Author: Ben Hodge

190 miles in 90 minutes, 6G in the turns and speeds of over 210mph. These are just some of the statistics that make F1 the global spectacle that it is.

All it takes to win is the fastest car and the best driver, right? Not quite. Take the Mercedes F1 team for example. For 7 years, they’ve been the team to beat but this year, they’re facing an evolved Red Bull team with a car and a driver to rival their own star of the show. For the first time since 2013, Red Bull are also leading both the constructors and the drivers’ championship.

Why is this, and what’s it got to do with cyber resilience?

We could just assume that their car and their driver are the stronger competitor, but there’s more to it than this. Over those 7 years, Red Bull have been evolving, innovating, and looking for ways to close the gap. In fact, they hold the world’s fastest pitstop ever (1.82 seconds!) for this very reason. In the meantime, they’ve also been working on developing a car and recruiting the right driver to rival Mercedes. In fact, it’s pretty clear that Mercedes have started to slip up. So, some might say that this has left Red Bull with a sturdier racing strategy with greater longevity and chance of success than Mercedes.

But hey, we hear you. You’re not here to learn more about F1, you’re here because you know that the world is undergoing a digital transformation, and this means you need to keep up. You might say, the race is on. Get it now? We thought you might.

The race to resiliency

Not unlike F1, the race to resiliency in an evolving digital world is highly competitive and pressurised. It takes agility, consistent development, investment, and commitment to continuous improvement. And, much like a sponsorship, it also requires selecting strategic partners to help you get to where you need to be. With these assets, businesses are in the game, but are they in a position to get ahead? Are they future-ready? Not necessarily.

Pitstops

You’ve got the car (the technology), you’ve got the driver (your partners, employees, and stakeholders), but are you practicing? At Predatar, we’d hazard a guess to say that many businesses are perhaps not practicing and testing their cyber resilience strategy as much as they ought to be. Even with the right tools, you’re not guaranteed foolproof cyber resiliency against advancing ransomware. We think an effective disaster recovery plan and continuous testing is the key to sustained success when you’re in the race to cyber resiliency.

But why aren’t businesses doing this more vigilantly? Simply, it’s complex, costly, and time-consuming. But without these investments, businesses will be making the same mistakes as Mercedes. Without practicing and testing on a regular basis, they won’t have the competitive edge they need to because they will not be able to perform effectively enough when it’s most critical to do so.

Powering through

This is where automation comes in. By using automation to power resiliency, businesses will be able to greatly limit cost, reduce time and reduce the complexity of regular testing. As a result, when that critical time comes and ransomware takes hold of your important data, your backup and recovery processes will be operating like a well-oiled machine. Ransomware? More like ransom who! (We’ll let ourselves out after that one).

To round things off, if you want the competitive edge for your business’ cyber resilience strategy, contact us for some free advice on how you can quickly supercharge your IBM Storage Protect estate. We’re here to keep you one step ahead in the race for resiliency and ready for the finish line.

Welcome to the Summer of 2021. We’ve made it through what can only be described as a year and a half of both ordered and disordered chaos for much of the global population. From the onset of a global pandemic to fast and furious ransomware attacks on our world’s most seemingly secure industries. And let’s not forget, the general upheaval to everyday life – it’s been a challenge.

If I hear the phrase ‘remote working’ one more time…

One of the biggest issues the IT industry has faced globally is the switch to remote working. Yes, we know. You’ve heard it all before. But stay with us. Having to protect remote workers from cyber threats in the same way you would in an office is no easy task. It’s a process that includes maintaining cloud and on-premise office spaces; constrained budgets and unprecedented cost-cutting, all whilst trying to keep up with evolving technology.

Trying to do more with less has never been pushed on IT departments as much as it has been over the past year and a half. With stress levels boiling throughout major industries and cyber threats looming around every corner, the mental health of employees has been a casualty of war during the pandemic. For IT teams, keeping businesses afloat – and piecing together the strangeness of remote working company-wide – has been a particularly arduous and difficult task.

