Posted by Randy Schultz on Tue, Jul 06, 2010 @ 06:00 AM
Part 3 of a 4-part series on data backup & recovery...
The Consequences
In Part 2 of this series I outlined the risks of loosing your data which concluded with the statement...
"Its not 'IF' you will experience data loss but are you prepared for 'WHEN' you do!?"
If you honestly answered "NO" its critical you understand the consequences you face from such an event so you can properly prioritize the implementation of a data backup and recovery solution. Here are the facts...
Of companies experiencing catastrophic data loss:
- 43% never reopen
- 51% closed within two years
- 80% that do not recover from a disaster in one month go out of business within a year
- 75% without a business continuity plan go out of business within three years of a disaster
- Those that aren't able to resume operations within ten days of a disaster are not likely to survive
- Those that have no emergency plan, 43% never reopen; of those that do reopen, only 29% are still operating two years later
I can't think of a better way to summarize the first three parts of this series than to quote the US Small Business Administration...
Small business owners invest a tremendous amount of time, money and resources to make their ventures successful, and yet, while the importance of emergency planning may seem self-evident, it may get put on the back-burner in the face of more immediate concerns. For small business owners, being prepared can mean staying in business following a disaster.
At this point you may be saying...
OK, I get it. I need to protect my data. So how do I do it?
This is the topic I'll cover in the final part - Part 4 - of this series.
And finally...
In researching material for this blog-series I found one report produced by HP & SCORE to be most helpful. If you'd like a copy of this report, which goes into much greater detail, complete the form below and I'll be happy to send you an email with a link from which you can download it...
If you liked this post...
- Email it to a friend / colleague who'd benefit from reading it
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Also, I'd encourage you to add a comment if you have additional information you believe would be helpful or would like to share a personal experience related to this topic.
Stay secure!
Randy Schultz
President - Vigil Networks, Inc.
Web Resources:
Posted by Randy Schultz on Tue, Jun 29, 2010 @ 06:00 AM
Part 2 of a 4-part series on data backup & recovery...
The Risks
In Part 1 of this series I identified the problem with data backup, or more specifically the lack thereof, by saying...
"We convince ourselves the risk (of loosing our data) is not imminent and therefore decide to put a solution in place when its more convenient and we have more time. The reality is this time seldom if ever comes."
To overcome this false sense of security, you must first understand the risk of loosing your data. Looking at the risks, they are typically organized under two categories - natural disasters and man-made disasters.
Natural disasters are the ones you might expect...
- Earthquakes
- Epidemics
- Fires
- Floods
- Hurricanes
- Snowstorms
- Tornados
For some you'll have time to prepare but for many you won't.
Man-made disasters are many and varied. To list all is beyond the scope of this post but to list a few...
- Arson
- Cybercrime (eg hackers, malware, viruses)
- Extended outage of key utilities (eg electrical power)
- Hardware failure (eg hard drive crash)
- Human error / negligence
- Theft
- Terrorism
Natural disasters are responsible for 1% of all data loss while man-made disasters are responsible for the rest (99%). Looking further at man-made disasters here are some stats to bear in mind...
- A hard drive crashes every 15 seconds
- 2,000 laptops are stolen every day
- 31% of PC users have lost all of their files to events beyond their control
- 1 in 5 computers suffer fatal hard drive crashes during their lifetime
And the list goes on. From this you should conclude its not "IF" you will experience data loss but are you prepared for "WHEN" you do!?
Now that we've touched on the risk of loosing your data, if you're still not prioritizing the implementation of a data backup and recovery solution, you only need understand the consequences of not doing so. I'll cover this topic in Part 3 of this series.
If you liked this post...
- Email it to a friend / colleague who'd benefit from reading it
- Add the RSS feed from my blog to your reader
Also, I'd encourage you to add a comment if you have additional information you believe would be helpful or would like to share a personal experience related to this topic.
Stay secure!
Randy Schultz
President - Vigil Networks, Inc.
Tel: 919-244-4375
Email: rschultz@vigilnetworks.com
Website: www.vigilnetworks.com
Posted by Randy Schultz on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 @ 05:00 AM
Part 1 of a 4-part series on data backup & recovery...
