What's Inside

Features

• • Use mainframes for backups

    You can put that big iron sitting in your data center to better use by using it to back up open-systems data, too. The net effect is a streamlined backup and disaster recovery operation.

  • 10 basic steps for better backup

    The most evident common denominator in well-functioning backup infrastructures is effective process and control. This checklist highlights 10 areas you should focus on to build a better backup practice.

  • Sizing up VTLs

    Virtual tape libraries present disk as tape, so backup apps can perform backups as usual, regardless of the physical backup infrastructure. Learn about hardware and software VTLs, the benefits of each and how they might fit into your backup operation.

  • VTL remedies backup woes

    VTLs remedy tape bottlenecks...

  • Used tape sales on the rise by Alex Barrett

    Pre-used tapes are becoming a popular and inexpensive trend among IT professionals. Become familiar with the possible risks of using used tape in your environment.

  • Data migration: Preparation equals success

    Moving data from one array to another is becoming more commonplace for reasons such as implementing new or upgraded systems, tiering storage or archiving older data. Data migration is a complex and painful process, but these steps can help ease the pain.

  • Restore and backup Microsoft Exchange mailboxes and messages with ease

    Easing Exchange backups

  • First SAS products arrive by Alan Radding

    With a wave of new SAS products about to be released, some storage vendors are ratcheting up campaigns that promote SAS as the inevitable next step in the evolution of SCSI.

  • Blades shed disks, boot from SAN by Alex Barrett, Trends Editor

    Users resolve boot issues with diskless blades.

  • How disk has changed backup

    Inexpensive disk has spawned a variety of disk-based backup alternatives. But with more choices comes greater complexity compared to the days when you simply had to choose a backup application and tape library. Backup guru W. Curtis Preston explains the advantages of using disk for backup, including virtual tape libraries and disk-as-disk backup targets, and discusses the pros and cons of alternative disk-based backup methods.

• • Any-point-in-time backups by Brad O'Neill

    Continuous data protection captures changes at a file- or block-level as they happen, and provides running recovery journals for all historical data states. This shifts data protection to a more flexible any-point-in-time framework.

  • Make tape libraries work with all platforms

    If tape libraries could share IT resources and data across all processing platforms, data center complexity and cost could be dramatically reduced.

  • Does host-based replication still make sense?

    Host-based replication is a mature technology, but it's often not considered an option for architectures that support quick recovery. But there are many cases where a host-based option may fit.

  • Cisco's switch-based backup

    Serverless backup can take the load off servers and ease network traffic. Cisco uses Xcopy on its MDS 9000 switch for serverless backup; see how it compares to other methods and products.

  • Definition: Grandfather-father-son

  • Data migration: Tales from the trenches

    Finding the right tools to handle a data migration is no easy task. Here's how several users found the best tool for the job and solved their data migration problems.

  • Quality Awards: Backup software

    The latest Diogenes Labs-Storage magazine Quality Awards has hands-on users rating 14 enterprise and SMB backup products for service and reliability.

  • Standards watch: Copy services standard in the works

    Will SMI-S 1.1 aid copy services?

  • Encrypted Drives Stymie Data Thieves

    Prevent laptop data theft with encryption

• Columns

  • Vital steps for creating an effective compliance strategy

    Regulatory compliance isn't just about data retention. To ensure your compliance plan can stand up to an audit, consider these vital steps for creating an effective compliance strategy.

  • How to store huge amounts of data in a smaller box

    Storage Bin: We've finally discovered how to store huge amounts of data in a smaller box. Now we just have to figure out how to find it all.

  • Microsoft gets serious about storage with Data Protection Manager

    Data Protection Manager--a new product from Microsoft--proves once again that Microsoft should be taken seriously when it comes to storage.

  • Nothing but backup

    Nothing but backup

  • Is your job about to change? by Mark Schlack

    Is your job about to change?

  • Snapshot: Full data backups

    How often do you do full backups?

More Premium Content Accessible For Free

• How to improve your virtual server storage setups

  

  E-Zine

  One of the biggest challenges of building a virtual server infrastructure is fine-tuning the storage that supports the virtual machines. Having ...

• Rethinking the way storage architectures are packaged and presented

  

  E-Zine

  Cloud storage, virtualization and the growth of unstructured data have contributed to the way storage architectures are built and used. Virtual ...

• Archiving stays active with LTFS and the cloud

  

  E-Handbook

  While the concept of data archiving has existed for decades, archiving practices that were once considered standard are becoming inadequate. Factors ...