With two or three updates a year, Storage Protect is regularly improving its service and adding powerful new features. Interestingly, many of its users don’t always take advantage of these upgrades when the product releases land.
As a data backup and recovery platform, Predatar appreciates the value of IBM’s innovations, and we want to show you just some of the benefits that come from the latest Storage Protect releases.
If you want to know more about the releases and how they’ll help you keep your business and its data protected, you can view our free 30-minute webinar here. Led by Steve Miller, Chief Technology Officer at Predatar, you’ll learn how to best protect your DB backups and get even more from your Storage Protect investment.
Benefit #1 – Modernize your database backup process with cloud object storage.
As more organisations move towards a modern, tapeless infrastructure, there’s been a greater demand for a more streamlined database backup process. With IBM’s latest Storage Protect release (V8.1.10), you can now save your backups in a secure, secondary location – without provisioning extra storage or physically shifting tapes. These large DB backups can now be pushed to the S3 pool of your choosing (Google Cloud became available in the November release) and live off-site in encrypted, easily accessible cloud object storage. What’s more, this flexible solution will reduce the amount you spend on your infrastructure as you only pay for what you use.
Benefit #2 – Get second-site protection and recover from cloud backups.
Great news, you can now create an air gap without tape! If you protect your database in S3, and also store your data in Public Cloud, Storage Protect makes it much easier to protect you against single-site failure.
Thanks to this release, if you have a copy of your data in an S3 pool and your primary site becomes contaminated, all is not lost. As the backup is so geographically distant, the likelihood of the malware reaching it is slim. Yes, recovery may take a little longer than with tape but, for businesses that operate from only one location, this is the perfect solution for distancing your data. To make the fix, simply hook the server up to the object storage pools – that are safe in the cloud – and you’ll be good to go.
Benefit #3 – Create retention sets for long-term data.
A couple of versions ago, IBM introduced retention sets. Since this release, you’re now able to create point-in-time retention sets and make the most of efficient monthly backups. By defining a retention rule, you can leverage the data you already have on your backup system and create point-in-time backups to complement your daily ones. Basically, you’re telling Storage Protect not to delete existing data, until the retention set expires.
What’s more, you can also create a ‘retention hold’ to stop important data from ever being deleted. This bypasses previously established expiration dates and keeps hold of the specified data until you say differently.
Benefit #4 – Strengthen your security with default TLS.
Since Storage Protect release V8.1.2, there have been various enhancements which will help to protect your data and bolster your security. Where previously using Transport Layer Security was optional, it’s now compulsory – meaning you must exchange certificates when you authenticate. While this makes it harder for people to impersonate a client and restore backups, a more recent update has also introduced an admin sign-off process for any destructive commands. As soon as someone attempts to delete or remove data, your designated admin/s will be notified and need to approve the action.
Want to learn more? Watch our webinar recording.
Make the most of every Storage Protect release with guidance from Predatar’s Chief Technology Officer, Steve Miller. In our 30-minute webinar Steve takes you through all of Storage Protect’s 2020 releases and shares even more of the business benefits that can come from these simple updates.
Watch it now: Make the most of every Storage Protect release