The Problem
When it comes to data backup, at one time or another we've probably all used what is arguably Homer Simpson's most recognizable catch phrase - "D'oh!" Which is to say, "I knew I should've backed up my data...," but obviously didn't. The Oxford Dictionary of English actually defines "D'oh!" as...
used to comment on a foolish or stupid action, especially one's own
Its bad enough when you loose personal data, it could be a disaster if its your business data! So...
Why don't we backup our data?
We all understand we could loose our data. The problem is not knowing when it will happen and not fully appreciating the consequences for when it does. On top of it all, we're BUSY! We don't have time to stop and fix a problem that could happen. As a result we convince ourselves the risk is not imminent and therefore decide to put a solution in place when its more convenient and we have more time. In reality this time seldom if ever comes.
The best way I know to address this problem is to educate my customers on the facts and outline solutions that are easy to implement and use when disaster strikes. Rather than cover this in one big post I've decided to break it down into a four-part series covering the following topics...
- The Problem (this post)
- The Risks
- The Consequences
- The Solution
If you liked this post...
- Email it to a friend / colleague who'd benefit from reading it
- Add the RSS feed from my blog to your reader
Also, I'd encourage you to add a comment if you have additional information you believe would be helpful or would like to share a personal experience related to this topic.
Stay Secure!
Randy Schultz
President - Vigil Networks, Inc.
Tel: 919-244-4375
Web Resources:
Posted by Randy Schultz on Fri, Jun 11, 2010 @ 08:55 AM
I received a lead this afternoon for a prospect asking the following questions about the capabilities of SonicWALL wireless...
- How many wireless users can connect at one time?
- What's the range of the wireless signal?
While responding I realized this would make an excellent post as the information provided not only applies to SonicWALL wireless but any wireless solution on the market today. My response follows...
I typically recommend the TZ 210 for networks up to 50 nodes. As for wireless users I would account for them in this node budget.
NOTE: The items covered below are common to all WIFI devices and are not specific to any one vendor.
As to your question on the number of wireless users that can connect at one time its difficult to give an absolute answer as the end user experience depends on several factors. For example...
- Number of concurrent users
- WIFI environment (ie all 802.11n or a mix of 802.11b/g/n)
- Applications each user is running (eg Internet browsing, Terminal Services, streaming, etc)
- Bandwidth each user requires
- Traffic model (eg is the traffic "bursty" or steady)
- Etc
If the WIFI environment is mixed and composed of regular users requiring low to moderate bandwidth, the TZ 210 Wireless unit should be able to provide reasonable performance for 10 - 15 users. And while there's no cap to the number of wireless users the more you exceed this range the more performance will degrade. If the WIFI environment is exclusively 802.11n you should be able to increase the number of wireless users to 20 - 25; this is due to a feature of 802.11n called Multi In Multi Out or MIMO which allows the unit to process wireless requests in parallel.
As to your question on range, the theoretical maximums for each environment follows...
Mixed:
Indoor/Outdoor = 125ft/460ft
802.11n:
Indoor/Outdoor = 230ft/820ft
That said, this range is dependent on the environment. Environmental conditions that affect range follow...
- Wireless "noise"
- Physical elements that will block or dampen wireless communication
- Elevator shafts
- Bathrooms containing wall tiles
- Etc
If range is a concern, one option to consider would be to purchase the non-wireless version of the TZ 210 and SonicWALL's managed access points - SonicPoints - which can be installed throughout the facility. In turn, users would connect to the SonicPoint that provides them the strongest signal.
If you liked this post...
- Email it to a friend / colleague who'd benefit from reading it
- Add the RSS feed of my blog to your reader
Also, I'd encourage you to add a comment if you have additional information you believe would be helpful or would like to share a personal experience related to this topic.
Lastly, send me an email or give me a call if you're looking to purchase a SonicWALL product / service. I'd love to hear from you and have the opportunity to earn your business.
Stay Secure!
Randy Schultz
President - Vigil Networks, Inc.
Tel: (919) 244-4375
Email: rschultz@vigilnetworks.com
Website: http://www.vigilnetworks.com