London, UK, April 2, 2007 - Acronis Inc. (www.acronis.com/zh-tw/), a technological leader in advanced storage management and disaster recovery software, warns that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are placing too much importance on their data backup plans and too little on data retrieval and recovery strategies. As a result of this imbalance, SMBs face otherwise avoidable periods of downtime in the event of an IT failure or other disaster.
To help SMBs across all industries address this potential shortcoming, Acronis is offering a six-point guide to speed up the data recovery process and prevent damage to profits and reputation:
- Make sure your data recovery strategy allows you to restore data, applications and operating systems to different types of hardware or to virtual systems. Having the capability to restore to multiple environments not just a company's current one can be a huge time saver.
- Plan for the recovery of systems first by prioritizing resources and creating backup schedules to match the maximum allowable downtime for any given server. Remember, disasters vary based on the application; a Web server that takes online orders needs to be up and running more quickly than a Web server that simply displays static pages.
- Back up to disk, not tape, for faster restore times. Take advantage of high-capacity and high-performance disk drives that are decreasing in price and increasing in resiliency. Disks are inherently more reliable, require less maintenance than tape, and can be used for online, near-line and archival storage more efficiently than tape.
- Empower mobile employees to recover data themselves more quickly than relying on the IT department. Use tools such as hidden partitions on laptops to save images of the systems. That way, should a user be traveling when an emergency occurs or a virus hits, the remote user will be able to restore the data and programs on the laptops themselves.
- Consider going virtual: recovering data from hundreds of servers can be a management nightmare; using virtualisation to consolidate the number of servers you need to run your business dramatically reduces the recovery workload in the event of a failure. Ancillary cost savings using virtual technology also are possible, based on your computing requirements.
- Test test test. Creating a backup strategy is only the first step; make sure you test your plan to make sure it meets your needs from a technological and from a staffing perspective. Make sure backups are accessible for mission-critical systems and that you can restore your backup on any system, regardless of the platform. Then test your plan to make everyone knows exactly what to do when an outage strikes.
"SMBs face a real challenge in developing disaster recovery strategies," said Kevin Moreau, head of Acronis' UK operations. "Many of them are only doing half the job and backing up their data without developing a fast, effective way of recovering it. In fact, many have never tested their disaster recovery plan to determine if they can get their systems back up and running quickly. This is like a thirsty man who throws a bucket down a well without fastening a rope because he's too desperate for a drink to be bothered to tie a knot; you may get to the water faster, but you'll never be able pull back your vital resource."
Acronis 公司簡介：
Acronis 是一間全球網路防護公司，專為託管服務合作夥伴 (MSP)、中小型企業 (SMB) 和企業 IT 部門，以原生方式提供整合資安、資料防護和端點管理。Acronis 解決方案效率極高，旨在用來從現代網路威脅中識別、預防、偵測、回應、修復，並復原問題，能在最短的停機時間內，確保資料的完整性，讓業務持續運作。Acronis 透過獨到的能力，為託管服務供應商提供市面上最全方位資安解決方案，以期滿足多元化、分散式 IT 環境的需求。
Acronis 是一間瑞士公司， 2003 年在新加坡正式成立，擁有 15 個全球辦事處，員工來自 50 多個國家。Acronis Cyber Protect 解決方案的服務範圍遍及全球 26 個國家，支援 150 種語言版本，共有 20,000 多間服務供應商使用這項服務，為超過 750,000 間企業提供防護。請造訪以下官網 www.acronis.com，以便深入了解。