In Depth
In Depth
Data protection, backup and archiving
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Storage 101: Crash-consistent vs application-consistent snapshots
We look at crash-consistent and application-consistent snapshots and backup, how they are defined, the pros and cons of each and the benefits and limits of Windows VSS Continue Reading
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Snapshots 101: Array vs backup software
We run the rule over snapshots in storage arrays and backup software and find a range of capabilities that go from mere support to fully snapshot-centric approaches Continue Reading
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A carrot-and-stick approach to fixing cyber security complacency
With a majority of IT decision-makers holding the opinion that their employers are complacent when it comes to data protection, we look at what needs to be fixed, and how to fix it Continue Reading
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Storage 101: Snapshots vs backup
We go over the basics of snapshots. They are a quick and accessible way of protecting data, but they are not a substitute for backup. So how do you combine the two? Continue Reading
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NAS backup: Which suppliers have gone post-NDMP?
NAS backup with NDMP has many drawbacks so some vendors have moved to a data management approach that tracks changes and allows for incremental forever protection Continue Reading
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Top five compliance concerns for UK business in 2020
We look at the top five legal and regulatory compliance concerns for UK businesses in 2020. It’s a list that includes GDPR, the DPA, PECR, PCI-DSS and the CCPA Continue Reading
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What’s the problem with NAS backup?
NAS backup has always been problematic, but what exactly are the issues with NDMP, and what are backup suppliers doing to make a decades-old storage staple easier to protect? Continue Reading
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Caribbean island hospital rebuilds after hurricane with DataCore
Hurricane Irma tore the roof off a server room and flooded IT hardware, but that was an opportunity to rebuild redundant IT using DataCore’s SANsymphony software-defined storage Continue Reading
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Top four compliance considerations for SMEs
We look at the key data compliance regulations that affect smaller companies – such as GDPR, the Data Protection Act, PCI-DSS and PECR – and some key industry-specific frameworks Continue Reading
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Six disaster recovery pitfalls and how to avoid them
We look at some key pitfalls in disaster recovery, such as failing to plan, not testing the plan, not protecting backups, poor communication and neglecting the human element Continue Reading
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Spread of Kubernetes spurs backup and disaster recovery products
Growth of containerised applications brings with it the need to back up and provide disaster recovery. But what do you need to protect, and who provides the products? Continue Reading
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Do you use cloud storage for these use cases yet?
We look at the use cases most suited to a quick transition to the cloud: backup, archiving, disaster recovery, file storage and cloud bursting – cloud storage’s low-hanging fruit Continue Reading
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DRaaS decisions: Key choices in disaster recovery as a service
We examine the key decisions when considering DRaaS. Whether to go full self-service, assisted or managed will depend on what you need to protect and your in-house resources Continue Reading
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Five ways that backup has changed since the days of tape
Back in the day, all this was tape, but times have changed, with cloud-to-cloud backup, cloud storage, virtual and physical backup appliances and myriad endpoint hardware Continue Reading
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Top 10 storage deployment stories of 2019
Here are ComputerWeekly’s top 10 storage deployment stories for 2019, which see quite a move away from traditional SAN and NAS to hyper-converged, software-defined storage and object storage Continue Reading
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Five essential steps to a sound disaster recovery plan
We walk through the key steps to develop a disaster recovery plan – from risk assessment and setting recovery objectives, to the plan itself and a testing regime to keep it fresh Continue Reading
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Get ready for CCPA: Implications for UK businesses
The California Consumer Privacy Act, a wide-ranging data privacy and consumer protection law, comes into effect on 1 January 2020. How does CCPA differ from the EU GDPR regulations and what are the responsibilities for UK businesses operating in the... Continue Reading
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SME disaster recovery made easy with cloud, hybrid and HCI
Disaster recovery is a lot easier for small businesses than it used to be, with use of the cloud, hybrid cloud, physical and virtual appliances, and hyper-converged infrastructure all among the choices on offer Continue Reading
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Taking responsibility for security in the cloud
From accidental leaks to full-on data breaches, maintaining security across cloud services is becoming a headache for enterprises. What questions should organisations be asking of their cloud service provider and, ultimately, whose responsibility is... Continue Reading
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Key storage choices: Cloud vs tape for archive storage?
