Read an Excerpt
Data protection is like buying insurance or executing a will: It's something we all know we should do but often put off. We are forced to think about all the unpleasant scenarios that force us to do it in the first place. The process can be complex, even daunting to most people. We forge ahead because we know it's important. Ultimately, we sleep better knowing that we have a safe haven in the face of disaster.
New storage technology, such as storage networks, has allowed organizations to collect and store massive amounts of information about customers, suppliers, and operations. Along with this ballooning of stored data has come a new threat to the organization: loss of key information assets. IT managers now realize that these enormous storehouses of information are often left inadequately protected. At the same time, the ramifications of data loss are increasing. Shareholder lawsuits, government regulation, and extreme financial losses are driving changes in the way data is stored and managed.
The techniques, methods, and technology available to the IT professional have expanded greatly. In the past, backup to tape was pretty much all that was available. Disk-to-disk and disk-to-disk-to-tape systems have expanded the options for backup. Remote copy and replication have enabled organizations to constantly move data off-site, far from harm. As more storage systems are networked, storage security is becoming an important tool for protecting data from harm.
It's not only technology that now sits in the data protection bag of tricks. Strategic methodologies such as Data Lifecycle Management and Information Lifecycle Management add new dimensions to the data protection landscape. Both are policy-based processes for managing data and information according to a lifecycle. While data lifecycle management deals with data on a time-based cycle, information lifecycle management is used to manage information assets in an event-driven fashion. Both promise to allow for better data protection at a lower cost.
Data and information are now recognized as core assets that need to be valued and secured like other assets. This book is a guide to protecting data assets in the enterprise. It presents the technology, techniques, strategies, and best practices used to safeguard data. It may even help you sleep better at night.
Who Is This Book For?
This book covers topics useful to many people. The primary audience is the IT professional, especially CIOs, managers, and system architects. System administrators, storage administrators, network administrators, database administrators, systems analysts, and business analysts who are involved in storing and protecting critical business data will also find this book to be a vital resource.
Product managers, consultants, technical marketing specialists, and technicians, as well as engineers at value-added resellers, OEMs, ISVs, and service providers, will also be interested in this book. It provides general knowledge about emerging areas of interest to their customers. Marketing communications specialists, PR agents, venture capitalists, analysts, editors, trainers, professors, and students will also find value in this book. It provides these professionals with a general overview of data protection technology and practice in plain language.
How This Book Is Arranged
This book takes a progressive approach to understanding data protection. Starting with the most basic topics, each chapter builds on the previous ones. Some chapters are overviews for those who are not well acquainted with important base technologies and practices. Others are more involved, presenting the major ideas, techniques, processes, and technology associated with data protection. Those chapters also end with a case study about real IT professionals and the techniques they have used to solve data protection problems. Finally, the book ends with several appendixes, a bibliography, and a glossary, all designed to enhance your understanding of other parts of the book.
The chapters of Data Protection and Information Lifecycle Management are:
Chapter 1: Introduction to Data Protection. This chapter lays the foundation for understanding data protection, introducing the major drivers and techniques behind data protection. It discusses the reasons that organizations spend time and money on data protection and presents a framework for understanding the ensuing topics.
Chapter 2: An Overview of Storage Technology. Chapter 2 provides the technological underpinnings of most data protection. Written for those who may not have a deep knowledge of storage technology, it contains something for everyone. The chapter discusses the basics of data storage necessary to understanding data protection. Furthermore, the chapter presents some of the new technology and practices that impact data protection strategies today.
Chapter 3: Backup and Restore. The classic data protection strategy just keeps getting better. Chapter 3 outlines the most common techniques, such as tape backup, as well as the more recent additions to the backup bag of tricks. The emphasis is on architecture and practices.
Chapter 4: Remote Copy and Replication: Moving Data to a Safe Location. Chapter 4 kicks it up a notch, exploring remote copy and replication—ways of constantly duplicating data in a network. With data synchronized constantly, hot sites can be used that provide immediate failover in case of disaster.
Chapter 5: Basic Security Concepts. This chapter provides the necessary underpinnings for the next chapter, which deals with storage security. It is a quick reference to basic computer security concepts and strategies.
Chapter 6: Storage System Security. Chapter 6 describes a new area of security: storage security. Until recently, the security of the storage system was ignored, since it was safe behind the server security screen. That's no longer true, and data protection demands a new focus on securing the storage infrastructure.
Chapter 7: Policy-Based Data Protection. This chapter outlines the emerging area of policy-driven data protection, especially Data Lifecycle Management (DLM). These techniques are some of the most powerful in the data protection toolbox.
Chapter 8: Information Lifecycle Management. This chapter explores how Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) can be used to enhance data protection. The book takes a detailed look at ILM and shows how it can be used to further information assurance and data protection.
Appendix A
Appendix B: Resources. This appendix lists other resources that are helpful to those entrusted with data protection plans: industry groups, conferences, books, and web sites. They provide additional insights into the technology and regulations that are important to data protection.
Appendix C: Acronyms. This appendix lists the acronyms used in the book. Data Protection and Information Lifecycle Management is chock full of acronyms. Acronyms are important shortcuts that save us from having to say the same thing over and over again, but they work only if you know what they are.
Glossary. The glossary lists the major terms used throughout the book, along with their definitions.
Bibliography. The bibliography lists the books that provided references for the author while writing this book.
What You Will Take Away from This Book
After reading this book, you will have a better understanding of how to protect critical corporate data. The techniques, practices, and technology are a mixture of tried and true and the brand new. There are some new takes on older methods, as well as new ideas for old problems. In the end, you will have not only new information to manage, but also better ways of doing it.