Death of a Hard Drive
A Boston-based software development company experienced a series of unfortunate events that caused the company to lose a substantial amount of data. However, thanks to one savvy developer, they were able to recover over two months worth of data that was lost due to a hard drive failure.
The development department utilizes a ticketing system to organize feature requests, bugs, and other tasks for the software they develop. The ticketing system is hosted on a physical server in the office along with a repository for source code.
The first unfortunate event (that could have been avoided all together) was that the server wasn’t backed up on a regular basis. Occasionally the team would manually archive the files, but this wasn’t done with daily (or even weekly) consistency.
The second unfortunate event happened when one day the hard drive of the server died. Luckily the developers managed to perform a full recovery of the source code repository, but all efforts to retrieve the ticketing data failed. They LOST over two months worth of tickets.
Luckily, one of the developers remembered that every time a ticket was made or modified, the users were sent an email notification. He created a script in Perl that scoured the inboxes of the department and pulled all of the related emails. The developer was then able to rebuild the tickets based on the data recovered from their inboxes.
Now the software company uses backup software to make scheduled images of the server to avoid another data loss disaster.
The Bottom Line
BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!!
First of all, your organization needs to have a Disaster Recovery Plan in place to facilitate what to do should a loss of data occur.
Secondly, you should always back up your data on a consistent basis.
- For personal computers (used occasionally) data should be backed up at least weekly.
- For office workstations that are used 40 hours (or more) per week, daily backup is absolutely required.
When it comes to mission critical data (like work orders), having a backup system that archives the data in constant intervals (i.e. every fifteen minutes) will assist with business continuity.
Store Non-Critical Data For Less Using Reduced Redundancy
One of the biggest players in the cloud computing industry is Amazon Web Services (and yes - they are related to the other "big" Amazon.com). One of their flagship products, Amazon Web Services Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a public cloud data storage system. Recently, Amazon launched a new lower-cost option called Reduced Redundancy Storage (RRS) making an already flexible storage system, even more scalable for customers.
RRS enables customers to lower costs by option to store their data at lower levels of redundancy than in the standard S3 version. Due to the fact that RRS stores objects on multiple drives and that it doesn't replicate objects as often as the standard S3, it is even more cost effective.
Using RRS
RRS is not an option for critical data, but for excess files that need to be stored for compliance or archival purposes. Examples include: old CAD files, completed project data, or even document scans. Anything that isn't mission-critical can be stored (at a lower price point) using RRS.
Alexander Straffin, a Senior Help Desk Associate and Virtual Infrastructure Manager at NSK Inc,
If there is one thing I've learned from being in this industry, it is that there is no such thing as a "one size fits all" solution. Every company has its own set of specific needs and challenges. Amazon knows this, and their awareness is evident with the release of this option. They are certainly heading in the right direction by adding levels of service, and degrees of redundancy. It enables us, as IT service providers, to offer more versatile technical implementations while keeping recurring costs down. The majority of our clients don't need such high levels of redundancy with their data. Our clients tend to care much more about their bottom-line. A 30% reduction in monthly costs is VERY attractive, especially since their SLA remains the same. I feel there will be a lot of businesses that will opt for RRS
The Benefits of Public Cloud Computing
Simplicity and efficiency are the overarching benefits of having a public cloud. Public clouds are offered as a service, usually over an Internet connection. An off-site third party provider hosts and manages the system. Users connect to the system via web applications or services. Public clouds usually charge a monthly usage fee per gigabyte and bandwidth transfer charges.
Cost: Having a cloud computing model in place, organizations can trim their IT budgets because they don't have to purchase physical hardware (which also saves on energy costs), as the servers are virtual - hosted at a third party. Organizations can customize their clouds with specific storage parameters, applications, and security options so that they only pay for what they need. Since the cloud is hosted by a third party, the organization doesn't need to spend money to have an employee monitor the system; it is taken care of by the host.
Time: In house servers take time to maintain. If hardware or software configurations need to be altered, or if a server crashes or needs to be restarted, the process can often take a couple of hours or a couple of days depending on the situation. With cloud computing, because everything is virtualized, reconfiguring the cloud takes minutes.[1]Also - because the servers are hosted on the cloud, if one server fails, another can instantly be activated, reducing down time.
Maintenance: Due to the fact that the public cloud system is hosted off site, internal employees are not responsible for maintaining the system. The design lets users update or introduce technologies into the system at a much faster rate as everything is managed at the host company. Having a virtualized public cloud means never having to deal with a physical server; it can be maintained from a simple configuration screen.[2]
Disadvantages of a Public Cloud
Lack of Control: Due to the fact that third party providers are in charge of storing and maintaining the data systems, many feel as if they don't have enough control over their personal data.
Speed: Public Clouds are based on internet connections, meaning the data transfer rate is limited to that of the Internet Service Provider (ISP), which is usually no more than 10mbps. If an organization is storing and transferring large amounts of data (high definition video for example), a public cloud may not be the best bet.
Lack of Investment: Although a great cost saving method by reducing the need to invest upfront, renting the service from an outside provider also means that there is little capital gained. Having items such as servers and network equipment can pay off in the long run as assets and tax advantages.
The Benefits of Private Cloud Computing
Private clouds are built from software that runs on a piece of hardware at the organization. The difference between a public cloud and a private cloud is that a private cloud is controlled by the organization. The benefits of this system are that although an investment due to the fact hardware is required, it costs considerably less than traditional data management systems. The cost savings is due to virtualization in which one physical server acts as host to several virtual servers, each of which runs on a layer of software.[3]
Control: Due to the fact that the hardware is on-site, organizations have more control over their data. The organization is in charge of monitoring and maintaining the data giving them complete oversight of their data.
Performance: The private cloud is deployed inside the firewall on an organization's intranet, meaning that transfer rates are dramatically increased. Read access off of private clouds can be as fast as 100mbps, or even more if the organization has a gigabit Ethernet connection. Storage capacity is also higher with a private cloud. Private clouds usually start with a few terabytes and can be increased by adding additional disks.[4]
Disadvantages of a Private Cloud
Cost: Private clouds are more expensive than public because they require both hardware and maintenance personnel. To build a private cloud, an organization needs to invest in hardware or use already existing systems whereas a public cloud is all handled off site. Private clouds also require system administrators. However, one system administrator could easily manage a 100-node cloud with a part-time effort. [5]
Maintenance: Since the private cloud is hosted on sight, the organization needs to provide adequate power, cooling, and general maintenance. The host organization also runs the risk of data loss due to physical damage of the unit (i.e. fire, power surge, water damage).
[1] "Seeding the Clouds: Key Infrastructure Elements for Cloud Computing." IBM. Feb.2009. IBM Corporation. 26 Feb. 2010. <http://www-935.ibm.com/services/in/cio/pdf/oiw03022usen.pdf>.
[2] Fogarty, Kevin. "Cloud Computing Definitions and Solutions." CIO 10 Sep. 2009.Wed. 27 Feb 2010. <http://www.cio.com/article/501814/Cloud_Computing_Definitions_and_Solutions>.
[3] Ibid
[4] "Cloud Computing Public or Private? How to Choose Cloud Storage." Sys-Con Media. Sys-Con Media, 2008. Web. 26 Feb 2010. <http://www.sys-con.com/node/707840>.
[5] Ibid