The first thing that comes to mind is that the web companies would have to
hire and maintain a staff of qualified technicians who know more than just
how to connect a PC to the internet.
With the broad range of PC/Server combinations, operating systems on the
market there can be no real ready to sell cookie cutter solution. Every
solution for more than the smallest company would require quite a bit of
advanced research and support on a continuing basis in order to maintain a
viable remote backup system.
Again, the programs and hardware needed to support a remote backup system
are totally dependent on what the customer is using for it's primary system.
I used to work in an IT department for a company that provided network
support for other companies. Out data center and staff had to be available
on a 7/24 basis. To provide that kind support on a contracted basis we
built and maintained a backup operations center in another city that was
ready to staff and activate in around 8 hours or less. There was a backup
power system with a onsite 30 day fuel supply the generator. Enough food
and other supplies to keep the facility operating for a couple of weeks were
stored there as well. The food supply was kept updated (expiration dates
were checked). Food close to it's expiration date was donated to a charity
and replaced. A dedicated T1 connection between the host site and the
recovery site for transferring server data and other remote testing of the
restoral site. We also had Telco connections to multiple phone/data
carriers for redundancy with pre-scripted and tested rerouting of phone
numbers by the Telco's from our primary site to the backup. Most companies
would find this to be major overkill but I have seen other backup sites that
were much larger than ours and a few stored in semi trailers, complete with
Generators, PC's equipped for wireless and wired network, wireless routers,
and boxes of Ethernet cable and switches for a total mobile restoral
service.
The first 1 day test activation of our dedicated restoral site identified we
had coffee, equipment to make coffee, but no coffee cups... and I don't want
to think about a vital paper product that was found to be missing...
Subsequent testing ironed out the rest of the bugs, especially after the
boss authorized moving all operations to the backup facility for a complete
week, later done annually. We had many visitors during our annual
activation, some of them by other company managers wanting to build a site
similar to ours.
While working for a smaller outfit (prior to network solutions available
now) we were able to get by with making encrypted backups of the servers to
tape. These tapes were then sent to a secure warehouse by courier every
morning. The same currier would return a set of old tapes that were more
than 30 days old which would be erased and used at a later time. A second
set of encrypted tapes were sent home with an employee who was paid to store
them in a large gun locker, provided by the company.
Do not plan on keeping your only copies of the server information in the
same building, or even the same business park. A tornado or major fire
could wipe out your site along with the backup copies. It all depends on
how long a company can get by with out the use of the servers. As for the
servers themselves, I won't tell you how many companies have stored backup
copies of their data off site only to find out that it could take weeks, if
ever, to locate, purchase, and activate server hardware capable of loading
and using backed up data. Having a software backup it pretty much useless
unless you invest in the hardware needed to actually load and run the backup
data in advance of something like a computer room fire or major roof leak.
For smaller companies using one of the existing network backup services
might be a viable idea. You still need to identify and locate, purchase, or
lease the hardware needed to use the stored data should your original
hardware become unusable. Make sure it is not stored in the same facility
as the existing servers, and it is tested at lease once with live data.
Remotely stored data is useless unless you have something able to read it.
Backup software if great as long as someone remembers to install the same
version on the backup server. Finding out the wrong memory was installed or
a wrong server array setup is not something you want to run into when your
boss is looking over your shoulder asking when YOU can get the company can
get back in business.
Oh well, returning to the background clutter...
