Remote or branch offices are increasingly at the front lines of business - they have the closest contact with customers and business partners and therefore can have a dramatic impact on the success of the business. Analysts estimate that there are more than four million remote offices in the United States alone.1 Many of these offices run autonomously from headquarters and are responsible for managing their own operations - including protecting and retaining the electronic information that they generate. Ignoring the protection and recovery needs of this remotely stored data is simply not an option.
IBM data protection and recovery solutionsWhite paper
Addressing the complexities of remote data protection.
July 2008Addressing the complexities of remote data protection.
IntroductionContents Remote or branch offices are increasingly at the front lines of business - they have the closest contact with customers and business partners and therefore 2 Introduction can have a dramatic impact on the success of the business. Analysts estimate 4 The complexities of protecting remote 1data that there are more than four million remote offices in the United States alone. 4 Applications Many of these offices run autonomously from headquarters and are responsible 5 Risks for managing their own operations - including protecting and retaining the 6 Recovery considerations electronic information that they generate. Ignoring the protection and recovery 8 Backup and recovery solutions and needs of this remotely stored data is simply not an option.technologies 10 The limitations of tape backup in As companies expand operations into new markets, the percentage of total remote offices corporate data in remote offices is increasing-the industry average is now 11 Data protection and recovery solutions 231 percent. However, many companies may not be adequately protecting from IBM these assets. 14 Integrating remote and central operations This white paper reviews the factors that can make data protection and recovery 14 Summary in remote offices a complicated problem and describes the range of technology 15 For more information options available, explaining the benefits and shortcomings of each in the context 15 About Tivoli software from IBM of remote offices. The paper concludes with a brief explanation of how the IBM ®Tivoli Storage Manager FastBackT product family delivers a full-featured adaptive data protection solution for the remote offices of enterprises of all sizes.Addressing the complexities of remote data protection.
For the purpose of this paper, a "remote office" is a staffed office with one or ® ®more Microsoft Windows servers that support business activities (see Figure 1). By this definition, a remote office probably includes a file and print server and, depending on the operations, may also include:
. A Microsoft Exchange Server for e-mail management.. An application server running a database program like Oracle, SAP or Microsoft SQL Server.. Another application server to support business-specific, mission-critical applications.. A backup server attached to a tape drive or autoloader.
Figure 1: Remote office infrastructure
Remote Offices
Oracle CAD SAP FinanceSQL Legal Medical
File & Print Exchange Application Other MissionCritical AppsAddressing the complexities of remote data protection.
These systems can be the lifeline of your business, and losing access to them can Highlights result in lost productivity, lost opportunity and, ultimately, lost revenue.
Factors to consider when protecting remote The complexities of protecting remote datadata are the types of applications to be In designing an overall solution to the remote data protection problem, there are protected, the potential risks, and your specific recovery objectives. many factors to consider, including the types of applications to be protected, the potential risks, and your specific recovery objectives.
ApplicationsThe applications that are most critical to the success of your business should have the greatest degree of protection (see Figure 2). Applying the same level of protection to all the applications and services running in each office may seem simpler to implement, but it could cost too much and have too great an impact on your operations to be feasible. You should evaluate each application and the data that it generates or manages, and set relative priorities for data protection.
Figure 2: Remote office applications
Mission Critical Exchange Database File and Print
CAD OracleFinance SAP Legal SQLMedicalAddressing the complexities of remote data protection.
For example, many remote offices probably have a shared file and print server. Losing data from this system probably won't put the organization in jeopardy, although it may be inconvenient trying to recover or recreate that data. Running a backup on this system once per day may be sufficient. An Exchange e-mail server or an SQL da... [download for more]
