Disaster Recovery

How Long Can You Survive?

The fire at the LaSalle Bank Building, in Chicago has raised organizations’ awareness for a disaster recovery plan with remote backup and failover components.

The thought of an organization’s computer system being destroyed, with the loss of hardware, software, and data would be devastating. How fast can your information be recovered and made fully operational is the primary concern. Backups are only one component of a total disaster recovery plan. With only backups, the task to recover may take many days.

The question that begs itself, “How long could your business survive without having access to your files or data?”

While backing up your system can be an automated task, not requiring human intervention, it doesn’t address disaster recovery needs.

Remote backup and remote failover systems are the only viable and economical solutions.

A backup system is best segmented into three separate components some local and some remote: Locally via tape, real-time or near-real-time, remote real-time or snapshot via the Internet.

Physical backups are performed with tape cartridges installed in an automatic changer or a tape library. The changer has removal cartridges for off-site storage. The system is totally automated with no human intervention.

Real-Time or Near-Real-Time backups transfer data periodically throughout the day to a filer (storage disk). This means data deleted during the day can be restored almost instantly. The process is performed over a high- speed network to the filer’s disk to facilitate fast backup and restoration.

Remote storage provides backup over the Internet via a secured connection. The system backs up changed data, keeping the data synchronized between the local office to a remote location. In the event of a disaster, data can be retrieved instantly, and the remote system can be physically transported to any location for immediate usage.

A remote failover system is constantly replicating data over the Internet. In the event the primary computer system fails, the remote system will assign itself the responsibilities of the local computer system, and is accomplished in minutes. Additionally, the remote system can be physically moved to an optimum location.

Business Software Associates, Inc. performs backup strategy planning that is customized to be economical and efficient. Our total object is to assure continued operation with minimal impact to your organization during any disaster.

We provide detailed analysis, recommendations, and implementation for any IT requirements.

Ask us for a more comprehensive evaluation of your situation, please contact us.