Of course, this is on top of the other trials and tribulations that the pandemic has had to offer. When your IT teams are fighting battles on both fronts, it can certainly feel a little hopeless at times. Maintaining a company’s infrastructure and cyber security at a time like this is a bitter pill to swallow. So, in the words of the late and great Robin Williams, be kind, always! This could mean taking a closer look at company culture; but it can also mean easing the pressure on your IT teams through various means, like automating tedious tasks, keeping your software up-to-date, or even implementing new, more efficient systems.

Incidents, incidents, incidents

Over the last year, the sheer number of blogs, articles, and reports on incidents and breaches is staggering. A quick look on the UK Government cyber page is enough nightmare fuel to power IT teams for a decade.

Let’s take a closer look at this.

“Four in ten businesses (39%) and a quarter of charities (26%) report having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months. Like previous years, this is higher among medium businesses (65%), large businesses (64%) and high-income charities (51%)[footnote 1].

This year, fewer businesses are identifying breaches or attacks than in 2020 (when it was 46%), while the charity results are unchanged. This could be the result of a reduction in trading activity from businesses during the pandemic, which may have inadvertently made some businesses temporarily less detectable to attackers this year.

However, other quantitative and qualitative evidence from the study suggests that the risk level is potentially higher than ever under COVID-19, and that businesses are finding it harder to administer cyber security measures during the pandemic. For example, fewer businesses are now deploying security monitoring tools (35%, vs. 40% last year) or undertaking any form of user monitoring (32% vs. 38%). Therefore, this reduction among businesses possibly suggests that they are simply less aware than before of the breaches and attacks their staff are facing.”

And breathe. In short, get help. Get testing, get patching and voice your concerns business-wide.

So, what now?

Let’s be honest, we already knew that the IT landscape isn’t looking inviting in 2021. With sophisticated attacks (think Sony and Solar Winds) affecting so many companies, lying dormant for months, it’s hard to comprehend just how much damage has been done! When the tools you use to keep your business protected get compromised in an attack, it’s imperative you have a good backup strategy to get you safely and securely out of hot water.

So, we’re here to remind you that you’re not alone and to ask for help. These tips may just shed some light.

1. Make a Disaster Recovery plan and test it! Not all systems are created equal, so some documentation goes a long way on understanding how things work
2. Embrace multiple operating systems – Mix and match! Viruses are normally coded for a particular operating system *Cough, Windows*. Have at least one backup server on a different OS.
3. Embrace the 3-2-1 Backup Model. The 3-2-1 backup strategy simply states that you should have 3 copies of your data (your production data and 2 backup copies) on two different media (disk and tape/cloud) with one copy off-site for disaster recovery
4. Patch everything 4 times a year, at a minimum. If you can’t upgrade it and keep it secure, consider this: why do you still have it?
5. Remind your users to engage their brains in opening emails and receiving files from people.
6. Don’t just take that 3^rd party’s word their new software is safe or even your own. Test it. Check it. Patch it.
7. Embrace your shortcomings and reach out. Escalate it. Outsource work, or at the very least, try to spark up a conversation.
8. If you’re using Storage Protect and are finding the admin and management of it troublesome, look into Predatar, or at the very least Predatar Insights

To conclude as it were, it’s tough out there. If you’re concerned about the management of your infrastructure, give us a call or drop us an email. We may have the right solution, even if it’s just an airgap for your backups on-premise or in the cloud. Look after your infrastructure, but more importantly, look after your people.

Signing off!

Blog written by | Anton James | IT Manager, Predatar

Short answer? Very important. When customers are talking to us about the security of their backups, there are some phrases that come up again and again. The unforgiving reality of ransomware attacks is beginning to sink in, and ‘if’ has become ‘when’. So, whilst your backup environment might be the recovery repository of your last resort, it’s important to ensure that environment is also uncompromised.

So, what about those terms and phrases that we keep hearing? You won’t be surprised to know that a lot of our customers are asking about immutable backups and airgaps. Sometimes, they’re considering going old school and making a copy of their data to tape, just to be on the safe side. And with an increasing threat vector, we think it’s great that people are becoming more aware of these issues. Even if you haven’t fallen victim to ransomware, it’s important to consider how your business would respond in the event of a disaster.

What is an airgap?

