W. Curtis Preston (a.k.a. "Mr. Backup"), executive editor and independent backup expert, has been singularly focused on backup and
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recovery for more than 15 years. From starting as a backup admin at a $35 billion dollar
credit card company to being one of the most sought-after consultants, writers and speakers in this
space, it's hard to find someone more focused on recovering lost data. He is the webmaster of BackupCentral.com, the author of hundreds of articles, and
the books "Backup and Recovery" and "Using SANs and NAS."
We've collected all of Curtis' articles and podcasts on data backup and recovery best practices here. Check back often for advice on data deduplication, disk and tape backup, and backup and recovery trends for enterprises as well as small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Articles, videos, podcasts and tips by Curtis Preston:
NEW! Snapshot backup software tutorial
In this tutorial on snapshot backup software, learn about near-CDP and snapshots, redirect-on-write snapshots, and how to restore snapshot data.
Hyper-V
backup tips
Users of Microsoft Hyper-V have some of the same problems with data backup that VMware users have.
Learn the best Hyper-V
backup strategy in this tip.
The
year in data backup and recovery
Here's Curtis' take on the year in data backup and recovery.
Oracle
backup strategies
Learn about the the differences between these Oracle backup strategies and details essential Oracle
backup best practices in this Q&A.
Why
global deduplication is important
Global deduplication is the most important feature missing from target deduplication systems today.
The lack of this feature increases both the acquisition cost and the operational cost of such
systems. Learn about why global deduplication is so important in reducing acquistion and
operational costs in backup systems today.
Solving
common data deduplication system problems
Still not getting the data deduplication ratios vendors are promising? Learn about the most
common problems in data deduplication systems and how to solve them in Curtis' latest column.
NEW TUTORIAL Continuous
data protection backup products tutorial
Many people viewed continuous data protection as the Star Trek of the backup industry -- a
great idea before its time. Star Trek, maybe not fully understood when it first aired, was
canceled after three seasons. Similarly, many people thought continuous data protection was a
solution looking for a problem, and most shops could meet their backup and recovery requirements
without completely changing the way they did backups, which was required with CDP. Learn about CDP
backup products, near-CDP vs. real-CDP and more in this tutorial.
Using
snapshot backups
When discussing snapshot-based backup systems, there are a number of misconceptions that must be
dealt with before beginning the conversation. Learn about the pros and cons of replacing your
traditional backup system with snapshot backups in Curtis' latest column.
Simplify
virtual machine backup with image-level backups, CDP and near-CDP
It's time for users to pull their heads out of the sand regarding virtual machine (VM) backups.
Server virtualization software such as VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V may solve a lot of problems for
system administrators, but they create a lot of problems for storage and backup administrators.
Learn how to simplify virtual machine backup with image-level backups, CDP and near-CDP in this
column.
Laptop
backup and desktop backup best practices
Laptop data backup and desktop data backup is just as important as enterprise data backup. Whether
your laptops and desktops are for business or personal use, you want to make sure they're backed up
correctly because the data on them is often more vulnerable than data that is backed up on a server
storage system. Learn best practices for backing up laptops in this podcast.
Common
NAS backup challenges
Network-attached storage (NAS) backup can be a challenge for many data storage administrators
because in order to back up data, it has to be sent to a backup server across the network. It
requires backup agents installed on servers to access storage on a NAS device, and it can be
inefficient. Other technologies exist to simplify NAS backups such as Network Data Management
Protocol (NDMP) and near-continuous data protection (CDP), but do these technologies have
limitations as well?
Streamlining
Microsoft SharePoint backup and recovery
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is a popular enterprise collaboration tool. Although it's great
for streamlining your office operations chores, it can be troublesome when it comes to data backup
and recovery. In this two-part SharePoint tutorial, learn about the best SharePoint backup and
recovery strategies, whether it's with native backup and recovery options or third-party SharePoint
backup tools.
Choosing
data archiving software
There are a number of important data archiving best practices, but the most important ones (that
are rarely followed) are simply to archive and to use data archiving software. Most people are
using their backups as archives, and it's hard to imagine anything worse you could do if you have
archiving requirements. Learn about other common archiving mistakes and how to choose the best data
archiving software in this column.
Oracle
backup best practices
In Curtis' latest column, learn about user-managed backups in Oracle, using RMAN and other Oracle
backup and recovery best practices.
Macintosh
backup strategies: Tips for better Mac backup
Data backups are one of the many areas where the designers of Macs have really thought things out.
