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Consolidation is The Key to an Elegant Data Backup Scheme.

With technical advances in both network speeds, dropping costs of hard drive space, and the variety of backup solutions available; it has become more and more cost effective to consolidate essential data to a handful of location on the Network. Not only does this make it easier to access the data from various locations inside or outside the network, it also provides for faster and more reliable data backups and restores when the inevitable data loss occurs. There are also security issues to take into consideration as it allows for a more centralized authentication scheme since you are defending only a single location, rather then hundreds or thousands.

Consolidating Your Data Backup Plans

Consolidation doesn't end with just moving your critical data files onto a single network file server. It also must include consolidating the various backup plans and methods typically found in any large oragization's network. Most networks have not come into existence in one well planned instance, but rather have evolved over time as each department came online and began using network resources to greater and greater degrees. Typically there is a wide variation between how much data is being stored on the system and what backup schemes are being used. Replacing each of these independent systems with a single data backup system and plan will often require greater diplomatic skills then the average network administrator possesses. Implementation of a consolidated data backup system and plan is the job of one or more network administrators, but selling it to the various departments and users is the job of management. This is where a CIO proves he is worth his paycheck.

Archiving vs. Data Backup

Not to long ago, data backup and archiving was one and the same thing. In this day and age it is no longer enough to know that you can retrieve older data. The modern decision maker needs to have access to archived data in a timely manner, without allowing so much to build up on the production server that response time suffers. Often separate systems are used to access current vs archived data and yet another system for the backup data. Obviously the primary concern for your production data is speed and ease of access. The archived archived has less emphasis on speed issues, but will probably require significantly greater storage space. Finally the data backup system will need rock solid data integrity above and beyond the numerous other requirements of such a system. Regardless of the differing needs of each of these systems, they each must work together seamlessly or the entire effort is a wast of every bodies time and money.