BDRSuite,Best Practices,BURA,Data Management,Data Protection,Thought-Leadership,Trending,Vembu Multi-Part Blog: A BDRSuite Outlook on Data Protection in 2024. (Sponsored Post)

Multi-Part Blog: A BDRSuite Outlook on Data Protection in 2024. (Sponsored Post)

January 7, 2024January 7, 2024| AndreAndre| 0 Comments| 9:39 pm

Welcome to 2024!!

Welcome to 2024! and as we enter this year, the landscape of data protection is undergoing significant transformations. One of the key trends is the heightened focus on proactive measures to safeguard sensitive information. Organisations are now embracing an integrated approach, blending cybersecurity with data recovery strategies. Encryption, multi-factor authentication, and secure access controls are becoming paramount in this data protection evolution.

With so much to cover, I plan to break it up into five parts by providing a “BDRSuite Outlook on Data Protection in 2024″, covering the evolution of Data Protection, Ransomware mitigation, Embracing Cloud-Native Data Protection, and Governance and Compliance.

I will then conclude with a consolidated view to stay on top of all these considerations with BDRSuite in part 5

As a sneak peek, I have provided a small synopsis of each part to give you a taste of what is to come.

Stay tuned!

Part 1: Technology Trends: The evolution of data protection in 2024

In 2024, data protection undergoes a pivotal shift towards a proactive stance, departing from reactive approaches. The focus is on a comprehensive defence, integrating cybersecurity, encryption, and access controls. In addition to integrating cybersecurity with data protection, the focus is also on having the right encryption policies in place to protect data from unauthorised access, while multi-factor authentication and access controls provide additional layers of security against both external and internal threats.

Part 2: The Rise of Ransomware and some Mitigation Strategies against it

Ransomware attacks have reached unprecedented levels, making them a major concern for businesses globally. In 2024, organisations are prioritising robust backup and disaster recovery solutions to counteract the growing threat of ransomware.

BDRSuite emerges as a game-changer in this scenario, offering comprehensive backup solutions that ensure swift recovery without succumbing to extortion demands.

Part 3: Embracing Cloud-native Data Protection with BDRSuite

In 2024, the unmistakable trend is the adoption of cloud-native data protection solutions.

Discover how organisations can effortlessly blend their data protection strategies with cloud platforms, ensuring the security and accessibility of their data in a dynamic and distributed landscape. BDRSuite stands out in this domain, excelling by providing a versatile, scalable, and effective backup and recovery solution specifically designed for cloud environments.

Part 4: Compliance and Governance in Data Protection

Data privacy regulations continue to evolve, and compliance is non-negotiable these days, putting organisations on edge and uneasy on how to meet compliance requirements. BDRSuite addresses this concern by incorporating robust compliance and governance features. The platform ensures that organisations can adhere to the latest data protection regulations effortlessly, reducing the risk of legal consequences and reputational damage.

Part 5: BDRSuite’s Role in Shaping the Future of Data Protection

BDRSuite aligns seamlessly with the emerging trends of 2024. Its innovative features, such as real-time data monitoring, automated backups, and AI-driven threat detection, make it an invaluable asset in the fight against evolving cyber threats.

The platform’s ability to provide granular recovery options ensures that organisations can swiftly restore critical data, minimising downtime, and potential losses.

1 thought on “Multi-Part Blog: A BDRSuite Outlook on Data Protection in 2024. (Sponsored Post)”

  1. Thank you for your post. I really enjoyed reading it, especially because it addressed my issue. It helped me a lot and I hope it will also help others.

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Supercharge your RTO in virtual environments with BDRSuite Instant Boot VM (Sponsored Post)Supercharge your RTO in virtual environments with BDRSuite Instant Boot VM (Sponsored Post)

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023| AndreAndre| 0 Comment| 6:24 pm

One of my absolute favourite features of all time in BDRSuite is the Instant Boot VM capability, you have probably read about it from many of my earlier posts when discussing reducing RTO’s and restoration of services. This innovative capability not only expedites the data recovery process but also unveils a multitude of practical applications for businesses in diverse industries.

When faced with a security breach or outage, the swift restoration of services to be back online and accessible for users becomes a top priority for IT leaders. Meeting the organisational RTO is an integral part of their dedication and responsibility to their users and customers.

The feature itself is only available when using BDRSuite to protect your VMware environment (Available if the BDRSuite Backup Server is installed either on Windows or Linux OS), Hyper-V (Available only if the BDRSuite Backup Server is installed on Windows Server OS) and lastly KVM (Available only if the BDRSuite Backup Server is installed on Linux OS (Ubuntu).

The Power of Instant Boot VM for rapid RTO

Traditional data recovery methods often involve lengthy downtime, as administrators painstakingly restore data to the original servers, test the integrity of the data before slowly restoring back into the production environment. BDRSuite‘s Instant Boot VM, however, eliminates this bottleneck by allowing organisations to instantly launch a virtual machine directly and near instantaneously from their most recent backup dataset ensuring that critical applications and services are back online within minutes., where recoverability is almost guaranteed (read my previous post on integrity testing of recoveries etc).