Mac backup isn't a perfect story, but it's certainly better than what is possible with Windows or
Linux. This column isn't aimed at this type of shop. It's aimed at either a small IT shop that
doesn't have a network backup product that supports Mac OS, or individual users who want to make
sure their Mac is backed up properly. You'll learn Macintosh backup strategies in this column, and
some best practices for Mac backup.
Backup
best practices: Easy fixes for your enterprise backup system
There are easy, cheap things you can do to optimize your enterprise backup system and have a
dramatic impact. This column discusses how to figure out what may be slowing down your backup
system, how to fix it and will give you some hints as to when to throw in the towel. You will learn
backup best practices, and when the best thing to do is to make a major upgrade.
How
to choose the best remote online backup service provider
Backing up data to a remote online backup service provider can be a good way to back up data, but
you have to choose the right backup provider for your environment. How do you go about choosing the
right online backup provider for your company? What pitfalls do you need to look out for? And how
do these services differ from one another? Curtis Preston answers these questions and more about remote
online backup service providers in this Q&A.
Restoring
deduped data in deduplication systems
Restores from some data
dedupe systems can be slower than modern tape drives, and restores from other deduplication
systems can be faster than tape could ever dream of. In this column, you will learn what you
need to do to make sure your dedupe system is on the right side of those two extremes.
Backing
up Microsoft Hyper-V virtualized servers
Many companies incorporate Microsoft Hyper-V virtualized servers into their data backup
environments. But backing up Microsoft Hyper-V virtualized servers involves different steps than
the familiar VMware servers. Curtis Preston discusses the challenges associated with backing up
Hyper-V servers and the differences are between backing up Hyper-V and VMware servers in this
Q&A.
Data
deduping explained
Data deduplication is one of the biggest game-changers in data backup and data storage in the past
several years, and it is important to have a firm understanding of its basics if you're considering
using it in your environment. The purpose of this tutorial is to help you gain that understanding.
Learn about data deduping in your backup enviornment.
A
tutorial on evaluating cloud backup services
In this tutorial on cloud
backup best practices, learn what you should look for in potential cloud data backup services,
questions to ask potential vendors, management and security concerns, and cloud backup services
that are popular with larger enterprises.
LTO
tape technology continues to evolve with LTO 5
LTO-5 tape is slated to be released later this year, with nearly double the capacity of its
predecessor LTO-4. W. Curtis Preston, TechTarget executive editor and independent backup expert,
outlines how LTO tape differs from other tape media, discusses the various generations of LTO tape,
and the pros and cons of LTO.
Using data deduplication products as part of an IT disaster recovery
strategy
When integrating data deduplication products into your IT disaster recovery strategy, there are a
number of things you need to consider. Should you use source dedupe or target dedupe? Which one is
better for disaster recovery? If you are backing up your data to tape and disk, are there other
issues to keep in mind? Curtis discusses source and target deduplication, how these approaches
differ, what that means from a disaster recovery perspective and more in this Q&A.
The dos and don'ts of using backups and data archives
Data backups and data archives are frequently confused with each other. Many people don't know the
difference between the two enterprise data storage technologies, and often assume that if
necessary, they can use their data backup storage as data archive storage, which often is not a
good idea. Curtis outlines the differences between data backup and data archiving products, and the
dos and don'ts associated with each technology in this Q&A.
Mr.
Backup's data backup and recovery planning predictions
In case you think you're missing out on what's happening in the data backup and recovery space,
here's Curtis' look at how backup and recovery will change in 2010.
An
introduction to data compression
It's no secret to enterprise data storage managers that data compression technologies can help
reduce their data footprint. But how much do you know about actually achieving the types of
compression ratios that will provide significant data-reduction benefits to your environment? In
this interview, Curtis discusses the basics of data compression, the data compression technology
market, how compression differs from data deduplication and more.
Data
protection and data backup trends in 2009
Data, companies and data backup products were lost forever in 2009. This article takes a look back
at the year that was 2009 -- from a data protection/data backup and recovery perspective.
Bare-metal
restore FAQ
Bare-metal restores can be challenging. A little planning up front can save you a lot of headaches
when performing a bare-metal restore. Curtis answers common questions about bare-metal restores in
this Q&A.
Using
data deduplication with backup applications: Source vs. target dedupe
Learn about the latest data deduplication battle with backup software vendor's in Curtis' latest
column, and about source dedupe vs. target dedupe.
