Vista Automatic Re-boots Adds Complexity to Disaster Recovery
In the Vista environment Disaster plan need to take into account security and the automatic reboot processes. No longer is the user in control of what happens when and wither it can be postponed. Image the situation where you have to get a mission critical system back in operation and you restore point is before the last one of these automatic updates. The problem is more complex as enterprises slowly move away from IT and Business alignment towards IT and Business convergence. Today, with the dependence of business operations on Information Technology and the slow acceptance of Vista as the operating system of choice this will become a more critical problem. Appropriately Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity need to be updated to reflect this new dependence.
AC failure shuts down government computers
A massive air-conditioning failure at a state office complex shut down government computer traffic statewide and forced emergency managers to begin backup plans. The states main Web site, MyFlorida.com, was down or slowed to a crawl much of the morning and unable to handle the 3 million inquiries it gets daily, including applications for state licenses.E-mail traffic in the governers office also was disrupted. A chiller plant at the Capital Circle Office Complex began leaking at about 5:15 p.m. on Monday and was shut down a few hours later, said Department of Management Services.
PSA: Electrical Safety in Your Home After a Disaster
Power outages and flooding can cause electrical hazards in and around your home
Disk to Disk (D2D) Could be a Qucik Solution for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
The last few years have seen a number of information technology trends converge, transforming disk-to-disk backup (D2D) from something merely feasible into an attractive addition to the IT portfolio. D2D technology brings many key benefits to your IT infrastructure, including shorter backup windows, faster restores, quicker nearline access, investment protection by leveraging existing tape hardware, and better backup economy through incremental backups. For several decades, tape drives and tape media have been the preferred enterprise backup solution. But now, modern backup software supports writing to a disk file as though it was another backup device. Often this is implemented by emulating a tape device with special characteristics, allowing the disk file to easily integrate into the rest of the existing software architecture. The common term for this is virtual tape. Some backup software also supports the creation of multiple emulated devices and combining them into virtual tape libraries, referred to as VTL. D2D backup uses these virtual tapes to save backup data by writing to the VTL, and restores the backup data by reading from the VTL. Using hard disk drives as the underlying storage media brings all the advantages of random access, high volume manufacturing, disk reliability, RAID, and familiar technology.
Disaster Recovery and Compliance
Disaster recovery and remote backup strategies need to take into account not just technical issues, but also how to implement those strategies within the letter and spirit of applicable legislation. CFOs and CIOs need to take care that a seemingly simple plan for disaster recovery does not in turn create a potential legal disaster. A compliance-based managed services provider (CMSP) can reduce risk and cost for many businesses.
PSA: Proper Use of Candles During a Power Outage
If possible, use flashlights or other battery-operated lights instead of candles if the power is out in your home
Cyber Attacks Can Impact Your Disaster Plan
A cyber attack reported last week by one of the federal government’s nuclear weapons laboratories may have originated in China, according to a confidential memorandum distributed Wednesday to public and private security officials by the Department of Homeland Security. Security researchers said the memorandum, which was obtained by The New York Times from an executive at a private company, included a list of Web and Internet addresses that were linked to locations in China. However, they noted that such links did not prove that the Chinese government or Chinese citizens were involved in the attacks. In the past, intruders have compromised computers in China and then used them to disguise their true location. Officials at the lab, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, said the attacks did not compromise classified information, though they acknowledged that they were still working to understand the full extent of the intrusion. - more info
Keeping track of resources in a disaster
GPS Track Stick is a GPS logging device. Utilizing Global Positioning System satellites, the track stick will accurately log its location in pre-set intervals. The GPS Track Stick works anywhere on planet earth. Built into every GPS Track Stick is a USB 1.1 connector, which makes downloading data onto your PC a breeze. The GPS Track Stick includes integration software that is amazing! Data can be exported in standard HTML, EXCEL, Google Earth KML, and RTF file formats. The data records the following parameters of the GPS Track Stick - Date, Time, Latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Speed, If the unit stopped and for what time frame, Direction of travel (N, W, E, S), GPS Fix and Signal Strength. Settings with the included software are adjustable. When integrated with Google Earth, the Track Stick gives the user an amazingly accurate view of where the device has been. The GPS Track Stick device will give you an accurate (within 15 meters) historical readout of where the tracking stick has been anywhere in the world. This is a GPS Logging device and does not track in real-time. Know Where Anyone Or Anything Has Been Employers - give to your employees; monitor routes and speeds Parents - know where your children have been Cars, Boats, Planes, Rockets (Altitude)
PSA: Staying Safe Around Dogs After a Disaster
Dogs can be scared and stressed after a natural disaster and may be more likely to bite or scratch their owners or other people
Disaster Plan & Business Continuity Infrastructure
The key technology elements of a Disaster Recovery Plan and Business Continuity Plan (DRP/BCP) infrastructure are the prima ry data center, a remote site that duplicates the resources in that primary location and the method used to get files (master and transaction) between the two sites such as high-bandwidth network connections. The best DRP/BCP strategies follow a “redundant every thing” philosophy throughout the data center. Multiple mainframes and servers should run in the production and backup data facilities. Then, if a component in the production system encounters problems, it immediately fails over to the local backup as a first line of defense. Power supplies and communication links are one of the most critical components in a DRP/BCP strategy.
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