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DISASTER
RECOVERY
_____________ Corporate President/CEO Vice
President
CONFERENCE REGISTRAR Brazil:
Jose Carlos Ferreira
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Click Here for a Printable Version INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY Bulletproofing
Microsoft Exchange Software Microsoft Windows has matured into
a stable, secure operating environment, capable of delivering efficient
and reliable enterprise business services and running mission-critical
applications. More and more companies are using Windows to run their
Exchange/Outlook e-mail solution because it solves communication needs
cost-effectively. According to a Ferris Research
survey published on www.nua.com, “Business users spend an average
of 49 minutes every day managing their e-mail, and receive an average
of 22 e-mail messages every day.” The survey also showed that “42
percent of business Internet users in the U.S. check their work e-mail
while on vacation, while 23 percent check it during the weekend when
they are not in the office.” New laws such as the Federal Electronic
Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign) and the Uniform
Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), which has been adopted in 38 states,
raise the stakes for e-mail transactions that are lost in-flight or
left undelivered. These laws allow the use of electronic documents as
official, legal notices (with some exceptions) and legal contracts.
They define an e-mail as being sent when it leaves the sender’s
e-mail system. As a result, e-mail that is not delivered to the end
user becomes, in effect, a lost contract and a potentially significant
legal liability. Independent software solution providers
such as Lucent, Dialogic, Veritas, GFI Fax and Voice, Point Solutions,
and others have created useful complementary products that have given
Exchange a high level of growth in the enterprise communication market.
These applications include e-mail security, unified messaging, wireless
services, storage systems, backup utilities, system metrics, administration,
and others. Responsible IT professionals are
looking for ways to minimize Exchange’s susceptibility to failure.
Exchange-based applications have become so integrated into the fabric
of today’s businesses that they demand the highest levels of availability
and “best practices” system administration. Exchange is generally perceived as being the best communications application for companies. So the question now is, “Can companies afford a minute of Exchange downtime?”
Take Inventory To help determine this, IT departments
have to take a look at the types and ranges of Exchange-based services
they provide. Then they must determine how integrated into the business
environment each service is. Finally, they must assess the quality of
the business environment: how good are its systems, and how detailed
are the procedures to administer them? Determine Costs
Of Downtime The next step in the process is
to understand the actual costs associated with an Exchange down event. Few businesses in today’s marketplace can risk a system down event. In his white paper “What Will It Cost You? Microsoft Windows Clustered Servers and Application Availability,” author Lou Finnegan of Advantage Product Marketing estimates the cost of downtime between $1,000 and $5,000 per hour, depending on the number of users affected. Clearly, e-mail server downtime is expensive. Eliminate The
Cause Of System Failures The best way to eliminate Exchange
downtime is to eliminate the cause of system failures. The more resources
used to prevent a failure from occurring, the fewer hours spent in recovery.
Just as in heathcare, preventive medicine is the most cost-effective
method in the long run. Eliminate the chance of system failure by making
the system environment as strong as possible. In the event that Exchange
does go down, invoking a fast, effective recovery process is the next
best strategy businesses can use to limit downtime costs. Maintain Effective,
Efficient Backup-And-Recovery Strategy A sound backup-and-recovery strategy, more than any other practice, will help reduce the chance of data loss and speed the time to restore. Remember to match the Exchange logging method with the backup strategy. (If full backups are performed nightly, then retain circular logging. If you need incremental or differential backup, then turn circular logging off.) Schedule Hardware
Maintenance Physically clean all boards and components; defragment the disks if warranted; monitor logs to determine if there are periodic faults requiring attention. Check your capacities. Run diagnostics and test the UPS. Plan Software
Upgrades Take preemptive action against potential system software failure by researching your need to upgrade and by reading service bulletins. Maintain Backup/Restore
Capabilities On Exchange Server Keep a fast backup tape drive on the Exchange system itself to reduce time to restore. Organize AdministrationPolicy
With Small Team Share the responsibility. Discuss the issues. Rotate the administration responsibility so everyone can solve potential problems. Hold administrator training regularly. Keep up with changes and new developments. Practice Disaster
Recovery Test your methods of Exchange or disaster recovery. Recovery procedures are performed infrequently. Your ability to perform these procedures will atrophy if they are not practiced regularly. Once per month is ideal; once per quarter should be adequate. Resist Relaxing
Standards Downtime occurs infrequently. You
can be lulled into believing it won’t happen at all. Rest assured,
the moment you are caught with a bogus backup tape will be the time
your system fails. All administrators understand action
must be taken to prevent any critical system failure, including Exchange.
Given unlimited resources, an exceptionally reliable Exchange environment
is easy to attain. However, with budget and staffing constraints, IT
professionals should apply the tools and techniques that will reap the
greatest benefits for the smallest investment. Those solutions that preempt downtime
at its source have the greatest return on investment. To achieve the
highest levels of Exchange availability, you must recognize that, no
matter what you do to help mollify the impact of the failure; removing
the causes of failure is the most cost-effective way of dealing with
the problem. Consider using a fault- and disaster-tolerant
solution for Exchange. These solutions are a cost-effective way to maintain
99.999 percent Exchange server availability and provide complete protection
of data in the event of a hardware fault, transient software failure,
or disaster.
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