaster avoidance requirements ensure business continuity

Include disaster recovery and avoidance requirements as design goals when creating storage and production environments to ensure business continuity during weather events. Continue Reading

Use object storage technology to fight ransomware infection

Done right, object storage reduces the likelihood of a successful ransomware attack and, in some instances, lets you get data back without paying a ransom. Continue Reading

Which modern disaster recovery tool is often overlooked?

When crafting a DR strategy, there are a number of useful tools available. To avoid missing out on some serious benefits, make sure you take a look at all available options. Continue Reading

Best practices for social media and business resilience

Solid business continuity and resilience depend on a thorough examination and update of company social media policies. Otherwise, you may have a disaster on your hands. Continue Reading

Test your ransomware recovery plan to safeguard data

Testing your restore process prior to an attack is a major part of surviving a ransomware infection. Reduce recovery time and ensure data is secure with planning and preparation. Continue Reading

What to do when a BC/DR plan goes awry

Insufficient testing or not knowing what to expect could result in a failed business continuity plan. Luckily, there are steps you can take if your BC/DR planning goes belly up. Continue Reading

How does the ISO 22316 standard cover resilience?

Definitions for business continuity and resilience sometimes clash, but both processes help an organization stay on its feet. A new ISO standard tackles the latter. Continue Reading

Want IT resiliency? Look to both security and disaster recovery

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Seven ways to unlock the power of all types of unstructured data

New storage services have emerged to help IT pros maintain and deliver access to ever-larger and more valuable data sets, particularly all types of unstructured data. These include data sets for big data analysis, DevOps, storage self-service and cost-control purposes, among other things. This data explosion is the result of several trends, including growth of files and file systems, machine-generated data streams, web-scale application exhaust, endless file versioning, finer-grained backups and rollback snapshots. If you're architecting a new approach to storage and dealing with various types of unstructured data storage at a global enterprise scale, we have seven advanced storage capabilities you should consider.

The on-demand nature of the cloud has not only changed the way enterprises consume and pay for IT resources, it has profoundly altered our understanding and expectations of IT services and infrastructure in general. More enterprises expect to obtain the features they want when they want them and to pay for those features only when and if they need them. This has been acutely felt by vendors and consumers alike in the fragmented and dynamic storage market. It has altered how storage providers deliver expected core features, such as deduplication, replication, compression and encryption, and has led to the development of niche products that meet application-specific needs and use cases. This issue clarifies the new and evolving data storage landscape to help you buy and deploy the right storage products with the features you require and more easily acquire the products you may need in the future.

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TetherView desktop disaster recovery offers a way into VDI

With standby virtual desktops from TetherView, IT can forgo full-fledged backup data centers for disaster recovery. The company CEO details use cases for the technology and more. Continue Reading

Want IT resiliency? Look to both security and disaster recovery

Security, protection from hackers and ransomware, disaster preparedness and disaster recovery are all means to the goal of resilient IT infrastructure and business processes. Continue Reading

What are vital elements of a workplace emergency response plan?

Emergency response planning needs to be specific and varied enough that it will enable an organization to recover in the event of many different kinds of incidents. Continue Reading

Modern data backup technologies afford merging opportunities

Through technologies such as copy data management, vendors are merging primary and secondary storage. There's more convergence ahead, within the likes of solid-state drives. Continue Reading

What is a short business continuity history?

From mainframes to the cloud, the business continuity profession has seen a lot over the decades. How did we get to the business continuity process of today? Continue Reading

Don't let your BC/DR plan get lost in the shuffle

How can you maintain consistency in your BC/DR strategy in a world of constantly evolving technology? If it's a reactive part of IT, you're already behind. Continue Reading

Lessons in business continuity and disaster recovery planning

When crafting a business continuity and disaster recovery plan, you have to anticipate the unexpected. Here is what we can learn about BC/DR from two high-profile disasters. Continue Reading

IT business continuity and disaster recovery: Past to future

From protecting mainframes to recovering from cyberattacks, the methods for business continuity and disaster recovery have changed, but the practice remains vital. Continue Reading

Converged backup and recovery strategies offer efficiency, reliability

Are you confident in your backup and recovery strategy? Make sure you have locked down the speed, testing and security of both processes to recover data appropriately. Continue Reading

A ransomware recovery plan for SMBs in five steps

SMBs are especially at risk of cyberattacks. Follow these steps, and even with a limited budget and staff, you could successfully recover from ransomware. Continue Reading

Zerto Virtual Replication 6.0 dives deeper into multiple clouds

Zerto has added to its bidirectional Virtual Replication software with multi-cloud protection for data and applications stored in AWS, Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud. Continue Reading

Ransomware outbreak threat calls for backup and DR strategy

IT departments deploy a range of data restore approaches to mitigate the risk of a debilitating ransomware attack. Time is of the essence, however. Continue Reading

What are the top disaster recovery trends for 2018?

