Application Service Provider Tips
(Bimonthly newsletter written for SearchStorage, TechTarget.com)
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SEARCHSTORAGE.COM
STORAGE MANAGEMENT
November 21, 2000
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TODAY'S STORAGE MANAGEMENT TIPS
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Join searchStorage contributing editor, Linda Gail Christie, as she takes a
look at the tools available to test and troubleshoot storage performance.
Also you'll learn how SSPs can rescue overstressed IT departments ramping up
for the e-holiday rush.
Tips in this issue:
[1] "Looking inside your storage system, Part I: Tools for troubleshooting
hardware performance"
[2] "SSPs rescue eHoliday-stressed IT departments"
[1] "Looking inside your storage system, Part I: Tools for troubleshooting
hardware performance"
The complexities introduced by cobbling together disparate storage solutions
have made it almost impossible for storage administrators to troubleshoot
problems and improve storage performance -- unless they have the right
tools.
"Unlike the telephone companies that developed testing and monitoring tools
around industry standards, the computer industry has evolved quite
differently," said Richard Brechtlein, President and CEO for Shugart
Technology, a developer of storage testing tools. "In the storage business,
everyone does it their own way, so there are few standard tools available.
Consequently many people have to develop their own testing solutions, seek
third party offerings, or rely on the services of field service engineers."
Shugart Technology CTO and VP Engineering, Ed Barnes says there are a number
of methods for testing hardware performance. "Performance tests are
important for measuring if devices meet specifications. If your specs are
significantly lower, you may have compatibility issues or the devices may be
configured wrong. There are a number of third party performance testing
tools, such as Intel's I/O meter for testing disk drives; however, there's
nothing currently available for testing tape drives or changers, something
Shugart Technologies is working on."
Before launching newly designed systems, Barnes says that command sets need
to be tested to see if they work correctly: SCSI read, write, and move
medium commands, for example. Also, when new equipment arrives, such as a
new tape library, it's important to make sure it performs correctly before
bringing it online. However, Barnes said, "While third-party functional
testing tools are available, none are provided by Windows NT. And,
currently, only field service personnel have access to vendor tools."
With a tape library, it's often easy to spot problems -- a cartridge doesn't
move or a tape doesn't spin up. However, Barnes said that most of the time,
you'll have to call a field service engineer to do troubleshooting or fault
isolation. "Management and backup applications may generate some error codes
giving a few clues about the problem. However, these messages may not be
accurate, especially if they come from applications. Troubleshooting a
complex storage system usually requires the services of a field service
engineer running automated diagnostics that may examine a hundred or more
pass/fail clues to determine what's not working right."
In the next issue of "Storage Management," you'll learn about the methods
available for testing data integrity, regression, and error recovery.
For more information about Shugart Technologies, visit their Website at
http://www.shugart.com/.
[2] "SSPs rescue eHoliday-stressed IT departments"
With companies who maintain an Internet presence experiencing incredible
storage capacity growth of 400% per year, IT departments are already working
at the limits of their staffing and capital resources to deliver core
business value: managing distributed networks, firewalls, and disaster
recovery plans; and maintaining complex CRM, e-business, ERP, and data
mining applications.
As holiday e-commerce activities stress storage management demands even
further, many IT managers are turning to SSPs to relieve the workload, as
well as minimize capital investments.
"No one tries to install their own voice communication network," said Jason
Schaffer, VP, strategic marketing for StorageWay, a managed storage utility
providing complete storage and application data management solutions. "They
'rent' dial tone, voice mail, caller ID, etc. IT managers are realizing it
is equally beneficial to rent the exact amount of raw storage they need from
SSPs, such as StorageWay. We already have a data management infrastructure
that provides performance maximization, high availability, and easily
scalable solutions delivered with the ease of a utility."
"Utilizing an SSP to meet seasonal spikes makes perfect sense," said Rob
Commins, StorageWay's director of product marketing. "You can ramp up your
storage capacity, and minimize backup windows and other management
activities using a pay-as-you-go model. After the holiday rush, reduce your
overhead -- without carrying the capital and staffing overhead associated
with in-house scalability."
Commins says that even if your goal is to eventually buy your own storage
architecture, it still makes sense to use an SSP. "An SSP can help you
design and test drive your architecture, so you can make an intelligent
purchase once you're confident growth and sales projections have really come
true."
For additional information about StorageWay, visit their Website at
http://www.storageway.com/.
