Fighting SMB and nonprofit storage fires without getting burned.

Play with fire and you will get burned--especially if the fire is ineffective backup and disaster recovery planning.

Recent storage headlines have been touting this basic truth and hammering businesses on the ramifications of ineffective storage practices. Corporations have long felt the pinch for storage solutions that safeguard against data outages and business downtime while protecting profits. But it's only recently that effective backup and disaster recovery is catching on among small to midsize businesses (SMBs).

In some cases, it takes a system crash or other data disasters for the companies to realize the immense value of their data--or rather the detrimental risks of losing it. We have all read the University of Texas study showing that more than 50% of all small to midsized businesses that lose their data in a disaster go out of business within two years of the disaster. A figure such as that is enough to impel many into action.

Evaluating the Data Storage Needs of Small Businesses

There is clearly a business-critical need for backing up data within the small business market. However, SMBs need to understand how to address their special needs. Before starting their backup operations, small businesses should ask some pertinent questions of themselves:

* How much capacity do we need to back up?

* Which data needs to be saved?

* How long do we need to retain the saved data?

* How fast do we need to recover our backed up data?

* Do we need to worry about saving our data on a medium that can't be erased?

It is important for SMBs to answer these questions thoroughly before developing a backup strategy because they'll help ensure that the storage system they ultimately select is a match for their particular situation.

The most critical questions of the group for SMBs to address are how they're using the data that they're storing and how frequently they're accessing it. These factors will help determine how quickly certain data needs to be restored and which files and data types are vital to business operations. Otherwise, they could be treating the wrong pain points. For example, an SMB could select a 20GB portable hard drive because it's plenty of capacity for their three computers today. But what happens when the thriving company doubles its number of employees--and computers--the following year?

What Worked Then Doesn't Fit Today

Massive storage needs to a small business translates to between 50GB of capacity to a couple of terabytes on the high side. This necessitates a smaller and much more compact solution where the priority lies in meeting budget restriction and in finding a form-factor that fits neatly onto a desktop-as opposed to in an expensive data center.

The traditional backup hardware for small businesses was previously comprised of DVDs, CDs, Zip drives or early generations of small capacity tape drives. Unfortunately, most modern computers come equipped with 20-40 GB hard drives that can no longer be practically backed up by that level of hardware. It just isn't realistic for a small business owner or employee to spend time swapping dozens of CDs for a single backup.

As the SMB's storage needs grow on pace with the rest of the world, they are increasingly moving to tape as a backup solution of choice. Tape makes sense for many smaller businesses because it can grow along with the organization and doesn't become obsolete as quickly as other storage technologies. Furthermore, tape is reliable and affordable--two key attributes for a company without millions to spend on IT. And to protect against disaster, there's always the option to store recorded tapes at an offsite location. Tape drives are comparatively easy to operate for first-timers and veterans alike. There are also tape autoloaders and libraries that don't need to be constantly monitored, allowing business owners to focus on what's bringing in the money.

Small businesses are expected to experience a 30% to 35% rise in data growth through 2006, primarily due to data retention. With this amount of data needing to be managed, it's important that SMBs have the strategies in place to ensure backups are efficient and effective.

SMB Backup Strategies at a Glance

Minimizing costs through consolidated backups: Small businesses with a number of individual storage devices already installed may want to consolidate their current backup hardware into one networked environment. The acquisition cost for a consolidated network backup solution may initially cost more than an individual tape drive, autoloader or library, but the return on investment over time will pay off in the long run.

This is because consolidating small business data backup efforts minimizes the costs associated with managing storage hardware while maximizing current storage assets. Storage capacity is no longer limited to direct-attached PCs or notebooks and can be allocated across the network to multiple users. Networked backups can also be extended to remote or branch offices, all the while being managed from a centralized location.

Tiered approaches with disk-to-disk-to-tape: Companies with large amounts of data and a preference to back up the data online or "near-line" may choose to use disk first and then stage the backup to tape at a later time. For some, this may have the advantage of faster restore times in the event that data needs to be back online immediately after an outage. The disk and tape complement each other because the disk drive is still more likely to encounter failure relative to tape.

Implementing this type of solution at the enterprise level doesn't come cheap. Small businesses with similar data recovery requirements, however, can achieve similar results for much less with a smaller scale solution. For example, small businesses can implement a tiered storage environment by bundling an entry level NAS file server or a Windows application server with a tape storage library and compatible management software. The result is a tiered disk-to-tape system.

Automating the process for hands-free backup: Small businesses continually strive to grow their company to the next level. When that happens, most small businesses face a time when their data backup jobs surpass the capacity of single tape media cartridges. At that point it may be time to consider transitioning to an automated library solution.

Automated tape storage solutions house up to a dozen or more media cartridges in a single library unit. Media changes are handled automatically by the autoloader or library, providing hands-free storage management with capacities ranging from 500 GB up to several terabytes. Depending on the amount of data that is being backed up, small businesses can automate media changes to cover a period of backups from a few days to a few months.