Expect disaster recovery market trends to include consolidation and simplification. Vendors should also note that quick failover and recovery time remain top needs for customers. Continue Reading

IT DR planning helps Frost Museum of Science weather Irma

The Frost Museum of Science in Miami braced for Hurricane Irma with a solidified DR planning, storage and data center infrastructure, and it suffered minimal damage from the storm. Continue Reading

Don't overlook these business resilience plan essentials

Business resilience planning requires preventive and proactive protections across power supply, systems, cybersecurity and backup procedures. Staff planning is important as well. Continue Reading

The hottest data storage technology trends for 2018

For the past 15 years, Storage magazine has identified the hottest data storage technology trends you'll want to follow in the coming year. All of our selections may be "newish" tech, but they're also tried and true, having demonstrated their effectiveness and worth in the data center. You won't find anything bleeding edge on our list -- only proven and widely available technologies made the cut. Honorees for the hottest data storage technology trends of 2018 cover a wide spectrum of storage tech, from predictive analytics to ransomware protection to converged secondary storage, multi-cloud and nonvolatile memory express over fabrics.

Although we do our best to predict the hottest data storage technology trends, sometimes our crystal ball isn't as clear as we would like. Once again, we've included a report card on how last year's picks panned out. And, as a bonus, we've provided a list of storage trends that aren't quite ready for prime time and didn't make our 2018 hot tech list. There's always 2019 for those technologies!

Not all backups are created equal or even follow the traditional model of only copying files that have changed since the last backup to a storage device on a media server. Take the concept of backup-less backups, commonly called flat backups. Here, storage-level snapshots created on a server or filer are backed up and replicated to another server filer. This is different from a typical backup in a couple ways: There's no media server, and the protected copy is just that, a copy -- in the same format as the original data. Find out more about backup-less backup, the vendors that offer it and how you can best make use of the technology for your organization.

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Data center disaster recovery plan template and guide

Read our guide on data center DR planning, and then download our free template to assess how your data center facility and its infrastructure would perform during a disaster. Continue Reading

Network disaster recovery plan template

If your organization doesn't have a network disaster recovery plan, download our free network DR plan template for tips on how to get started. Continue Reading

Free business continuity policy template

A business continuity plan can help organizations of any size prepare for a disaster. Resiliency, recovery and contingency planning are key elements to get systems up and running. Continue Reading

Features disaster recovery-as-a-service providers must offer

A cost-effective disaster recovery as a service lets organizations of all sizes implement a dependable disaster recovery plan. Disaster recovery-as-a-service providers replicate or back up customer data to cloud data centers and then -- should disaster strike -- host and run applications remotely. There's a lot of room for disaster recovery-as-a-service providers to develop features specific to their DRaaS products, which can make sorting through those offerings daunting. Learn about the four key capabilities to look for when comparing DRaaS vendors to ensure the one you choose can handle the full range of potential disasters.

Data that goes into cold storage is often kept for compliance and, increasingly, for big data analysis. Such data is infrequently or never accessed. Typically cheaper and lower performing than primary or secondary storage, cold storage systems are designed for storing such data. Enterprises may need to make this data warm or hot at a moment's notice, though, complicating cold storage design and increasing costs. Initially based on automated tape libraries and optical jukeboxes, cold storage systems have evolved to encompass Linear Tape File System and object storage as the amount of unstructured data has grown in recent years. Software for managing unstructured data has changed the cold data landscape as well.

Employees often access and synchronize corporate data from a variety of consumer-grade sync-and-share services, putting the organization at risk. Enterprise-grade file sync-and-share -- available via the cloud, on premises or in hybrid modes -- includes enhancements to ensure security and compliance. Such features vary among vendors, but there are certain ones you should always look for to maintain data integrity and security.

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Business continuity and disaster recovery testing templates

BC and DR testing can be major challenges for any organization. Our free templates offer ways to incorporate testing into your overall management process. Continue Reading

Protection against ransomware takes flight with canary files

As ransomware attackers get smarter, it's important for data protection systems to step up their game. Canary files and infection detection are a good start. Continue Reading

How do I design and initiate a call tree procedure?

A call tree can be an important piece of disaster recovery planning. Follow these steps for call tree design and execution to ensure your company is ready for unplanned events. Continue Reading

The data storage industry will turn upside down in 2017, or will it?

Rich Castagna reviews the prognostications offered by data storage vendors on the future of data storage technology in 2017. Continue Reading

Tape archive remains the recording medium of choice

Tape archiving offers low-cost, long-term data protection in a variety of industries, keeping it atop the list of data center backup technologies. Continue Reading

Risk assessment analysis and BIA data in BC plans

Examine how BIA and RA data are used to formulate business continuity strategies. It's common to bypass these steps, but the data can result in more precise and focused BC plans. Continue Reading

A look at data backup techniques: Recovery-in-place

Explore recovery-in-place technology to see if it is the right fit for your organization. But be aware that this data backup method requires some up-front planning. Continue Reading

Data backup and disaster recovery made simple

Many backup products include DR, enabling users to manage both tasks from the same platform. Learn how to streamline data backup and disaster recovery. Continue Reading

Use business continuity to boost your corporate governance process

Business continuity planning can round out a corporate governance plan by identifying potential areas of failure and how to survive them. Continue Reading

What are the top five ways to train personnel in disaster response?

