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The Weakest Link in Corporate Backup

Guest post by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Start with the weakest point in your network content protection and then work outward.

The Weakest Link in Corporate Backup

Problems with the Corporate Backup Process
Why does data loss still occur with current backup solutions? Why are the richest companies unable to eliminate data loss despite employing top IT personnel and implementing cutting-edge storage technologies? The reason is because there is a weak link in the corporate backup process. In fact, despite increased awareness about data loss prevention, human errors account for 30 percent of data loss; in 2003, data losses cost U.S. businesses an estimated $18.2 billion dollars, up from $12 billion in 1998. Finding a solution is important because in addition to the weak link, data is still vulnerable to inevitable hard drive failures, computer crashes, virus infections, and other disasters.

What Exactly is the Weakest Link?
In a typical corporate work environment, server-located data is commonly protected by various backup solutions, but client data is less frequently protected. In other words, the responsibility to protect user data is largely left to corporate users themselves. This is a key reason why data losses occur more frequently on client workstations than on servers: even if a company implores its users to regularly back up their data, the task is often left for the users to personally implement.
For example, many companies have users back up important data to a mapped network drive – but how many will actually back up regularly? Although there is no exact figure or statistic, it is probable that some users who have the capability to back up their data do not take the necessary steps to insure their workstations against data loss.
Hence, the weakest link in the backup process is the users that, for whatever reason, do not take the necessary steps to protect their data against inevitable disasters. Even if a company has procedures and software designed to frequently back up data, users may not comply because they view the backup process as being a work interruption, a time killer, or too confusing to understand. Without user compliance in the backup process, not all data will be protected; therefore, companies will experience data losses more frequently, lose more time and money trying to recover data, and run further behind on project deliveries.
How Can I Remove This Weak Link?
Although there may be various solutions to getting users to regularly back up their data, the simplest way is to create a real-time backup system on all user workstations that makes it quick and easy to protect important data. There are many different applications that claim to offer easy data protection, so it is important to describe what to look for in a solution.
In general, the solution should:
• Be easy to operate and configure
• Offer automation
• Execute transparently
• Support network drives

Easy to Operate and Configure
It can be difficult to measure whether a certain application is more user-friendly than another, but easy-to-use backup software should have a few key features and abilities.


An example of an Explorer-like interface that makes it easy to choose which data to back up.

First, it should be easy to initially configure the software. IT personnel are often responsible for the installation and configuration of new software on every machine in a company. To ease the rollout of backup software, the IT personnel should be able to install the software, create a basic backup job, and configure the software to back up important data. A example of important data is the My Documents folder and Microsoft Outlook emails.


Filtering should simplify the data selection process for users.

Next, it should be easy for users to select which data to back up. At the very least, users should be able to browse through an Explorer-like interface to select folders and files. One valuable addition would be a filtering feature that allows users to select pre-existing filter settings to back up certain file types – for example, photos, videos, music files, text files, and other important data. To add more flexibility to the filtering feature, the user should be allowed to create customized file filters by inputting file type extensions they desire to back up. For instance, if a user wanted to select only Microsoft Word documents, he or she could enter *.doc and have all Word documents added to the backup data set.
Restoring data should be simple as well. Restoring backed up data can be either simple or complicated depending on which application is used, but it is most efficient when backed up files are kept in their native format and are not compressed. If files are kept in their native format, then recovering data can be as easy as dragging and dropping the files to their original location.

Automation
If the goal of the backup process is to protect data quickly and easily, then the execution of the backup should have a certain level of automation. One example of this automation is the ability to run a backup job without user input or supervision.
The ability to schedule periodic, unattended backups shifts the burden of protecting data off of users’ shoulders. This is a beneficial change since users are often irresponsible when it comes to backing up data. Running a scheduled, unattended backup is a superior way to ensure that users back up their workstations regularly, allowing users to set it and forget it.
However, one issue with automated backups is finding the optimal frequency of execution. To ensure the freshness of the backup data, backups should be run as frequently as possible without interrupting the user. The most efficient solution is to instantly back up any files once they have been modified on the hard drive – something called a continuous backup. Continuous backups ensure that the backup data always mirrors the source data from the user workstation. In contrast, non-continuous backups are only able to restore data from the last time the backup was executed; for example, you could potentially lose today’s work because the backup was last executed yesterday. Choosing backup software that supports continuous backup can help prevent this occurrence.

Transparency
The backup solution also needs to be transparent to users so they are more likely to tolerate it being installed and running on their systems. It should feel like the backup software isn’t even running – it should wait silently in the background for the scheduled backup to execute.
Even when the software is actively backing data up, it should not require a large portion of the system resources that can make the computer essentially unusable. Why? The more intrusive the backup software is and the more resources it takes up, the more likely it is that users will disable or not use the backup software, therefore failing to protect their data.

Network Drive Support


It is generally a good idea to back up Outlook emails and the My Documents folder to a network drive.

Finally, the solution should be easy to configure to back up to network drives. Companies frequently instruct users to back up to network drives for good reason: it can be a cost-effective solution, it offers convenient access, and it can be very reliable. It is the recommended option for companies that are serious about eliminating the risk of data loss, and it is important that the software support backing up to network drives.

Conclusion
Removing the weakest link in the backup process is essential if a company wants to reduce data loss incidents and minimize productivity losses. The recommended solution is to shift the responsibility of protecting data away from users and toward an easy-to-use, continuous, native-format backup solution.

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