Tape still has benefits, such as an ‘air gap’ that can insulate archives from threats to data integrity. But what are the opportunities for cloud in tape’s traditional use cases? Continue Reading
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Data storage: The top five storage deployment pitfalls
Key pitfalls in data storage include silos, under-utilisation, backup and disaster recovery, plus neglect of skills and application requirements. We ask analysts how to avoid them Continue Reading
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Top five cloud storage pitfalls
Cloud storage offers apparent simplicity, but unexpected costs, complexity, data movement and integration challenges can arise. We look at how to avoid common cloud storage pitfalls Continue Reading
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How APAC firms can slay the storage management beast
The data deluge and compliance requirements are shaping how Asia-Pacific firms are approaching storage management issues in the age of cloud Continue Reading
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French national research centre insources with Rubrik backup
France’s national research organisation wanted to insource IT back from Atos and built its private cloud on VMware across two locations with Rubrik appliances for backup Continue Reading
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Hop jumps to Pure Storage to avoid big storage complexity
Air France short-haul and regional brand Hop jumps to Pure Storage after coming up against Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE, which all tried to sell it solutions ill-suited to its needs Continue Reading
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Public cloud: A key component in a disaster recovery plan
The key things to consider when creating a disaster recovery plan that uses public cloud: DIY vs DRaaS, native cloud tools vs third party, and how low can you go with RPO and RTO? Continue Reading
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French baby store modernises backup as Veeam handles 150TB a night
France-based maternity, baby and children’s store Orchestra needed to share IT resources between 700 points of sale across multiple time zones, and backup for 100 applications Continue Reading
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Cloud snapshots and backups: How to protect data in the cloud
You often need more data protection than native cloud services will give. But should you choose backup or snapshots? And what about third-party backup in the cloud? Continue Reading
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Cloud storage and its main cost components
We run through the main items charged for by the big cloud storage providers, such as capacity, storage type, transactions, data egress, networks and data protection Continue Reading
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Cloud’s low-hanging fruit: Backup, tiering and data sharing
Native cloud operations can have a steep on-ramp in terms of enterprise IT readiness, but some things are relatively easy to port to a tier of storage in the cloud Continue Reading
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Cloud storage 101: Specifying for cloud storage
We run through key questions to ask when specifying cloud storage, such as disk type, performance, availability and the possible hidden cost of getting data out of the cloud Continue Reading
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Backup product approaches vary as they take aim at the cloud
Use of the public cloud for backup data is something all the backup software suppliers provide, but implementations range from simple S3 connections to expansive software offerings Continue Reading
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Cloud-era backup appliances aim at hybrid content platform
While traditional backup apps evolve to meet the cloud via S3 and Azure, a new breed of backup appliances aims to build a single environment across cloud and on-premise Continue Reading
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Cloud the rising star of storage: Eight years of text analysis
Tracking word frequency in nearly a decade’s worth of storage content shows how cloud has come of age, flash has gone mainstream and how we don’t talk about virtualisation any more Continue Reading
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A cloud compliance checklist for the GDPR age
The cloud is supposed to make things simpler, but when it comes to compliance, things can get complex. Here is a look at the essential elements of a cloud compliance strategy Continue Reading
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Data protection, backup and replication in the age of the cloud
A data protection and backup strategy has to take account of the expansion of the sphere of IT, from the datacentre to the public cloud to devices and locations at the edge Continue Reading
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Hyper-converged backup appliances bring flexibility benefits
Backup appliances in scale-out format allow data protection to be scaled easily by simply adding extra nodes. But is it an idea that’s ready for the enterprise? Continue Reading
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How the big five storage array makers tier data to the cloud
We look at the big five storage array makers' efforts to connect on-premise hardware with cloud storage and find automated tiering, on-ramps, and backup and archive capability Continue Reading
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Storage 101: Self-encrypting drives' benefits and limitations
Self-encrypting drives are a cost-effective way to ensure compliance in certain situations. We look at self-encrypting drives, what they’re good for and their limitations Continue Reading
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A guide to choosing and using all-flash array storage
We take a look at the considerations when devising an all-flash array storage strategy, and what enterprises can do to get the most out of the technology Continue Reading