What are the five best ways to ensure personnel are trained in disaster response and ready to respond to a disaster event? Continue Reading

What are some common VMware High Availability configuration errors?

What are the most common mistakes people make when configuring VMware High Availability? Continue Reading

Why the change management process is important for DR

Paul Kirvan discusses the importance of the change management process for disaster recovery in this Expert Answer. Continue Reading

Include the VoIP system in your disaster recovery planning process

Independent disaster recovery planning expert Paul Kirvan discusses why your VoIP system must be part of the disaster recovery planning process. Continue Reading

Your disaster recovery planning process must include your phone system

Independent disaster recovery planning expert Paul Kirvan discusses why your disaster recovery planning process must include your phone system. Continue Reading

10 mistakes to avoid in your disaster recovery planning process

Don't make your DR planning process harder than it is by trying to do too much or cutting corners. Careful planning is key to a successful recovery. Continue Reading

Essential guide to BC and DR

Every year, many readers report that they are not confident in their organization's DR plans. This collection of our best BC/DR content can help. Continue Reading

Security incident response procedures: When to do a system shutdown

At times, security incident response procedures require drastic measures. Expert Nick Lewis explains when and how to perform a system shutdown. Continue Reading

Building an incident response plan

Learn how incident response plans offer a starting point for responding to a situation and then deciding how to proceed in this tip from Paul Kirvan. Continue Reading

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

Video conferencing essential to disaster recovery communications

Video conferencing and telepresence have become essential parts of a disaster recovery communications plan for both government agencies and enterprises. Continue Reading

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

Business impact analysis questionnaire template

Download our free business impact analysis questionnaire template we've created to help you jumpstart your BIA process. Continue Reading

Getting started with outsourcing disaster recovery sites

Disaster recovery outsourcing can save you money, but follow these tips before you sign on the dotted line. Continue Reading

Free disaster recovery planning templates

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

Bulletproof your disaster recovery planning process

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

Hot IT disaster recovery trends for 2011

Here's a look at our predictions for the hottest disaster recovery trends for the year ahead: cloud disaster recovery, data center outsourcing, and more. Continue Reading

Top 10 IT disaster recovery tips of 2010

To help alleviate the problems that often arise with disaster recovery (DR) planning and testing, we've compiled our top 10 DR tips from 2010. Learn about cloud disaster recovery, DR maturity levels and more. Continue Reading

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

Virtualization disaster recovery planning tutorial

Virtualization disaster recovery (DR) differs from physical server DR in many ways. Learn the different technologies for virtual server backup and recovery, including VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM), and how VMware environments differ from Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer environments. Continue Reading

Disaster recovery site requirements: Building your own DR site

Take these physical, operational and functional concerns into consideration before you build your own recovery site. Continue Reading

Business continuity planning methodology quiz

Test your knowledge of business continuity with our business continuity planning methodology quiz. Continue Reading

Selecting a managed business continuity service provider

In this tip, determine whether or not you need a managed BC service provider for BC/DR planning purposes and the steps to take to get the best results. Continue Reading

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

Local area network disaster recovery tutorial: Redundant power systems and planning key for LAN DR

Avoid or mitigate common local area network (LAN) disasters by identifying likely failure points, building redundant systems, and stocking replacement equipment. Here's what you need in a LAN disaster recovery plan. Continue Reading

The importance of WAN optimization technology in disaster recovery programs

Listen to this podcast to find out the benefits of WAN optimization, how WAN optimization can help with DR and the future of WAN optimization in DR. Continue Reading

Using data deduplication products as part of an IT disaster recovery strategy

Data deduplication has gained a lot of traction in the data backup and recovery world over the past few years. When integrating data deduplication products into your IT disaster recovery strategy, there are a number of things you need to consider. Should you use source dedupe or target dedupe? Which one is better for disaster recovery? If you are backing up your data to tape and disk, are there other issues to keep in mind? W. Curtis Preston, independent backup expert and executive editor, discusses source and target deduplication, how these approaches differ, what that means from a disaster recovery perspective and more in this Q&A. Continue Reading

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

Change management in disaster recovery and business continuity planning

Change management is an important process for business continuity and disaster recovery planning for several reasons. Learn about change management best practices and its role in BC/DR planning. Continue Reading

Data center emergency power strategies in disaster recovery planning

Despite all the precautions you can take to provide uninterrupted power to your data center, situations can occur that threaten your center's continued operations. Learn about emergency power strategies in disaster recovery planning. Continue Reading

Risk management for disaster recovery planning

Disaster recovery (DR) planning is typically driven by risk management. This tip focuses on mitigating some of the risks associated with data and storage. Continue Reading

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

Business continuity and disaster recovery outsourcing tutorial

Outsourcing disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) services can save you money and increase productivity. Learn about vendors in the DR/BC space and how to choose the best one for your enterprise. Continue Reading

Chapter 1 -- DR planning and design

It's easy to see the potential devastation involved in data loss. The first chapter of this guide starts off with sound DR planning, strategy and product advice. Continue Reading