How to Handle Data Loss and Backup - High-Performance Web Databases: Design, Development, and Deployment - page 717

• Does the system bar manipulation of stored data? Is an electronic au-
dit trail of what happens to this data available to the organization s in-
ternal and external auditors?
• Does the system automatically retain specified data elements online,
while providing quick access to off-line items over any period of time
(but generally for a minimum of seven years)?
• Is the system cost-effective? Does it eliminate both the obvious and
hidden costs of conventional backup procedures, including the cost of
on-site storage equipment, off-site storage packaging, as well as the per-
sonnel required to back up, catalog, transport, store, and retrieve data?
A key point to consider in evaluating any backup routine is whether the
procedure facilitates disaster recovery. To ensure recovery, many small
and medium users consider outsourcing.
BACKUP METHOD COST COMPARISON
The costs associated with any backup mechanism cannot be over-
looked. Those organizations that back up data consistently incur measur-
able costs to maintain their backup procedures. These costs include not
only the time and cost of the people, equipment, and storage space needed
for a backup facility but, more critically, expenses associated with the time
to retrieve stored data. Retrieval, the reason organizations back up data, is
always labor intensive — an administrator must load and unload tapes,
label and store them, and retrieve them as necessary to restore data
requested by a user.
Organizations should compare the costs of outsourcing backup to that of
an in-house solution. In doing so, they should examine the following factors:
• Maintenance of data integrity (over any length of time).
• Safety of the storage facilities.
• Desired levels of control.
• Convenience of data access.
In addition, consideration must be given to the fact that an organization
cannot replace lost data, even if it receives significant insurance payments,
and the untimely delivery of data can be useless, if not disastrous, to an
organization if crucial information is unavailable when required for critical
decision making.
CONCLUSION
Information is the heart and soul of an organization. Accepting the
importance of data backup is the crucial first step in allocating the
resources necessary to ensure that data remains accessible, readable, and
retrievable.