This means that even as the restoration process is underway, business operations can resume with minimal disruption quickly and efficiently.

While this is the main use case of the feature, there are a number of other scenarios where this awesome feature can make a big impact.

Use Cases for Instant Boot VM

1. Rapid Disaster Recovery:

In the event of a system failure or a natural disaster, businesses can’t afford to be offline for extended periods. Instant Boot VM enables organisations to spin up virtual machines almost instantaneously, ensuring that critical applications and services are back online within minutes.

2. Testing and Development:

Developers often require real-world scenarios for testing new applications or updates. Instant Boot VM provides an ideal environment for developers to work with a clone of the production system, ensuring seamless integration and reducing the risk of unexpected issues.

3. Quick and Secure Migration:

When migrating to new hardware or a different infrastructure, the Instant Boot VM feature proves invaluable. It allows businesses to validate the integrity of their backups and seamlessly transition to the new environment without prolonged downtime.

4. Continuous Business Operations during Maintenance:

For businesses that operate around the clock, any downtime can be costly. Instant Boot VM enables administrators to maintain continuous operations during routine maintenance, updates, or system optimisation, guaranteeing uninterrupted service to users and customers.

In closing:

The Instant Boot VM feature in BDRSuite is a game-changer for businesses seeking efficient and rapid recovery capability

Its versatility in addressing various use cases that I covered above makes it an indispensable feature within the BDRSuite protection solution for Backup administrators aiming to enhance their organisation’s resilience and agility in the face of unforeseen disasters.

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Veeam Endpoint BackupVeeam Endpoint Backup

January 5, 2015January 5, 2015| AndreAndre| 0 Comment| 11:00 am

Veeam has recently announced “Veeam Endpoint Backup Free” to our portfolio of products, I am excited to share with you what Veeam Endpoint Backup is and what it is not.  The release of this product is our showcase of our exciting innovation we drive at Veeam. Ok so what does this mean to virtualisation practitioners, home users etc? Let’s start with what it is.

 

What it is

Veeam Endpoint Backup Free is a standalone product designed to allow users to back up Windows-based desktops and laptops, because while we believe that the modern data center should be virtual, we recognize that some devices – like desktops and laptops – only exist in a physical form factor.  With this new product we will now make it possible for users to back up these types of devices. With Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE, you can easily back up your machine to an external hard drive, NAS share or a Veeam backup repository. And if you ever need to get your data back, there are multiple easy recovery options available.

 

What it is not 

Veeam Endpoint Backup Free is designed to back up Windows-based desktops and laptops – it is NOT an enterprise physical backup server solution.  It represents a new market for Veeam, and one that we are very excited about.

Best of all, Veeam Endpoint Backup Free is (if you haven’t caught on already) 100% FREE!

 

 Where can I get it?

Please visit http://go.veeam.com/endpoint to request a download link, you should get a response in a couple of days.

 

How simple is it?

I recently installed Veeam Endpoint Backup onto a VM and configured it to backup to my home NAS, here was the process.  First thing we do is Click Configure Backup, this launches the wizard which will take you through the various steps of configuration, the first step is to click the “Configure Backup” link in the top right of the application – this will launch the trusty old wizard interface which all Windows kids adore.  The following modes are available:

Entire Computer – Backup all volumes presented to the local computer, this does not include Samba shares.

Volume Level Backup – Backup a selection of volumes (Think C:, D: etc)

File Level Backup – Backup a sub-selection of folders and/or files within a volume.

 

Endpoint 1 Once you have selected the type of backup you wish to do (I went for file backup as I do not need to backup the whole set of volumes presented to my virtual machine, you click next.
Endpoint 2 This is pretty self explanatory, in the view I chose presents me with the local volumes (in this case the system drive or ‘C drive’ for the old timers).  you can expand the folders and select a sub-selection of folders and files from here that you wish to backup. Once this is done, you may click next to select your target repository.
Endpoint 3 Now select the type of repository (where you want to backup the files to) and click next. For NAS shares, select ‘Shared Folder’. For another drive (perhaps an External USB or similar) select Local drive.
Endpoint 4 Select the location of the NAS share and enter your credentials if you need to authenticate. I selected my home NAS as a test repository.
Endpoint 5 This screen is asking how often you wish to backup? For those backup bunnies, this should be driven by your home RPO’s you set out in your Disaster Recovery plan :).
Endpoint 6 Finally, a summary page to confirm your selections. Once satisfied, click Finish! You can decide whether or not you wish to kick the backup job off immediately by ticking the box.
Endpoint 7 Thats it!  The backup job will start if you ticked the “Run the job when I click Finish” checkbox, if not, you can manually start the backup job at a later time.
Endpoint 8 Wolah! Complete! To configure a new backup, click the configure backup link again and refollow these steps.

Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions, in addition there are the Veeam Endpoint forums where other users will be posting questions and solutions to any queries they may have.

Go Veeam!