But what is an airgap? In short, an airgap is a security measure that ensures a secure network is isolated from an unsecured network. In which case, there’s no doubt that you should be thinking about them. And, more importantly, considering whether a physical or virtual airgap is the right choice for you and your business. A physical airgap will undoubtedly give you a greater measure of security and resilience against ransomware, but you may have to make compromises around data availability. So, you need to be asking yourself: which risk is the most important to mitigate?

Physical airgaps

Your tapes can only get written to when they are mounted on a drive, but there are good reasons why organisations have moved away from tape; the lack of speed when it comes to recoverability and a reduction in costs for disk-based backup to name just two.  But if you are only storing your backup data on disk, you’re going to run into some issues eventually, even more now than ever before. If you’re storing your critical backup data on a filesystem that’s within your current infrastructure, you’ve got to do your best to make sure that it’s not open to the same risks.

• Is your data stored on a standard Windows filesystem?
• Is that system regularly patched?
• Is that system on the domain and thus accessible by the same domain IDs that can access other machines on the network?

It probably sounds like we’re telling you to assume the worst. And you’d be right, that’s exactly what we’re telling you to do. Always suppose that somebody unauthorised will try to get into your systems, and then make it as challenging as possible for that to happen. If that makes it harder for Backup Administrators to get into the infrastructure as well, good. It’s a job well done.

Virtual airgaps

But what about a virtual air gap? And can it give you the same level of security that you’d get from a physical airgap?

Let’s consider the scenario where you’re starting to use a connection to cloud infrastructure. You continue to store the copy of your data on a Windows based infra on the cloud. In this case, although you may be taking advantage of the distance and the http cloud connection, your windows server is still going to be at risk. Ask yourself the following questions about your data security:

• Is it accessible via public IP?
• Are you ensuring the patching of that server is up to date?
• Is it as secure (or more secure) than your on-premise environments?

Rather than storing the data on a traditional filesystem within the cloud, you’ll get more security if you’re storing the additional copy of the data on Object Storage using the S3 Protocol. You can take advantage of redundancy or snapshots on offer from the Cloud Provider, and the data is generally only going to be accessible if you have access to it via API. That’s less exposed than relying on AD authentication. Whilst it doesn’t give you the full immutability that you’d have if you were storing that copy on offsite tape, you might find that it’s the compromise that you’re willing to take between Data Availability and Data Security.

Fancy learning more about airgaps or what you can do to ensure your networks are kept secure? Give our experts a call here or drop us an email at info@predatar.com

If you’re in the tech industry, you’ll no doubt have heard the term ‘modernisation’. So, why do organisations need to modernise and transform their data protection systems? We’re always assuming that organisations are looking to modernise. But, it’s worth us looking back now and then to understand what the drivers are for modernisation.

So, let’s cut to the chase. Simply; workloads and customer requirements have changed. Data protection needs to evolve just to keep pace, let alone stay ahead.

Ten years ago…

What about now?

It’s clear that you’ve modernised in more ways than one. But, many organisations still have infrastructure sitting on-premise. This is either because of choice or because of circumstance. Of course, that’s not to say that on-premise doesn’t have its place; it does. The bottom line is you still need to protect all these systems, wherever they may be.

What now?

Data protection is the final port of call for data resilience. This means that modernising it is a crucial step to achieve optimal resilience for you and your business. Organisations must ensure that the copy of their last resort is there when they need it. More importantly, they need to ensure this is the case across the entirety of their infrastructure. As that infrastructure changes, data protection needs to keep pace.

For more information on modernising your data protection environments, you can view a whitepaper that Evaluator Group has produced in partnership with Predatar here.

It’s becoming a harsh reality that despite your best efforts to protect your businesses from ransomware threats, cybercriminals are always finding new ways to do their dirty work. Attacks are becoming more elaborate and stealthier. In other words, digital transformation isn’t just happening to the good guys. When you get your hands on new technology, the typical threat actor won’t be far behind you.

Out with the old, in with the new (and improved)

This is why it’s crucial to modernize your backup and recovery. New attack tools and methods are the MO of successful attacks, so it’s not enough to just keep up. You need to be ahead of the game. Typically, staying ahead of the game falls to your security professionals who do whatever is within their power to rescue your data post-attack. This often occurs when ransom negotiations are already actively underway. So, it’ll come as no surprise to you that time is of the essence at that stage. Anything and everything that can be done to prepare for an attack should be done in advance.

