Protecting Your Data

Today’s businesses depend on technology. Most companies would find it very difficult to operate without their servers, workstations, laptop computers, peripherals, and most importantly, the data stored within that technology. With something this valuable, it makes sense to invest in security. Your technology is vulnerable to a number of dangers, from natural disasters to power interruptions to simply wearing out. Below are a few simple tips on keeping your technology and your data safe.

Protect Your Power

Power spikes or disruptions cause more data loss than all other natural disasters combined. Every piece of crucial electronic equipment should be connected to an UPS (uninterrupted power supply) device. It’s even a good idea to place a small UPS device on each workstation, since power interruption during a transaction update, for example, could result in corrupted data.

UPS devices provide continuous, conditioned power capable of evening out surges and supplying varying amounts of auxiliary power to allow you to safely shut your equipment down in the event of a full outage. Once your equipment is shut down, it’s not a bad idea to completely unplug equipment to keep it entirely off the grid until even power is restored.
 
Back It Up!

The importance of a reliable and efficient backup system cannot be overstated. Today’s backup software is robust and sophisticated. Carefully choose a solution with powerful features provided by a company you trust. The investment in a modern backup solution including tapes, drives, and software is significant. However, the return on investment is immediate and undeniable should disaster strike.

Tape backup systems are still the dominant backup method used by savvy small and mid-sized organizations. Symantec, a leading publisher of backup systems, notes that tape remains the best solution for long-term and offsite storage. Symantec cites its portability and ruggedness as factors making tape the most efficient way to protect a business from disaster or for long-term storage.

Disk-based backup systems are gaining in popularity. A disk-based backup solution typically writes the same data to a file on a disk volume as it would write to a tape drive. When used conscientiously, disk drives can provide faster, more flexible backups and restores than tape.
 
During your daily operations, it’s always a good idea to periodically save important files you’re working on to a separate hard drive, portable storage drive, or CD.
 
Whatever backup system you select, you must periodically do a test of your restore capabilities. Don’t assume it will work at that crucial time.

Shadow Backup Can Save The Day
Inherent in many Windows operating systems is a useful protective tool called “Shadow Backup.” This feature uses available space on your server to make copies of directories and files on a timetable you specify. Should you accidentally delete or overwrite a valuable file, you can simply scan through the earlier saved versions of the file and restore the one from before your accident.
 
Offsite Storage A Must
It is imperative that backed-up data be moved offsite regularly to ensure that all of your backups will not be destroyed if something happens to your facility. Several companies provide offsite storage services that include picking up and delivering tapes when they are to be rotated. At a minimum, have a trusted employee take a backup tape home with them each night.
 
Disaster Recovery Planning
Accidents happen. So do power outages, natural disasters, and malicious attacks. Systems wear out and have to be replaced. Prepare a comprehensive disaster recovery plan specific to your organization. A person or group should be charged with constantly supervising your organization’s disaster preparation efforts. Someone should install and maintain hardware protection devices, make sure all departments have a plan if the server goes down temporarily, and confirm that backups are made and rotated offsite regularly. Also, it is a good idea to document your plan for reference purposes.
 

How do you manage your backups?  Is there a simple way to organize archived data?

Answer:  There are numerous ways to manage backups.  It is always good to have at least a week’s worth of daily backups archived. Depending on your needs, storage space, and time, consider making backups each week and each month, too. Also, backups should be performed prior to the fiscal year close in the system and before creating your payroll each period.

The following methods allow you to create backups in the system:

1.      The system prompts you to create a backup when exiting any of the modules.

2.      In the Administration Module, select File > Backup.

The Database Backup box will appear asking you what Database to Backup (your organization) and Backup to File (the name of the file).

The system automatically creates the file name with your database name followed by the current year, month, date, and military time.

Note: The file name can be changed to reflect the day, week, month or any specification.

For example, a backup of the SSA organization on Tuesday, May 16th 2006 at 13:21 PM would generate a file: SSA-200605161321.NPS.

Example 1– How to archive on a daily basis:

You can create the backup with the file name the system provides or give it a new name.    

Example 2– How to archive on a weekly basis:

If you decide to change the file name to reflect the weekday “Tuesday”, it will overwrite any previous backups that were created with the name “Tuesday”.

Instead, label the files “Tuesday-May 16 2006”, “Tuesday-May 23 2006”, “Tuesday-April 30 2006,” etc.

This will prevent you from overwriting previous weekday backups that have the same name.

Example 3- How to archive on a monthly basis:

If you decide to change the file name to reflect the month “May”, it will overwrite any previous backups that were created with the name “May”.

Instead, label the files “May 2006”, “June 2006”, “May 2007”, “June 2007” and etc.

This will prevent you from overwriting previous monthly backups that have the same name.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:
This article is for setting up a scheme on managing backups.  You should still make sure that your nightly automated backups are taking place.

• Periodically verify that the backups that you make actually work.
• Always keep a copy of data on a removable media on and off-site.

Contact Blytheco at solutions@blytheco.com or 800-4BLYTHE for more information or with any questions.