Small businesses may not have the same budgets as large corporations, but that doesn't mean they have to compromise functionality. Automated backup solutions specifically designed for small business users (complete with enterprise capabilities like Web-based monitoring and leading management software) range in price starting from $2500--a far cry from $100,000 data center solutions.

Small Business Needs Reach Another Level

Corporations are feeling the pinch for storage solutions that safeguard against data outages and protect profits. But what if there are no profits to protect?

Some companies are at a double disadvantage because they're both SMBs and also nonprofit companies. Today, nonprofit organizations number in excess of 700,000 across the United States, and a large number of them fit into the SMB category. These organizations often have fewer technical resources and a more meager budget for IT investments.

One nonprofit small business called the Colorado Center for the Blind learned that there's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to backup. Needs are as different as the businesses themselves. The IT team also discovered that what works today, might not work tomorrow, and that it's necessary to stay nimble and find a backup and recovery solution that will remain nimble as well.

One Nonprofit's Dilemma

The data storage needs of SMBs and nonprofit organizations are just as critical as the needs of large corporations. After all, if they lose database lists, files related to their core programs, grant opportunities or volunteer information-they're dead in the water. It's safe to say that nonprofit organizations are feeling the same storage pinch as their larger corporate counterparts, but they have less resources and budget to commit to a solution.

The Colorado Center for the Blind understands the importance of protecting its critical data. The Center was founded in 1988 and is based at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Littleton, Colo. It is chartered as a nonprofit training center for the National Federations of the Blind (NFB), teaching courses on Braille, technology and general life skills to the blind. Other programs include student housing and summer activities for young people across the country. Blind students also work in the IT department managing multiple networks and storage implementations.

"Our stored data is the lifeblood of this organization," explains Jeffrey Bush, network administrator for the Center. "Yet we had a major problem. We were trudging through backups with an inadequate storage system that couldn't get the job done."

Workstations were being backed up to one of the Center's three servers. These three servers were then being used to back up one another. There was no tape backup system in place, so creating a backup copy of critical data to store offsite or keep for the archives required burning up to 40 CDs.

"The lack of tape was a huge problem," continues Bush. "We could only back up and protect a fraction of our data because storage space on the servers was too valuable to waste with full backups. It was a catastrophe just waiting to happen."

The time-consuming and risky disaster recovery process needed to be fixed. Bush set out to find a cost-effective solution that could protect the Center against the potential damage of network outages.

The Solution

After much research, Bush decided to replace the Center's makeshift server-to-server and CD backup system with an entry-level Sony StorStation AIT autoloader. The autoloader has a 520GB total storage capacity (130 GB with 2.6:1 compression) and a 12MB/second sustained transfer rate. In addition to the capacity, Sony's high-density Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) format appealed to Bush because its roadmap extended out to six generations, giving the Center some headroom for growth.

Bush also liked that the AIT system is easy to operate with a three-button control system and large LCD display. Low maintenance operation is important to the Center's IT team, which is why they opted for an automated solution that didn't need to be tended constantly.

"We didn't want a standalone drive solution that would require having someone physically present during backups to manually change tapes. We wanted a reliable, high-capacity solution that could take care of the entire backup process on its own; one that is easy to manage and fast enough to finish large data transfers within a reasonable timeframe," explains Bush. "The StorStation AIT auto-loader accomplishes all of this for us."

The AIT autoloader protects over 200GB of data on the Center's Ethernet network of three Windows 2000 servers and 50 workstations. The autoloader is attached directly to the backup server to permit regular backups. The Center uses the backup server to house copies of all adaptive software applications. Microsoft Office data, Web development files and daily business files-including accounting databases and personal user partitions.

Putting Disaster Recovery to the Test

A few weeks after the StorStation autoloader was installed, the Center suffered a major hardware failure on its active directory master domain controller, which also held a great deal of mission-critical data. The team was very thankful for the newly available archive of tape backups, which made restoring the data painless. In fact, the entire disaster recovery process was completed in less than 24 hours.

"It would have been inconceivably more difficult to repair this disaster if it had happened a month earlier when we were still depending on server and CD-based backups," says Bush. "The tape autoloader saved the day, and we now have peace of mind in case we're ever again struck by disaster."

The Center's automated storage investment is protected by Sony's intention to maintain AIT drive and media compatibility as new generations are introduced. If Bush needs to upgrade to a newer generation of AIT technology for capacity sake, the Center's carrent tape archive will still be accessible because AIT drives feature backward read compatibility with the previous generations of AIT media.

"We know that our backup solution can grow with us as we plan for additional servers and upgrades in the coming months," said Bush. "This type of growth planning ensures that we can add more capacity without losing the ability to easily recover data backed up onto earlier generation tapes."

Nonprofit organizations like the Colorado Center for the Blind rely on grants and donations and typically cannot purchase the latest storage solutions. Unfortunately, data disasters are more likely to occur on systems relying on older or used hardware. Having an extra copy of critical data safely stored on tape media is a time-proven data protection practice.

Brett Schechter is a senior manager for Sony Electronics' Tape Storage Solutions Division (San Jose, CA)

www.sony.com