Are you tough enough?

In one of our previous blogs on recovering from a ransomware attack, we discuss a similar concept. Scrupulous planning, design, and attention to detail are all important factors in being cyber resilient. But the real resiliency lies in the flexibility of people, processes, and technology to address novel threats. The exact nature of attacks and ransom demands are always difficult to predict. But all is not lost, a few key measures go a long way in softening the blow of attacks and improving your protection.

Optimizing your backup environments

But what happens when the threat actors have penetrated the backup environment itself? It’s a difficult situation, but all is not lost. If you’re prepared with a simple, automated process in the event of an attack, you’ll likely be able to recover the majority, if not all, of your data. At Predatar, using the Predatar platform, we add layers of automated cyber resiliency to the backup application itself. We do this by alerting to intrusive behavior or unusual user activity. The platform also provides a forensic command search feature. This feature can be applied worldwide and allows you to detect and block strange activity.

What about people power?

Automation is key to optimizing your backups, but it’s not always one-size-fits-all. A variety of talent and skills amongst your people is imperative. On some occasions, the Predatar platform may not be alerted to the compromise by network security. This can happen if the attack MO is particularly unusual or complex. In which case, it may be unable to detect the attack through an IoC backup scan or deviation alarm. So, what then? The platform harbors another layer of resiliency. Any qualified Predatar user can sound the alarm and describe the details of the attack, its signature and the extent of the infection.

At this point, all decision-makers and everyone with the correct permissions will be notified. In the meantime, Predatar automatically searches for and recovers critical assets to a quarantine area. There they will stay until given the all-clear to be moved into production or an alternative environment. Finally, all those assembled will be able to inspect the recovered files and devise a plan of action.

That’s right Storage Protect users, it’s time. IBM has announced its End of Support for Storage Protect v7 by the end of 2021. If you’re still a user of version 7, this might sound like a big deal. So, let’s break it down and ensure you know what this means for you and your company.

The IBM Software Lifecycle

Firstly, IBM has a software lifecycle for each of its software products. This means that they commit to continued support for them for a certain amount of time, even after the software is updated. Their stated target is for 5 years from release but you may recall that Version 7 of Storage Protect was originally released in January 2014. This means that they’ve supported it for 7 years already!

I’m not ready to upgrade!

If you decide that you’re not quite ready to modernize your company’s backup and recovery requirements, don’t panic. The End of Support Date doesn’t mean that the older version of the software will stop working. You’re able to carry on using it if you like. And, if you do still require IBM to support you, they can give you a quote for extended support.

What happens to my support after the End of Support date if I don’t upgrade?

After this, if there’s a problem that needs a code upgrade to fix, you’ll have to upgrade to the latest version. Rather than paying extra for bespoke support, we recommend upgrading to the latest version as early as possible. This will allow you to streamline your backup environment and ensure you have airtight control over your data.

What are the benefits of upgrading to version 8?

In terms of the upgrade process, upgrade pains that were present in previous versions have now been ironed out. This has made it significantly more straightforward to upgrade from Version 7 to Version 8. However, you might have to consider whether your operating system is supported. If it isn’t, you’ll have to assess whether you can do an in-place upgrade or whether you need to move to new infrastructure. That’s where we come in. Our experts at Predatar can help you review your options, just give us a call or if you’re stuck for time, fill out our contact page here and we’ll be in touch.

On the whole, the benefits of a move are many.

• Advanced security functions in Version 8 mean that your backup data will be more secure
• Advanced cloud tiering options allow you to push your data or your database backups to more variations of public cloud than ever before.
• The closer integration with Storage Protect Plus means you can use that to back up more cloud workloads and then offload that data into Storage Protect.

If you missed it, you can watch our webinar on this topic here, where our Chief Technology Officer answers all of your burning questions.

What is it and why does it matter so much?

Let’s take a closer look at how NPS boosts business and keeps boosting business over time.

