Death, Taxes, And IT Failures

Sooner or later, it is inevitable that something in your IT infrastructure is going to fail.

Like anything with many parts, failure is going to happen. It is not If, just When

Too often, small businesses don’t plan for that when.

Sure somebody may be sticking tapes in a backup tape drive. But there are still many issues that must be planned for.

Is your critical data actually being backed up onto those tapes? 

You will probably be surprised to find that data has exploded into areas that were not originally part of your backup plans.

Have restore tests been made?

It should be done at least once a month – the day you lose it all is not the day that you want to find that none of those backups have been working properly.

How about your plans if it is the server that controls your backup tapes is the one that fails?

Disaster Recovery

The SMB Takeaway

As managers in the SMB space, you should have at least basic disaster recovery plans. And you should ensure that those recovery plans are practiced periodically.

Because disaster recovery practice is too late if the failure has already happened!

If you have had to fight through a failure that you were not prepared for – let me know!

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Photo Credit Topato’s via flickr

Real SMB IT: Backing Up Data, It’s Just A Start

Backing Up Data, It's Just A Start

 

 

As a SMB, I certainly hope that you regularly back up all that critical data that you have.

I also hope that you regularly test those data backups. 

Because all the backups in the world won’t help you if that e-mail or ERP server dies, and the back up tapes were defective.

But that is only the beginning.

An interview with author Geary W. Sikich at IT Business edge titled; Backing up Technology Only Part of the BC/DR Puzzle

Elliot’s Note:  BC is business continuity planning, and DR is disaster recovery planning -

Has a good reminder that a simple checklist of servers is not sufficient.

You cannot neglect the human issues of whom, where, and how you will operate if a calamity strikess your place of business.

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Photo Credit Mrs. Gemstone

Business Continuity And The SMB

As SMB’s, we are often the worst at implementing disaster recovery and business continuity plans.

Even if we ensure that we back up all data on the servers (and test it!)

Think of the following scenarios;

* a gas pipe is ruptured outside your facility, no access to the building for several days

* A minor fire in a building electrical room, again several days before people are allowed back in the building.

* A burst water main on the street.

These are not major disasters like the wildfires in California, or tornado damage.

But the end result is the same. You are out of your space for days.

Can your business keep running?

This article at smallbiztechnology.com lists 5 mistakes to avoid in disaster preparedness.

Have you thought about the number 1 mistake?

Put it off until tomorrow

Photo Credit D. Bjorn

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Backup and Recovery – For When You Need It

I have written a bit about backing up data on this blog. Two examples are here and here.

It is nice to see a Human Resources blog post on the subject. The KnowHR blog documents a blown transformer that takes out a good chunk of a data centre. And as they say;

Could you recover so quickly if something like a transformer explosion happened at your shop?