The Network Security. Org

Failing over across a wide-area network is never an easy thing to contemplate. If a single system fails, you will probably fail to a local server instead, keeping your users close to the data systems they’re using. If multiple systems fail at once, you may have to fail over to another site.

When putting together your disaster recovery (DR) plan and budget, the first decision you need to make is whether your systems require a remote failover option, or if storing the data locally for restoration is sufficient for your needs. Failover is usually only required if you must restore both the data and services within one business day. Keep in mind that if you’re failing over to a remote site, there has been a major disaster, and your end users may not have access to their workstations and/or physical sites. That would mean that they have no immediate need for their systems to be running, so the important thing is that the data is kept safe to be restored whenever they are ready.

If you, indeed, need to fail over remotely, the next decision is how you will get the data to the remote location. There are a few ways to do this, and which one you use will depend mainly on your budget and infrastructure. The simplest way is to use tape backups for your production systems, and then ship those tapes to the DR location, where restoration occurs on a regular basis. The benefits to this solution set are that it tends to be the least expensive in terms of hardware, especially if you can create backup-restore systems that rely on a limited number of tape drives. The main drawback is that it’s an entirely manual solution. You will be responsible for moving the data, putting it on the remote systems, and performing all failover actions. When do you require remote disaster recovery options?

From around the Web

• Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Latest Release Schedule
• Vista SP2: What is inside?
• NetWitness releases free version of security software
• Three Reasons Why Users Won’t Buy Into Security
• Automated security testing & its limitations
• Google Wants to Preinstall Chrome Browser on PCs
• Mozilla warns of Firefox China add on
• Firefox No Longer an Automatic Defense Against Browser Drive Bys
• Google patches Chrome file stealing bug
• Apple plays catch up, adds anti fraud safeguard to Safari
• Researchers find vulnerability in Windows Vista
• How to Use Network Behavior Analysis Tools
• The insider security threat in IT and financial services
• Windows 7 security: An overall improvement?
• Windows 7 UAC could be less of a nag