In essence, the key purpose of an NPS survey is to measure customer loyalty by categorising their customers into three groups:

1. Passives
2. Detractors
3. Promoters

The result of an NPS calculation is an overview of which customers…

• Would recommend your company (are staunchly loyal customers who are key to the running of an organization)
• Wouldn’t recommend your company (are likely to actively search for business elsewhere)
• Are neutral (are neither ecstatic nor displeased with a service but may go elsewhere if they are offered something at lower cost)

Leading with Loyalty

Naturally, organizations with high NPS scores and a high percentage of promoters thus have the bragging rights to assert their resounding successes with customer loyalty and customer success management.

In fact, according to research done by Bain & Company, the masterminds behind the NPS system, ‘companies that enjoy this ‘loyalty effect’ grow at better than twice the average for their industry’. You can read more about this in their article here. 

The palpable upside to this, is that it gives potential customers the reassurance and encouragement they need to take the next step in engaging with your business. But alas, a high NPS score is by no means a guarantee that an organization’s customer success levels are future ready and dependable.

An Important Asset for SaaS and B2B Organizations

As a SaaS or B2B organization, eight times out of ten, there won’t be a physical product to market.

Look at this way, a shop might be selling a scented candle. Someone buys it, they really like it and so they show it to their friend and ask them to smell it. The friend likes the look and smell of the candle too, so they go to the store and buy their own. As a SaaS or B2B organization, we often don’t have that physicality. To foster customer loyalty, the customer service within a SaaS or B2B organization must be agile with high visibility. You can read more about agile customer service in our blog, here.

To put it simply, our scented candle is our NPS score. We’re not just selling a product, we’re selling high quality customer service.

By extension, when a customer scores a company high on an NPS survey, they’re effectively indicating that they’d put their own credibility on the line to recommend your organization to somebody in their network who trusts their expertise. Of course, this is very helpful information for organizations to collate as it is. What’s more important, however, is why the customer is willing to put their credibility on the line by recommending your organization – or indeed, not recommending your organization!

Optimizing NPS Survey Results

NPS survey questions are formulated to be easy and quick to answer. In fact, an NPS survey shouldn’t take more than a minute to complete (really, we’re not just saying that). Now, onto the most important part – feedback. After completing the survey, participants are invited to give the company feedback. Of course, not everyone will want to. This can be for a variety of reasons; it might be too testing of their company compliance policy, it might be because they don’t have a clear-cut reason for their answers. However, more often than not, they simply don’t want to. You can lead a customer to water, but you can’t force them to tell you how to run your business. Customers are more inclined to answer surveys for you when you have given them:

A) Excellent customer service that has exceeded their expectations or,

B) terrible customer service that has lowered their expectations.

Creating a Feedback Loop

To ensure that it’s option A, using NPS feedback is key to creating an effective feedback loop with your customers. By analysing the feedback you have, creating a plan that aims to address that feedback – be it positive or negative – and then delivering on that feedback, you create a healthy feedback loop wherein there are visible signs of customer feedback being implemented into your ways of working. Some simple tips for doing so are:

• Improve on negative feedback in a timely, well thought out fashion
• Improve on positive feedback (in this case, you can’t have too much of a good thing!)
• When hiring, keep NPS in mind. Do you have a specific role that focuses on the happiness of your customers? If not, are you hiring customer facing roles that will improve their happiness over time?

Consistency, authentic care and visible results are the key drivers of a high NPS score.

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

Mit zwei oder drei Updates pro Jahr verbessert Storage Protect regelmäßig seinen Service und fügt leistungsstarke neue Funktionen hinzu. Interessanterweise nutzen viele Benutzer diese Upgrades nicht immer.

Als Plattform für Datensicherung und -wiederherstellung schätzt Predatar den Wert der Innovationen von IBM und wir möchten Ihnen nur einige der Vorteile zeigen, die sich aus den neuesten Storage Protect-Versionen ergeben.

Wenn Sie mehr über die Veröffentlichungen erfahren möchten und wissen möchten, wie sie Ihnen dabei helfen, Ihr Unternehmen und seine Daten zu schützen, können Sie sich hier für unser kostenloses 30-minütiges Webinar anmelden. Unter der Leitung von Steve Miller, Chief Technology Officer bei Predatar, erfahren Sie, wie Sie Ihre DB-Backups am besten schützen und noch mehr aus Ihrer Storage Protect-Investition herausholen können.

