We are generating more data than ever before, and that data’s becoming increasingly important to businesses: whether it’s shared assets such as raw video, customer relationship management data or your top-secret plans for world domination, your data is priceless – and irreplaceable. So how do you ensure that your data stays safe?
A good server-based system can protect your data in several key ways. It can protect your data through consolidation; it can protect your data through redundancy; it can protect your data through security measures; and it can protect your data through backing up. More than anything, though, servers protect your data by being really, really tough.
Tougher than the rest
Because servers have to cope with more demanding environments than traditional PCs, they’re built differently: components are carefully chosen for maximum reliability, cases are built using the most robust, durable materials and designed to maximise airflow for more effective cooling, and they’re tested, tested and tested again to ensure that they deliver all day, every day.
Dell’s PowerEdge R910 rack server is a good example: it’s built like a tank, and it’s as smart as it is solid. Its processors boast advanced reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features, its chassis is made from the most robust and durable materials, its components are subject to exceptionally strict quality standards and every single unit is tested and retested before it leaves the factory. It also includes embedded diagnostics to warn of potential problems before they occur.
Having rock-solid hardware is only part of the solution, though: you also need to protect against human error and other everyday disasters.
Everything in its right place
One of the most effective ways to keep data safe is to centralise it. No matter how smart your employees, if everybody’s data is their own responsibility there’s always a risk that it might be damaged: laptops can be lost, or dropped, or left in taxis (and often are, especially ones belonging to organisations who really ought to know better, such as the security forces), hard disks can fail, PCs can be compromised by malware, essential files can be accidentally overwritten and so on. By storing or keeping copies of important data centrally, you can ensure that when such problems occur – and in most organisations it’s definitely a case of “when” rather than “if” – they’re annoyances, not disasters of epic proportions.
With a server-based system, security is centralised: virus scanning, spam protection and email filtering can occur on the server, users’ file downloads can be screened and access to specific files or data can be limited to the people who actually need to use it, vastly reducing the risk of malware infection, data damage and people mucking about when they’re supposed to be working.
Centralising data benefits from other forms of security too. Uninterruptible power supplies can prevent power fluctuations or power cuts from damaging files, while hardware redundancy means that even hard disk failures can’t bring down your data: RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) systems use multiple hard disks so that if one disk fails, its data doesn’t disappear. Some servers use redundant power supplies too, which prevents the failure of a unit from stopping the server, while others use hot-swappable drives so that hard disks can be replaced without rebooting or powering down.
One of the biggest benefits of centralised data is easy backup: instead of hoping that everybody’s remembered to backup their files, a server-based system can automatically ensure that you have backups of everything that matters to your organisation. There are three ways to do that: with clones, with snapshots and with mirroring. A clone is an identical copy of a volume, such as a hard disk partition; a snapshot is a copy of a file or volume that’s been changed, which is like a clone but requires considerably less space; and mirroring is duplication of entire disks. Depending on the size of your organisation those backups might be stored on external hard disks or using a dedicated backup appliance such as Dell’s PowerVault DL.
Ahead in the clouds
In addition to traditional, on-site backups, firms are increasingly turning to the cloud. Cloud-based backup solutions connect you to secure, off-site data centres via the internet, enabling your organisation to benefit from enterprise-level hardware, encryption and security without breaking the bank. Whether it’s a single laptop or a stack of servers, cloud-based services such as Dell’s cloud-based backup protect you against software corruption, accidental file deletion, hard drive failures, theft and acts of God.
A good server-based system can protect your data in several key ways. It can protect your data through consolidation; it can protect your data through redundancy; it can protect your data through security measures; and it can protect your data through backing up. More than anything, though, servers protect your data by being really, really tough.
Tougher than the rest
Because servers have to cope with more demanding environments than traditional PCs, they’re built differently: components are carefully chosen for maximum reliability, cases are built using the most robust, durable materials and designed to maximise airflow for more effective cooling, and they’re tested, tested and tested again to ensure that they deliver all day, every day.
Dell’s PowerEdge R910 rack server is a good example: it’s built like a tank, and it’s as smart as it is solid. Its processors boast advanced reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features, its chassis is made from the most robust and durable materials, its components are subject to exceptionally strict quality standards and every single unit is tested and retested before it leaves the factory. It also includes embedded diagnostics to warn of potential problems before they occur.
Having rock-solid hardware is only part of the solution, though: you also need to protect against human error and other everyday disasters.
Everything in its right place
One of the most effective ways to keep data safe is to centralise it. No matter how smart your employees, if everybody’s data is their own responsibility there’s always a risk that it might be damaged: laptops can be lost, or dropped, or left in taxis (and often are, especially ones belonging to organisations who really ought to know better, such as the security forces), hard disks can fail, PCs can be compromised by malware, essential files can be accidentally overwritten and so on. By storing or keeping copies of important data centrally, you can ensure that when such problems occur – and in most organisations it’s definitely a case of “when” rather than “if” – they’re annoyances, not disasters of epic proportions.
With a server-based system, security is centralised: virus scanning, spam protection and email filtering can occur on the server, users’ file downloads can be screened and access to specific files or data can be limited to the people who actually need to use it, vastly reducing the risk of malware infection, data damage and people mucking about when they’re supposed to be working.
Centralising data benefits from other forms of security too. Uninterruptible power supplies can prevent power fluctuations or power cuts from damaging files, while hardware redundancy means that even hard disk failures can’t bring down your data: RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) systems use multiple hard disks so that if one disk fails, its data doesn’t disappear. Some servers use redundant power supplies too, which prevents the failure of a unit from stopping the server, while others use hot-swappable drives so that hard disks can be replaced without rebooting or powering down.
One of the biggest benefits of centralised data is easy backup: instead of hoping that everybody’s remembered to backup their files, a server-based system can automatically ensure that you have backups of everything that matters to your organisation. There are three ways to do that: with clones, with snapshots and with mirroring. A clone is an identical copy of a volume, such as a hard disk partition; a snapshot is a copy of a file or volume that’s been changed, which is like a clone but requires considerably less space; and mirroring is duplication of entire disks. Depending on the size of your organisation those backups might be stored on external hard disks or using a dedicated backup appliance such as Dell’s PowerVault DL.
Ahead in the clouds
In addition to traditional, on-site backups, firms are increasingly turning to the cloud. Cloud-based backup solutions connect you to secure, off-site data centres via the internet, enabling your organisation to benefit from enterprise-level hardware, encryption and security without breaking the bank. Whether it’s a single laptop or a stack of servers, cloud-based services such as Dell’s cloud-based backup protect you against software corruption, accidental file deletion, hard drive failures, theft and acts of God.
0 comments:
Post a Comment