About the author: Storage management tips are written by Linda Gail
Christie, a contributing editor based in Tulsa, Okla.
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SEARCHSTORAGE.COM
STORAGE MANAGEMENT
November 21, 2000
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SPONSORED BY:
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TODAY'S STORAGE MANAGEMENT TIPS
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Join SearchStorage contributing editor, Linda Gail Christie, as she takes a look at the storage performance parameters that you currently can and cannot test. Also you'll learn how SSPs can improve your storage capabilities while reducing capital expenses, as well as how user quotas can help control spiraling capacity demand.
Tips in this issue:
[1] "Managing removable media in networked environments"
[2] "Availability: ensuring failure-free SSP service"
[3] "Allocating storage workloads"
[1] "Managing removable media in networked environments"
Are you still tracking your off-line media on a spreadsheet? Are you doing this because you don't think there is a solution for managing removable media for open-system, multi-platform networks? Well, prepare to join the mainframe crowd by upgrading your tape management solution.
Michael Kramer, VP of marketing and sales for B&L Associates, a 25-year-old provider of enterprise data center solutions, says that now that servers house mission critical data, it's vital for companies to not only back them up but also deploy a robust solution for managing and tracking off-line media inventory.
"When media leaves the control of online storage systems, the potential for it getting misplaced, lost, or inadvertently reused is much greater," said Kramer. "Media management controls the movement, retention, and inventorying of physical tapes, CDs, and other media from any source - making sure that they can be easily located and returned online at the appropriate time and place."
According to Kramer, Vertices from B&L, for example, provides vault management, retention management, relationship processing, virtual media handling, purge protection, security, and inventory control. "With Vertices, data center administrators receive proactively generated lists telling them what tapes were generated during the day, what tapes need to move and where, and what tapes need to come back," Kramer said. "It also helps track the tape lifecycle: to purge tapes for reuse, prevent using worn out media, and ensure that historical data is transferred to new media before tapes deteriorate."
By combining a media management system with barcode scanning to identify specific media, Kramer noted that this type of media management system could substantially improve your ability to track off-line business critical data and ensure your ability to recover from a disaster.
Additional resources:
* For more information on B&L Associates, see their Web site at http://www.bandl.com.
* For additional information, read "Managing Media in Networked Environments" http://www.bandl.com/press/n_fctc.htm, or read, "Enterprise media management for open systems," at http://www.bandl.com/press/n_enterprise.htm.
[2] "Availability: ensuring failure-free SSP service"
Sure, natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and fires must always be considered as candidates for wreaking havoc with business-critical computer systems. But in reality, SSP availability is much more likely to be threatened by an interruption in electrical service or Internet connectivity.
Dr. Eric Schmidt, CTO and Sr. VP of professional services for EverGreen Data Continuity says that after an interruption event, moving communications to an alternate site is the messiest issue by far. Although it's difficult to test your ability to move operations to an alternate site, if your SSP's disaster recovery plan remains untested, the plan remains unproven. "In my experience, you can expect the first test of the recovery plan to fail and the second test to improve to about 50% correct. So, make sure your SLA provides for periodically testing your alternate storage site by redirecting traffic to it."
Schmidt continued, "Also, make sure that both you and your SSP have an aggressive cross-training program that ensures more than one person is familiar with your applications, service, storage, backup and recovery procedures."
Additional resources:
* For more information on EverGreen Data Continuity, see their Web site at http://www.evergreen-data.com.
[3] "Allocating storage workloads"
Industry benchmarks reveal that storage workloads vary considerably based on workload types: business processing, Internet applications, technical applications, collaborative applications, decision support, or infrastructure maintenance, for example.
"Business processing -- the real-time operations that involve large amounts of data, high read-to-write ratios, and maintaining high levels of integrity -- will require more people: One person per gigabyte or even per one-half gigabyte," said David Floyer, VP of research for ITCentrix, a developer of innovative IT decision support solutions. "Financial institutions will have at least a 25 percent higher overhead because of more stringent backup and integrity requirements. Integrity in this environment is much more important because if you lose a piece of data you may have to roll back thousands of transactions taking hours to get back online. It's headline news if they lose data."
"This is in contrast to a technical organization managing fewer and larger files, CAD/CAM, for example, where one administrator may be able to manage several gigabytes," said Floyer. "In this environment, it's rather easy to back up to replace a lost or corrupted file."