Data
backup for virtual machines: Alternative methods to VMware Consolidated Backup
In this column, Curtis discusses "point products" that address virtual machine (VM) data backup,
and using data deduplication and continuous data protection (CDP) for VM backup.
Data
backup and recovery choices for SMBs
Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need and deserve the same level of quality found in the
data backup and recovery systems of their larger "enterprise" counterparts. The good news is that
there are a lot of choices available to them.
Global
data deduplication FAQ
Global deduplication allows users to deduplicate data across multiple boxes, which can simplify
management as companies back up more and more data. Backup expert W. Curtis Preston discusses the
pros and cons of global deduplication, who should consider it, and which vendors are offering it
today in this Q&A.
Is
VMware Consolidated Backup right for your enterprise?
VMware's answer to the backup dilemma is VMware Consolidated Backup. Learn about the pros and cons
of VMware Consolidated Backup in Curtis' latest backup tech tip.
Tape
backup best practices: How to improve tape storage performance
Despite all the hype around the use of disk-based data backup and recovery, tape storage is still
the primary target for most backups. Not only is the most data stored on tape, but most data is
backed up directly to tape without using disk as a buffer.
Open-source
data backup options for your data center
Your data center's backup needs might be able to be met by an open-source backup software package,
possibly saving you money and giving you greater control over its functionality.
Symantec
Veritas NetBackup best practices: Using the maximum jobs per client setting
This is the second in a multi-part series discussing Symantec Corp. Veritas NetBackup best
practices to help you make the right choices for your data backup system.
Continuous
data protection (CDP) on the rise in data backup and recovery products
Why is CDP on the rise this year? Do customers see CDP as an attractive asset now, and why? Rick
Walsworth, EMC's director of product marketing for cross-platform replication solutions, and Curtis
Preston, discuss recent CDP trends in this podcast.
Target-based
data deduplication product considerations
Learn about target-based data deduplication product considerations in W. Curtis Preston's latest
backup tip.
Using
bare-metal recovery to migrate physical machines to virtual machines with VMware
Learn about using the bare-metal recovery procedure to migrate physical machines into virtual
machines in Curtis Preston's latest column.
Symantec
Veritas NetBackup data backup and recovery best practices
This is the first in a multipart series about Veritas NetBackup best practices to help you make the
right choices for your data backup system.
Creating
a custom data backup process and customizing backup scripts
Customizing your data backup process and customizing your backup scripts may make things much more
complex. Read W. Curtis Preston's latest column about customizing backup systems.
SharePoint
data backup and recovery best practices
To back up SharePoint, one must understand it first. Learn about how to use SharePoint recycle
bins, SharePoint and data deduplication, and SharePoint backup best practices.
Data
destruction FAQ
When data backups are deleted in your business, are they really gone? In this FAQ, Executive Editor
and Independent Backup Expert W. Curtis Preston discusses data destruction in backup environments.
Curtis takes a closer look at the approaches to destruction, regulations and policies regarding
destruction and options for outsourcing this policy.
Tape
backup and recovery technology tutorial
Despite all the hype around disk-based backup and data deduplication, tape remains the predominant
way that users ultimately store their backups. Even if they first back up to disk, most users
eventually store their backups on tape. Learn about recent changes in tape technology and how to
best use tape in a modern backup environment in this tutorial.
Backups
(not so) Anonymous
Got a backup problem? Here are 10 ways you can fix your most vexing issues.
CDP FAQ:Continuous data protection (CDP) is becoming an increasingly attractive data protection and backup option. But is CDP right for your business?
Server-free
backup FAQ
W. Curtis Preston discusses how server-free backup works, pros and cons of server-free backup, the
server-free backup market today, and alternatives to this complicated approach.
New
Year's resolutions for data backup administrators
To make sure you start off the new year right, here are W. Curtis Preston's (a.k.a. Mr. Backup) New
Year's resolutions for 2009.
Podcast:
Disk-based backup for SMBs
In this podcast, Curtis takes a closer look at the benefits and cost differentiators of moving from
tape to disk for data backup for SMBs.
Continuous
data protection: Near vs. real CDP
In this article, learn about the differences between continuous data protection (CDP) and
near-continuous data protection.
Data
replication for backup best practices
In this interview, Curtis discusses synchronous and asynchronous replication, data deduplication,
and backup management best practices.
This was first published in October 2009
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