Protecting Data on Business-Critical File Servers

A guide to minimizing data loss
Backing up your server

What would happen if your business-critical file server were to crash right now? All of your critical accounting information, documents, databases, and email are gone in the blink of an eye. How would your business go about quickly and accurately retrieving your data? How long will it take your business to retrieve your data? Will it take you minutes, hours, days, months? Does your business even have a backup? If so, is your backup current?

The most important question is: What is the risk to your business? Studies by the University of Texas and the U.S Small Business Administration have shown that among companies that lose their data in a disaster, 50% never reopen and 90% are out of business within two years. ^[1]

Unfortunately, businesses have to face this situation all too often. Even more unfortunate are the businesses that lose data and do not have a good data backup and recovery plan. In fact, 82% of established businesses do not have effective data protection. ^[2] However, the loss of critical data is the third highest security vulnerability facing business today. ^[3]

With the large amount of business information being stored on business critical file servers, a quality data backup and recovery plan is one of the most important aspects of a disaster recovery plan. In addition the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) considers a contingency plan for computer crashes an important business continuation requirement.

The process of data backup has evolved over the past few years. Data backup methods used to be limited to copying information to disks or backing up to tapes. However, with the advent of more powerful PCs and faster Internet connections such as Cable, DSL, and T1 lines, online data backup has become a viable data protection option for business.

How valuable is your data?
Take a minute to think just how valuable your data is to your company. Data – in the form of customer databases, financial records, proposals, contracts, letters, and emails - has become the single most valuable asset for many companies. How much would it cost your business to lose its financial records from your file server – even for just a few hours? Without financial records, invoices cannot be processed, payables cannot be updated, and payroll may be delayed. Perhaps, more importantly, your staff may be idle for a very expensive few hours. A quality data backup and recovery plan, like STT Stockade Remote Backup, can have your financial records quickly and accurately restored. Thus, quality data backup saves valuable information and minimizes costly employee downtime.

Of course if your business is not performing any sort of data backup, then your company is always at risk of irretrievable data loss from the file server. In addition it is important to remember that not all backup methods offer the same level of protection for a file server. When your business assesses its data backup plan, there are several important questions to ask about your backup system. Below is a table that asks the questions, and the table provides a comparison of different backup methods.

Comparison

Is it Automatic?

Is it Remote?

Is It Logged Consistently?

Is It Private?

Can It Be Restored Quickly?

Is It On a Separate Medium?

Is It Done Daily?

Does Your Backup Protect Your Software Programs?

Is It Safe From Theft, Fire, and Hurricane?

Is It Efficient?

Does it backup the registry and/or system state?

Zip Disk

Maybe

Yes

Maybe

CD-ROM

Maybe

Yes

Maybe

Tape Backup

Maybe

Online Backup

Yes

Maybe

Yes

Maybe

Yes

Maybe

Stockade Backup

Yes

Minimizing your risk of data loss
Because disaster can strike at anytime, it is impossible to prevent data loss from your file server 100% of the time. However, here are a few steps that your business can take in order to minimize data loss in the event of a problem with the server.

Daily Backup
Business critical file servers should be backed up everyday in order to minimize downtime in the event of data loss. The daily backup should include a backup of the registry and/or system state in order to provide a complete recovery in the event of major disaster. In addition the server backup should be stored in a secure, offsite location to prevent data loss in the event of a fire, theft, and/or natural disaster.

Backing up Open Files
What are open files? One example of an open file would be a company’s database that is constantly being updated with new and vital information 24 hours per day-7 days per week. Because this database is open (actively available to service workstation queries and user input), most standard backup solutions would skip this database. Consequently, this very vital database would not be protected in the event of a data loss (i.e. hard drive crash, data corruption, and/or natural disaster). Software applications such as SQL and MS Exchange are two examples of programs that keep files open.
If a business utilizes software applications that are constantly in use, the business must make sure that its server backup plan can accommodate open file backup. STT Stockade recommends St. Bernard Software’s Open File Manager (www.stbernard.com) as the solution to backing up files that are constantly in use. In addition St. Bernard’s Open File Manager operates seamlessly with STT Stockade Remote Backup.

The case for STT Stockade Remote Backup
STT Stockade provides online, remote data protection services for business critical servers. Once the STT Stockade software is setup, all the customer has to do is leave his or her server turned on in order to backup. STT Stockade’s software privately transmits the customer’s backup data to secure servers that are protected by STT Stockade. The STT Stockade backup servers reside in multiple geographical locations. The customer’s backup data is absolutely protected against hard drive crashes, fire, theft, or natural disaster.
In addition STT Stockade Remote Backup can be configured to backup the data, application software, Operating System, the registry, and/or system state from the customer’s business critical file server. In the event of a major disaster such as a full hard drive crash, fire, natural disaster, or theft; STT Stockade can restore the entire file server.

How Does STT Stockade Work?
Here are the three basic steps:

1) Select Files
During initial setup, you select the files that you want to back up. STT Stockade then tracks updates to those files and stores the last 5 versions of each file.

If you accidentally delete or overwrite a file or if it is lost due to sabotage or hard disk failure, you can easily restore it with STT Stockade.

2) Compress & Encrypt Files
Before your sensitive data leaves your machine, it is encrypted with Triple DES, 168 bit encryption.
Your data is so secure that no one, not even STT Stockade staff, can read it. STT Stockade never has access to your computer.

3) Transmit Files to STT Stockade Servers
Your fully encrypted backup file is then transmitted to redundant servers located at different geographical locations.
With STT Stockade, your data is protected against any eventuality.

St. Bernard Open File Manager is a registered trademark of St. Bernard Software, Inc. MS Exchange and SQL are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
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[1] University of Texas Center for Research on Information Systems, Datamation, June 14, 1994.
[2] 1997 Vulnerability Index Study
[3] SANS Institute, May 2, 2002

© 2005, STT Stockade
Microsoft, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, & XP are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

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