How to manage enterprise data under cloud storage

 

While most it directors and data management experts acknowledge that there are no comprehensive security solutions to protect and restore data, they agree that organizations should take some necessary steps.
So what preventive measures should enterprises take in the event of a disaster in important documents and applications? 12 opinions from data storage, data management, and disaster recovery experts were reviewed here.
　　1. perform data evaluation
Data evaluation helps you understand the high-value data assets in an enterprise-your customer information and other sensitive data, which files are used in large quantities, and who is using them, the Department. With intelligence and data classification, you can better consider which data requires priority for disaster recovery and which users need access.
According to the 80/20 rule, not all data is equally important. Frankly speaking, it may be expensive to ensure that each piece of data is available. In fact, most of the data does not involve key business functions. By applying the 80/20 rule, a company can hierarchy key data and applications and decide which 20% require critical protection.
　　2. Cooperating with trusted partners to prevent data/system disasters
With an experienced partner, you can ensure that your cloud storage and disaster recovery (DR) solutions meet your business needs and meet the capabilities of your IT department. You can consider Integrated Device solutions to reduce complexity, use Remote Backup management to reduce operational impact and risks, and consider internal websites and Dr providers based on existing settings and cloud recovery options.
　　3. define acceptable recovery times and select the appropriate storage medium
Think about "you need to restore data at multiple times ". The cheapest way is to use tape and repeat it offline. You need to wait a few days to restore the data. Understand the critical value of the waiting time for data recovery to determine which storage medium to use-disk or tape? Cloud or local? -- Find a suitable method for your company.
Many companies think that a reasonable recovery point objective (RPO, mainly refers to the amount of data loss that business systems can tolerate) is 24 hours. If the business really loses the time/data volume, the impact may be several times the cost of any actual disaster recovery solution. Find a solution that provides continuous data protection, RPO in seconds, and RTO ).
　　4. Create a disaster recovery plan and perform tests
Develop a written disaster recovery plan. Obviously, in the face of complicated old replication and disaster recovery methods, it is easy to forget the most important aspects of disaster recovery. Therefore, develop a written disaster recovery plan.
Ideally, people can manage various tests from a single management interface, from replication, management, protection groups, fault recovery to failover. Create a dedicated service level protocol for replication, create a virtual protection group, and select the virtual machine to be protected.
From human errors to component failures to natural disasters, consider the risks that are most likely to threaten your business. Consider a cost-creative way to protect your data from these threats geographically. You may need to access the second data center or cloud computing-based policy, all servers in the infrastructure must be taken into account (such as Windows, Linux, and ibm aix running on Physical Virtual and cloud platforms ). Your solution must provide off-site protection to protect all server types.
Then, test the plan multiple times to make sure it is successful. Tests can detect all differences. It will help CIOs discover any defects in their work plans and ensure they are prepared for Data leaks or disasters.
　　5. Ensure that sensitive data is properly encrypted
Effective data disaster prevention requires backing up encrypted data.
Full backup of dynamic or static encrypted data can prevent unauthorized user access and effectively reduce data exposure. Security-oriented organizations must follow rules and regulations to maintain the security of sensitive data. Encryption can prevent security vulnerabilities and eliminate reputational and profit losses caused by media hot discussion. If you use a cloud-based solution, make sure that the process has been reviewed and that the encryption key is secure.
　　6. Regularly back up snapshot data
If you have not set automatic backup, no policy can work effectively. Whether it's your enterprise data center, Dr site, or cloud, make sure all key data is backed up as planned. This can prevent business downtime and disaster.
Perform real snapshot backup, not just raid images or database copies. If someone or something intentionally or unintentionally sends a command to overwrite or delete data, your RAID Controller or database replication will completely delete the data. The advantage of mobile media (TAPE) is that it does not produce unexpected events unless someone physically operates.
　　7. Ensure that key applications are accessible
If you want to ensure that your business continues to run during the downtime, it is not enough to protect data only. Ensure that key applications can be virtualized in the cloud so that your employees can maintain productivity.
　8. Do not ignore laptops
Most disaster recovery plans focus on protecting data centers. Although data center security is critical, almost 2/3 of enterprise data is stored outside the data center, according to Gartner. For example, a laptop is far less elastic than a data center's server and disk array, and is prone to loss or theft. Therefore, it is necessary to put similar devices such as laptops in your Dr plan.
　　9. Follow the 3-2-1 Rules
If an enterprise wants to truly be able to defend against data disasters, it must follow the 3-2-1 rule: three copies of data are stored in two different media, one of which is remote storage.
Based on the 3-2-1 rule, it can eliminate any single point of failure. For example, if an enterprise depends on San snapshots (which is suitable for regular backup), it needs to create backups for these snapshots to obtain multiple backups, at least one of which is stored in a remote location.
　　10. perform remote backup and save it in a secure location
How "remote" is determined by your estimation and worry about risks. If your data center is in San Jose, a large earthquake will destroy all your infrastructure. Therefore, it is best to reserve backups outside San Jose. Therefore, consider potential threats in the local area and make appropriate plans.
　11. store data in a secure cloud
In the current environment, one of the most secure ways to protect enterprise data is to host the data into a cloud environment. In fact, it is to put your network in a hosted cloud environment and then deliver it as needed. Your suppliers are responsible for providing security, update, redundancy, failover, and business continuity.
Currently, cloud storage providers provide secure, high-availability services and mature cloud gateways. Companies can improve service and geographic redundancy preparedness through multiple cloud storage providers. Cloud storage improves backup costs, improves performance, and significantly reduces recovery point objective (RPO) by avoiding outdated tape and remote storage methods ).
　12. Test recovery and test again
If you cannot recover to the test phase, all the backups in the world cannot save you. Therefore, test and then test. Random Recovery is performed every week. Perform disaster recovery testing and review your data pool. Always restore your data.