Vorteil #1 – Modernisieren Sie Ihren Datenbanksicherungsprozess mit Cloud-Objektspeicher.

Da sich immer mehr Organisationen auf eine moderne, bandlose Infrastruktur zubewegen, ist die Nachfrage nach einem optimierten Datenbank-Backup-Prozess gestiegen. Mit der neuesten Storage Protect-Version (V8.1.10) von IBM können Sie Ihre Backups jetzt an einem sicheren, sekundären Speicherort speichern – ohne zusätzlichen Speicher bereitstellen oder Bänder physisch verschieben zu müssen. Diese großen DB-Backups können nun in den S3-Pool Ihrer Wahl übertragen werden (Google Cloud wird mit der nächsten Version im November kommen) und live außerhalb des Standorts in verschlüsselten, leicht zugänglichen Cloud-Objektspeicher. Darüber hinaus reduziert diese flexible Lösung den Betrag, den Sie für Ihre Infrastruktur ausgeben, da Sie nur für das bezahlen, was Sie verwenden.

Vorteil #2 – Erhalten Sie Schutz über zweiten Standort und stellen Sie Ihre Daten von Cloud-Backups wieder her.

Tolle Neuigkeiten, Sie können jetzt ein Air-Gap erstellen ohne Tape! Wenn Sie Ihre Datenbank in S3 schützen und Ihre Daten auch in der Public Cloud speichern, erleichtert Storage Protect es Ihnen erheblich vor einem Ausfall einzelner Standorte.

Dank dieser Version, wenn Sie eine Kopie Ihrer Daten in einem S3-Pool haben und Ihr primärer Standort kontaminiert wird, ist nicht alles verloren. Da das Backup so geografisch weit entfernt ist, ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass die Malware sie erreicht, gering. Ja, die Wiederherstellung kann etwas länger dauern als mit Band, aber für Unternehmen, die nur von einem Standort aus arbeiten, ist dies die perfekte Lösung für die Verteilung Ihrer Daten. Um das Problem zu beheben, schließen Sie den Server einfach an die Objektspeicherpools an, die in der Cloud sicher sind, und schon kann es losgehen.

Vorteil #3 – Erstellen Sie Aufbewahrungssätze für langfristige Daten.

Vor einigen Versionen hat IBM Aufbewahrungssätze eingeführt. Seit dieser Version können Sie point-in-Time-Aufbewahrungssätze erstellen und effizient monatliche Sicherungen optimal nutzen.

Durch Definieren einer Aufbewahrungsregel können Sie die Daten nutzen, die Sie bereits auf Ihrem Sicherungssystem haben, und zu bestimmten Zeitpunkten Sicherungen erstellen, die Ihre täglichen ergänzen. Grundsätzlich weisen Sie Storage Protect an, vorhandene Daten erst nach Ablauf des Aufbewahrungssatzes zu löschen.

Darüber hinaus können Sie auch einen “Aufbewahrungsspeicher” erstellen, um zu verhindern, dass wichtige Daten jemals gelöscht werden. Dadurch werden zuvor festgelegte Ablaufdaten umgangen und die angegebenen Daten so lange erhalten, bis Sie etwas anders sagen.

Vorteil #4 – Erhöhen Sie Ihre Sicherheit mit Standard-TLS.

Seit Storage Protect Release V8.1.2, gab es verschiedene Verbesserungen, die helfen, Ihre Daten zu schützen und Ihre Sicherheit zu stärken. War die Verwendung von Transport Layer Security bisher optional, ist sie jetzt obligatorisch– d. h. Sie müssen Zertifikate bei der Authentifizierung austauschen. Während es für Benutzer schwieriger macht, die Identität eines Clients zu imitieren und Sicherungen wiederherzustellen, hat ein neueres Update auch einen Administrator-Sign-off-Prozess für alle destruktiven Befehle eingeführt. Sobald jemand versucht, Daten zu löschen oder zu entfernen, werden Ihre designierten Administratoren benachrichtigt und müssen die Aktion genehmigen.