Additional resources:
* For more information on ITCentrix, see their Web site at http://www.ITCentrix.com.
* A list of recent tips from SearchStorage can be found at: http://www.searchstorage.com/searchStorage_Tips_Page/0,1800,,00.html
About the author: Storage management tips are written by Linda Gail Christie, a contributing editor based in Tulsa, Okla.
Application Service Provider Tips
(Weekly tips written for SearchXSP, TechTarget.com. Additional tips can be viewed on DoctorVAR.com)
ASP Implementation Tip: Will an ASP protect your business operations?
Part I: Availability and disaster recovery (2 part series)
By Linda Christie
Success in today's economy demands that you vigilantly protect your company's data and business software. However, with the recent emergence of ASPs, many business continuance issues that were once addressed by companies, now lie in the hands of IT services providers. ASPs pose a threat to their customers' business operations, if they do not have a tested, up-to-date disaster recovery plan.
To protect the availability of your hosted information assets and applications, Dr. Eric Schmidt, CTO and Sr. VP Professional Services for EverGreen Data Continuity (http://www.evergreen-data.com) recommends that companies conduct a rigorous assessment of the ASP's performance history and disaster recovery plan. Following are a few key questions Dr. Schmidt recommends you ask:
* What is their availability history? Before signing any agreement review a detailed report of the provider's uptime history since its inception. If their service was interrupted, scrutinize the details, including the cause and length of the outage. Could your business survive the length of service failure? If not, keep investigating.
* What backup procedures does the ASP provide? Examine the types of procedures offered for backing up and recovering applications and data. What are the time intervals offered between backups? What are the management policies? Staff dependencies? How much training is provided to ensure employees understand how to restore applications?
* Is the ASP using co-located application servers or offsite vaulting? If so, what are the recovery procedures at these sites? Is there sufficient bandwidth between sites to support timely recovery?
* How often is the disaster recovery plan updated? A disaster recovery plan should be updated and tested at least twice a year, as well as following changes in key personnel, addition of applications, and hardware. Determine the types of tests used by your provider. Best practice dictates that, at a minimum, they use alternate site, automated, and tabletop or walkthrough tests every six months.
"Always remember your primary goal," said Schmidt. "Protecting your business and your livelihood. Do not be afraid to ask the ASP questions about the disaster recovery plan and testing procedures. Remember that your business operations are ultimately your responsibility."
In Part II of this tip, Dr. Schmidt will describe the hardware provisioning and customer support that ASPs need to provide to protect your business operations.
MSP Implementation Tip: How secure is your Managed Service Provider (MSP)?
By Linda Christie
Managed service providers offer expertise, trained personnel, and cost-effective solutions that allow IT departments to focus their resources on core business initiatives. However, many companies are simply afraid to outsource the management of their information assets.
"Utilizing the services of an MSP does not mean you have to compromise security," said Allen Vance, director of Offer Development in the Managed Security Services business unit of Internet Security Systems (ISS), a leading provider of security management solutions for the Internet. "To minimize security risks as well as ease the concerns of shareholders, you can request a security audit be conducted by a trusted security auditor, just like you would request a financial audit from a reputable accounting firm."
In addition to interviews and walk-though inspections, security auditors employ a number of automated tools that can detect network security problems as well as recommend fixes. A vulnerability scan, for example, checks firewall configurations, password strength, and operating system configuration, as well as looks for unknown or unauthorized devices attached to the network, remote control applications, and signs of intruder infiltration, including sniffer and back door programs. A report rates each vulnerability low, medium, or high risk and suggests fixes.
"The audit should include both external and internal assessments," Vance said. "The external assessment looks at the network perimeter -- firewall, router, Web servers, etc. -- from the hacker's eye view via the Internet. The vulnerability scan is performed internally, behind the firewall. In addition, you may want to request a penetration test-with the MSP's permission. During a penetration test, security experts literally try to hack into the network and take information to prove they got there."
After the service provider implements needed remedies, Vance recommends another scan be performed. "The MSP may not allow you to see the detailed security report because it may contain proprietary security information. However, you can request a security risk analysis report from the independent auditor. Depending on the level of security needed, some companies require vulnerability assessments on a monthly basis."
For more information on Internet security and MSPs, visit the Internet Security Systems (ISS) Web site at http://www.iss.net.
Check out the VISA U.S.A. Cardholder Information Security Program At http://usa.visa.com/business/merchants/cisp_index.html, which includes a security assessment questionnaire.