Case Study #5Disaster Recovery SystemSituationEvery business knows that disaster recovery is a necessity, especially after the lessons of September 11 and Katrina. Although the computer system at work is backed up two times every night, once to the hard disk and once to tape, after a disaster, recovery from tape can be a very time consuming process. It is also prone to a high human error rate that includes forgetting to load the tape or forgetting to remove the tape and to bring it home. In the event of a fire, earthquake or other devastation, the tape taken home is considered safe. The client wanted to re-establish a nightly backup to an offsite facility that was automated. HindranceAny good disaster plan takes a lot of time to put together. Since there is no immediate business pay-off in terms of improved revenue or reduced costs, it can be hard to justify the project and take time away from other tasks that may have an immediate financial impact on the company. ActionsBTree programmers configured the database to write a backup of itself to the hard disk on two different servers. We then prepared a script program to automatically compress that backup and send it in an encrypted format over the Internet to a server in New York, and another server in Seattle. This occurs between 9:00pm and 10:30pm nightly. It is done on a four-file rotation. The last three days are stored on the disaster recovery server and the previous Thursday's backup is maintained for an entire week. We have extra servers in another office, and that office is connected to the Internet so that a backup can be quickly downloaded and restored in the event of a catastrophe at our main site. This process should take no more than two hours, whereas restoration from the off-site backup tape would probably require at least a day or two. ResultsAlthough tape backups still remain the defacto and time tested solution to disaster recovery, they have weaknesses that can be overcome by using on-line technology. The security for a business with automated backup is much better and the disaster plan is more solid with two backup methods to recover from in the event of a disaster. Finally the solution is very low cost. Although it took considerable time and effort to configure, it is now an automated process that requires very little maintenance. EvaluationEven time-tested solutions need to be evaluated. In some cases such as this one, time-tested solutions should be supplemented with a newer and a more flexible system. Either of the back-up systems can break. The online system requires a working Internet connection to our office, which could be down. The traditional tape system requires a working tape drive that could break. It is always prudent to have a back-up system for your back-up system if you have the time, the budget and the resources to do so. |
Case StudiesCase Study #1Problem Analysis and Strategic Solutions, Continuous Process Improvement Case Study #2Continuous Process Improvement, Computer Technologies and Infrastructure Case Study #3Continuous Process Improvement, Computer Technologies and Infrastructure Case Study #4Problem Analysis and Strategic Solutions, Computer Technologies and Infrastructure Case Study #5Disaster Recovery System Case Study #6Application Development |