Möchten Sie mehr erfahren? Sehen Sie sich unser Webinar an.

Nutzen Sie jede Storage Protect-Version unter Anleitung von Steve Miller, Chief Technology Officer von Predatar. In unserem 30-minütigen interaktiven Webinar führt Steve Sie durch alle Storage Protect-Versionen für 2020 und teilt noch mehr der geschäftlichen Vorteile, die sich aus diesen einfachen Updates ziehen können.

Jetzt ansehen: Make the most of every Storage Protect release (English language webinar)

Three years ago, my colleague posted a superb article on the 10+ ways to licence IBM Storage Protect. The blog was very popular but it’s time for an update. A lot can and has changed in three years. Before getting stuck into this post, we recommend reading the original blog to familiarise yourself with the basics.

Gravy Train

We talk to many users of IBM Storage Protect about what they are getting in return for their annual support maintenance fees. It’s not so much the absolute costs, more the perceived value, or total return on investment. To use a phone analogy, its like paying for the latest iPhone but only using the SMS and call features. The incidence of technology debt is pandemic in the backup and recovery field but is it the manufacturer’s fault? Backup is often seen as a cost of doing business and is notoriously hard to manage and upgrade. Migration projects take time and just like when decorating your house, there is always one “room” left to do.

The house analogy might be more appropriate than the phone one. Phones are usually disposed of, with care for the environment we hope, after every upgrade cycle. Your data is probably not, it represents the valuables in your home. Storage Protect is a quality product and ranks highly for giving users peace of mind. For many though, it’s not as modern a “house” as they would like.

Money to Burn

Some companies get tired of their cluttered houses and throw their lot in with a second, or even third, storage company. Before you know it, not only is the garage full of stuff, the yard is littered and you have more items in local storage. It can’t be the best solution.

Back to what’s changed since our 2017 blog post.

Later that same year IBM announced the general availability of Storage Protect Plus. Perceived by some as a new product, we believe it’s an upgrade to help you modernise Storage Protect and gain greater value from your investment. Storage Protect now offers a much simpler administrative experience for users, as well as covering more of the “cloud-native” infrastructure starting to penetrate the enterprise. The new software adopts the “agentless” model used by many backup companies targeting the VMware protection market, whilst allowing for very efficient long-term data retention, for which Storage Protect is lauded.

This presents the Storage Protect user with the opportunity to modernise their “house” from the inside out, whilst eliminating losses caused by unnecessary use of “garages, yards and third-party storage boxes”. Second homes are great, but you wouldn’t keep your valuables in them. Far better to get a new kitchen or bathroom, than buy a second home.

On the Money

Referencing the great advice given in the original blog, which licence model is best to bring-in Storage Protect Plus, to modernise your data protection system?

Storage Protect Plus (SPP) is licenced on a per-VM basis. However, if you have use of a capacity-based licence model, you can offset some of your capacity allowance to bring in the new technology. The conversion is one terabyte (1 TB) of back-end capacity to ten (10) virtual machines. If you subsequently copy the snapshots into Storage Protect, say for long-term retention, you don’t pay again for the use of capacity in that repository. This is not true if you use a third-party product for your snapshots and copy that data into Storage Protect. It makes commercial sense to replace any third-party software, such as Veeam, with Protect Plus. So, by modernising your “house” from the inside and reclaiming the cost of your “second home”, you consolidate and simplify your protection estate.

The Bottom Line

If you are familiar with cloud-billing models and are of a mind to preserve cash, you can switch to a pay-for-what-you-use subscription model. This has the added benefit of avoiding any of those obtrusive vendor licence audits. This “no surprises” model is much more flexible than the old IBM PVU or legacy capex options. It is especially suited for companies moving data between the core, the cloud and the edge.

When combined with management platforms such as Predatar, customers can more easily track usage and allocation of licences, down to the business unit, application or even individual node.

Just as with bank accounts and utility bills, customer loyalty is often rewarded with higher prices. With so many ways to consume the IBM software, it makes sense to consider your options.

If you want to stop wasting money, here’s three things you can do today:

1. Read our free Storage Protect licencing explained guide
2. Try out our Storage Protect savings calculator
3. Talk to us. We’re happy to help.