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BACKUP PRODUCTS
The pros and cons of host-based versus appliance-based tape encryption
to take some basic precautions, tape encryption should be on your radar.
This leads us to the host versus appliance encryption question. Which one will work best in your environment? The following describes considerations related to both approaches, and will help you choose the right option to ensure that your tapes are... More...
The state of tape storage today
has been announced for LTO 6 as of yet.
Continued interest from security minded organizations and growing support from backup software vendors for LTO-4 tape encryption have also contributed to give tape storage a boost. Although native key management is still limited to few backup products among which IBM TSM... More...
Five questions for evaluating an encryption product
data backup infrastructure where encryption can reside, here's a checklist of some important questions to ask:
Where in the storage infrastructure should you encrypt data? This is the most fundamental question in selecting an encryption product. Each encryption architecture introduces significantly different... More...
How to choose the right tape library
you want in your price range.
If you ever take a tape offsite, it should be encrypted. Today, almost all tape library vendors offer some encryption options. You can encrypt on the client device, on the backup server, in the network, in a special appliance or in the library or on the tape itself. Some tape... More...
Three reasons to avoid virtual tape libraries
Virtual tape library (VTL) technology is a subset of disk-to-disk (D2D) backup. Like other forms of D2D, a VTL often uses inexpensive Serial ATA (SATA) drives, usually with some level of RAID protection, to provide near-term backup and restoration. Unlike other forms of D2D, a VTL is engineered to look...
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How to keep stored data out of enemy hands
is the data, not the hardware or tapes themselves. When we talk about "securing tape," we are really talking about securing the data on those tapes.
The secondary lesson is that you had better secure your backup and archive tapes, especially if they contain critical data about your business or your customers. Tapes... More...
VTL purchasing guidelines
A virtual tape library (VTL) is a major investment. More than that, it needs be integrated into your data backup system. Here are 10 questions to ask a potential vendor to help you decide which VTL is right for you.
Does your VTL have the performance I need? The purpose of a VTL is to consolidate and... More...
How to choose an enterprise-ready virtual tape library
of an enterprise virtual tape library (VTL) environment vary, but vendors and analysts generally agree that an enterprise-class virtual tape library should back up at least tens of terabytes of data daily and be able to store hundreds of terabytes of data. These high-end virtual tape libraries also need to...
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Best practices for long-term tape archives
tip: Best practices for magnetic tape for data retention and how to store tapes for long duration.
The advantages of using tape to store long-term archival and compliance data include low cost per gigabyte and relative ease of transportability, assuming the tapes do not get lost in transit. Several options exist to... More...
Ten things you should ask a vendor before buying a tape library
be better protected.
With the rise of tape encryption, support for a robust, secure key management scheme is important in choosing a tape library. However, standards take a back seat to data protection in this arena. In general, coming up with a good encryption scheme at the tape library level is a lot easier than developing a good key... More...
Data deduplication: The business case for dedupe
will eliminate the need to ensure a tape is always available and eliminate the need to have someone mount a tape for restores. Add to that the ability to replicate deduplicated data across the WAN and you have a low management overhead backup solution. Additionally, replicating deduplicated data across the WAN...
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Three steps for evaluating a VTL product
steps for evaluating a virtual tape library (VTL), virtual tape system or disk library and a template that can be used for comparison evaluations. Also, learn how and where VTLs can be used as part of an effective data protection strategy.
I/O, I/O, it's off to a VTL your data goes! A key point to remember when it comes to... More...
Top 10 things to ask a vendor when buying backup software
decision.
What devices -- tape, disk or removable media -- does the backup software support? Does it also support all the operating system environments you have and virtualized environments such as VMware? Does it support LTO-4 tape environments? Does it support virtual tape libraries (VTLs) from vendors such... More...
The pros and cons of cloud backup technologies
to portable media, such as tape.
There are currently two popular approaches to cloud backup: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and cloud storage services. As an alternative to on-premise software and secondary storage, backup SaaS is a Web-native application hosted and operated at a central location and accessed... More...
Long-term archiving dos and don'ts
were done on nine-track, 1-inch tape, while PC backups were likely put on 5.25-inch floppies or audio-cassette tapes. Trying to read any of those media today would be difficult, even assuming the media hadn't deteriorated past readability.
Besides obvious issues like the device and removable media used for... More...
Securing the tape custody chain
move data to business partners on tape, you need to make sure you establish and protect the chain of custody of those tapes. This involves four essential steps, both procedural and technical.
1. The technical step is straightforward: Encrypt your tapes. At the very least, any critical data should be encrypted with an... More...
Server-free, LAN-free or SAN-free backup: Which do you need?
LAN but either over the SAN or with a tape device directly attached to the storage subsystem, such as a RAID array. You might want to try this approach if you don't want to add to the load on your LAN and if all your storage is either connected to a SAN or concentrated in a few arrays. This approach is a popular alternative for...
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Prepare for next-generation backup
currently are not using a virtual tape library (VTL) device, start looking at this technology. VTLs are a great way to extend your comfort zone. Look for ways to leverage existing knowledge and personal skill sets, practices, polices and backup procedures while eliminating future stocking points. Learn about VTLs in...
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Seven ways to minimize tape failure
000 times, depending on the type of tape. Tape backup software typically will keep track of the tapes, regardless of the rotation system.
Maintain your equipment. Clean your tape backup drive periodically, following directions in its manual regarding frequency. Consider having an authorized maintenance person from... More...
How to maximize your mirrored tape controller
learn from this tip: What mirrored tape controllers can do, besides making copies of tapes.
Most companies buy mirrored tape controllers to do exactly what the name implies -- make a mirrored copy of one or more tapes during the backup process. However, most of the products on the market can do other things as well. It's... More...
How to estimate the lifespan of LTO tapes
How to estimate the lifespan of LTO tape. It's not as black and white as LTO tape manufacturers want you to believe.
LTO tape lifespan can mean two different things. Unfortunately, neither kind of lifespan results in nice simple numbers. However, if you are aware of the lifespan characteristics of LTO tapes you can... More...
Virtual tape libraries: Five tips in five minutes
recent rise in interest in virtual tape libraries and offers a collection of tips and expert responses to reader queries.
Virtual tape libraries (VTLs) offer a number of advantages over traditional tape backup and disk-to-disk-to-tape. It's likely that the most appealing of these benefits to storage administrators is... More...
How to optimize your backup tape rotation strategy
Tape rotation is an essential part of backing up to tape and creating an effective data backup strategy. Here's a look at the most common backup tape rotation schemes and the pros and cons of each.
An effective data backup system using tape requires more than one tape set. A tape set is... More...
The advantages of tape for data backup
focus on disk-to-disk backup, virtual tape libraries (VTLs) and other disk-based data backup technologies, tape seems to be an increasingly outmoded technology. Analysts and journalists have been predicting the demise of tape for a long time now. Tape is still here, albeit there's less of it. According to the "Tape Library...
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Is a VTL right for your organization?
from this tip: Ever since virtual tape libraries were ported to open systems, the technology has gained in popularity. This tip will help you evaluate the reasons why you may or may not want to implement virtual tape.
Virtual tape library (VTL) technology has been around for many years and was once exclusive to the ... More... |
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