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Synology DS1621xs+ – A powerhouse NAS server 1/3 (Sponsored)Synology DS1621xs+ – A powerhouse NAS server 1/3 (Sponsored)

January 6, 2021January 6, 2021| AndreAndre| 0 Comment| 7:53 am

This is part one of a three-part (possibly four) blog post reviewing Synology DS1621xs+ NAS Device, it is multiple parts because quite simply the useful features Synology pack into this little powerhouse device cant be covered in just one post (or if it could, it would be very lengthy). It is not to serve as nor is it a post that provides performance metrics or an instructional post that guides you through setting up the device and how-tos. There are plenty of quality articles and videos out there that do that.

Introduction

Having worked in the storage field a long time, I have become somewhat familiar with I need in a backup device – stability, reliability, availability and of course performance. I have been running the Lenovo EMC px4-300d for probably seven years now, (and still yet to have any type of failure). That had a range of features which were useful but nothing that really amazed me. Sure the unit was solid and could inject it with a range of different drives balancing speed and capacity but it really is the software around any storage system that makes me take an interest and back then, there was not a huge amount of integration packages you could expand the unit’s capability.

Fast forward to this year and Synology was kind enough to send me one of their DS1621xs+ along with Synology M.2 NVMe SSDs to test out. While the hardware they pump into this little device (form factor dimensions here) is really impressive, once again it is the software that really brings the hardware specs to life allowing multiple use cases of which I will cover some throughout this multi-part post.

I’ll carve out the sections into these use case scenarios, and provide overall thoughts on what are the best parts, and where I can see for improvement opportunities for the DS1621xs+.

Installation and setup

Getting the device up and running was simple – Three cables to be exact – Power, and two ethernet ports for network access. I decided to have a dedicated point to point connection running to my work laptop as the main use I would be utilising is the time machine backup capability which I will cover in a later section. The other data connection connects into my home network where it has a range of devices supporting my smart home, media server capabilities and of course access to the internet.

Looking at the back of the device, you can see there is a variety of connection types, 1Gbe x 2, 10Gbe x 1 and eSATA x 2, plus a couple of USB-A 3.2 Gen 1ports in case you wanted to mount an external HDD and ingest the data from it to the device. Pretty handy, as it means you can take all of those backup USB drives you have been collecting over the years, and centralise all the data stored on them into one repository.

Internally, this is a little powerhouse, 8GB Memory to drove the multiple use cases, .I cant tell but this seems to be a single CPU device, meaning if the CPU dies then the NAS device stops working. Not a biggie, but most CPUS are inexpensive these days, and given the overall use casesservices this device can provide I would hope that a dual CPU option would be available to handle not just the workloads but also the SPOF. Other than that, the 4 core CPU means it is sufficient enough to handle a fair amount of workloads. I’m not aiming to stress test this thing, as this post is not focused on performance testing but I am comfortable enough that for my use case that this CPU has enough grunt to manage.

Another SPOF I did take note of is the single power input, so if you want high availability then invest in a smart UPS. In addition to this, it can house Dual M.2 2280 slots for NVMe Cache which Synology was kind enough to supply also, installation of these was relatively straight forward once you get the casing off.

Storage Hardware

Before I dive into the configuration and setup I couldn’t publish this post without touching on the awesome virtualization capabilities of this device, with full support for most virtualization solutions to enhance work efficiency with an easy management interface. VMware vSphere 6 and VAAI integration helps offload storage operations and optimises efficiency. This means when using block storage via ISCSI from the device, that you will see large operational write gains to help complete backup, snapshot and cloning tasks etc.

Configuration and Set-up

The Configuration of this device was super easy, once you power it on, you can then perform an initial discovery to detect (if using DHCP) which IP address has been assigned to it. And then you can browse to the web-assistants to get DiskStation Manager (or DSM) installed as this is the central management pane to do everything on the device, the installation took about 2 mins (even though it says 10 mins) – (reminds me of the old Windows file copy estimator).

Once the NVME was installed you can use DSM to quickly create your storage pool, assigning both the hard-drives and NVME drives to be utilised, I purchased a pair of Western Digital WD102KFBX Red PRO NAS 10TB 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s 7200RPM 256MB Cache HDDs which I found to be on the list of supported drive list for the Synology NAS. Configured in a RAID 1 group. Whilst this cut my useable storage space in half, it does provide a very high level of protection in case one of the drives fails (more on that later)

By now I had set up the NAS device for basic use, it was ready to start writing data to it, I had a number of personal photos, backups etc I was keen to transfer across which were being stored on my LenovoEMC NAS unit (which was still chugging along after many years!)

So overall I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get up and running, once the discovery had been finished – it was a straightforward process of just a few steps. Very intuitive.

Import from another Device into the Storage Pool

This is simply an excellent feature, this allows you to mount a remote folder (eg NFS, NFS4) and copy the data from that source to a volume on your Synology device and not putting the copy task on your own laptop for example. With a dedicated ethernet port, patched into my home network via 1Gbps – I was able to ingest a few terabytes of data from my other NAS device straight into a newly created volume across the two drives I had installed. I’ll cover that a bit more in-depth in the next post.

Stay tuned!

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