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Virtual storage appliances in the cloud from the big five
We survey the big five storage hardware makers’ cloud offerings. Virtual storage appliances available range from storage and backup/data protection to nothing at all Continue Reading
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Hybrid cloud a key milestone on the road to cloud storage
The cloud seems to lend itself to use as a storage location. There are lots of bumps in the road, however, and hybrid cloud should be a key medium-term aim for organisations Continue Reading
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Data protection for containers: Why and how to do Docker backup
Containers such as those from Docker are agile, lightweight and can be short-lived, but they and their data often need to be protected. We look at the key options available Continue Reading
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How the internet of things and edge data impact data storage
Remote device data poses challenges for the datacentre, but edge processing, analytics and the cloud can help businesses profit from the promise of the internet of things Continue Reading
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Object storage is inching into Australian enterprises
Even as Aussie firms such as Bauer Media and Redbubble are lapping up object storage, others are facing visibility and analytics issues with the technology Continue Reading
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Data recovery disasters: Kroll Ontrack on how it helps enterprises bounce back
Data recovery expert Kroll Ontrack provides a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges enterprises and consumers face getting their files and information back when disaster strikes Continue Reading
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SSD Raid 101: The essentials of flash storage and Raid
Flash storage is mainstream, but what do storage professionals need to know about Raid when used with SSDs? We look at Raid fundamentals, and supplier implementations Continue Reading
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DR 101: The disaster recovery plan and disaster recovery strategy
We walk through the key steps and essential building blocks required to develop a disaster recovery strategy and how to write a disaster recovery plan Continue Reading
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Cloud DR: Key choices in cloud disaster recovery
Flexibility and low cost make the cloud well-suited to disaster recovery, but there is no one-size-fits-all route to cloud disaster recovery. We look at the key choices Continue Reading
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Cloud-to-cloud backup: What it is and why you need it
Applications that run in the cloud are protected, but only so much. For full protection of data generated by cloud-based apps you need cloud-to-cloud backup Continue Reading
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GDPR brings serious implications for data storage
New European Union data protection regulations put tough requirements on organisations that store “personally identifiable data”. We look at what is needed to achieve compliance Continue Reading
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Why immutable buckets are a worthy risk management tool
Immutable buckets offer businesses benefits in terms of data compliance, backup, archiving and security Continue Reading
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Cloud data portability: Obstacles to it and how to achieve it
Cloud providers are very keen to get your data into their systems but sometimes it can be difficult or costly to move it elsewhere. We look at solutions to cloud portability Continue Reading
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Backup testing: What to test, when to test, how often to test
We run the rule over what’s involved in backup testing in virtual and physical server environments, how often you should test and the key pitfalls to avoid Continue Reading
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Time to restore from backup: Do you know where your data is?
Making a backup is only the start of the process. You must be sure you can restore, that backups contain what you need, and that they will work with the applications that need them Continue Reading
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Backup 101: Incremental vs differential vs synthetic full backup
Backup methods pros and cons: Full, incremental, differential, synthetic full, incremental forever, and reverse incremental. We set out the advantages and drawbacks of each Continue Reading
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Disaster recovery testing: technology systems to test DR
In this concluding part of a two-part series, Computer Weekly looks at ways of testing disaster recovery plans, with methods including array-based replication and hypervisor-based approaches Continue Reading
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Disaster recovery testing: A vital part of the DR plan
Disaster recovery provision is worthless unless you test out your plans. In this two-part series, Computer Weekly looks at disaster recovery testing in virtualised datacentres Continue Reading
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Lauri Love: the student accused of hacking the US
How did a brilliant but fragile computer science student from a rural English town end up facing life imprisonment in the US? Computer Weekly speaks to Lauri Love Continue Reading
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Cloud storage appliances: What they are and who provides them
We look at the cloud storage appliance market – everything from local gateway presentation of the cloud, via hybrid cloud, to the new generation of cloud-resident appliances Continue Reading
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NAS vs object: Which one for large volumes of unstructured data?
Both NAS and object storage offer highly scalable file storage for large volumes of unstructured data, but which is right for your environment? Continue Reading
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Disaster recovery planning: Where virtualisation can help
The disaster recovery planning process is not fundamentally technology-centric, so when can virtualisation make it quicker and easier to restore services after an unplanned outage? Continue Reading
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Snapshots: Hypervisor vs Array
Snapshots are a valuable part of the data protection toolkit, but where is it best to run them from – the hypervisor or the storage array? We look at the pros and cons Continue Reading
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Virtualisation and disaster recovery: DR features in Hyper-V
We run the rule over the key functionality in Microsoft Hyper-V that can help with disaster recovery, including backup, migration, high availability and replication Continue Reading
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Virtualisation and disaster recovery: DR features in VMware
The key areas of functionality in VMware that can help with disaster recovery – including VMware backup, migration, high availability and replication Continue Reading
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How to cull old, potentially risky data
Unused data is a potential security risk, with old spreadsheets, reports and email containing industry secrets and laced with company gossip. If it's no longer useful, it's time to delete it Continue Reading
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Erasure coding vs Raid for disk rebuilds
Erasure coding as a means of data protection has emerged with object storage and offers an alternative to Raid systems Continue Reading
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Mobile device management (MDM) vs backup
MDM tackles the challenge of mobile devices flooding the enterprise, but it doesn’t mean you can stop worrying about mobile data protection Continue Reading
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How to combat VM sprawl
VMs are easy to create, but when unmanaged they proliferate around your infrastructure. Here, we explain VM sprawl and how to combat it Continue Reading
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Top five issues in VM backup
Virtual machine backup is a vital task for IT departments. But pitfalls abound. We look at the top five issues encountered in VM backup Continue Reading
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Big players target object storage at cloud and archive
All but one of the big six storage vendors have object storage products that target public and private cloud environments and/or archiving use cases Continue Reading
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Backup vs replication, snapshots, CDP in data protection strategy
Best practice data protection strategy combines backup with snapshots, CDP and replication for different levels of recovery Continue Reading
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Erasure coding vs Raid as a data protection method
Erasure coding is mooted as a potential successor to Raid and backup software Continue Reading
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Cloud storage options in Scandinavia
It has never been faster or cheaper to store data in the cloud and Scandinavian businesses have taken up cloud storage with gusto Continue Reading
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Cloud file-sharing for enterprise users
Cloud file-sharing services have become near-ubiquitous among enterprise users. We survey the risks, benefits and alternatives to Dropbox Continue Reading
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SSD RAID essentials: What you need to know about flash and Raid
With the advent of flash and high-capacity HDDs, what do today’s storage professionals need to know about Raid and its new variants? Continue Reading
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How to tackle big data from a security point of view
Before leaping into big data, companies must be clear what they are trying to achieve, otherwise their investment will be wasted Continue Reading
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In-house tape vs cloud archiving: What are the pros and cons?
Have cloud archiving services reached a tipping point that makes them cheaper and easier to manage than in-house tape archives? Continue Reading
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Deduplication and single instance storage cut primary data storage costs
Data deduplication and single instance storage can cut costs in primary data environments, but implementations vary between suppliers. Continue Reading
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VMware backup and the VMware snapshot
The VMware snapshot is a critical component of VMware backup. In this guide to the basics of VMware backup, we walk you through the key processes and suggest some best practices. Continue Reading
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Cloud backup options: Pure cloud vs hybrid cloud backup
Cloud backup is increasingly being seen as a flexible and cost-effective option by many organisations, but what are the pros and cons of pure cloud backup and hybrid cloud backup? Continue Reading
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Encryption techniques and products for hardware-based data storage security
Encryption techniques can be applied to data on the drive or array, at the host or in the fabric. We survey the key hardware-based methods and products available for data storage security. Continue Reading
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Block vs file for Hyper-V and VMware storage: Which is better?
Is block- or file-based storage better for Hyper-V and VMware virtual server environments? The answer depends on the precise needs of your virtual server environment. Continue Reading
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Backup appliance: Backup software and hardware in one box
A backup appliance provides the backup app, processing power and disk to give all you need for SMB or branch office backup pre-packaged into one easy-to-manage box. Continue Reading
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Remote replication: Comparing data replication methods
Learn how remote replication fits into a disaster recovery plan, as well as the various data replication methods available, such as host-based, array-based and network-based replication. Continue Reading
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How virtual machine backup differs from traditional backup
Virtual machine backup can be accomplished with traditional backup tools but can be better effected with snapshots and dedicated virtual server backup products. Continue Reading