Whether youıre facing some considerable growth and expansion, or just looking to streamline your internal business processes, you may be in a situation where you need to re-architect your existing imaging solution and implement new technologies and workflow. Here is a primer on what the basic approaches are, and the benefits and drawbacks of each.
Top down strategy. This approach involves a complete overhaul of existing systems and technologies, and starting over almost from scratch. This is best for companies that have outgrown systems that will be obsolete in a short time or for startups who have a clean slate.
Advantages: Brand new technologies -- the best of the best. You will not need to worry about outgrowing this system for a long time.
Drawbacks: Itıs expensive. And it can take a considerable amount of time to implement.
Retrofit method. What is not broken should not be fixed. By reworking or replacing elements of the current solution, the legacy application is built up until it fits a companyıs needs.
Advantages: You get to leverage investments in legacy equipment and know-how and thereıs minimal impact on the day-to-day workflow as the solution is implemented.
Drawbacks: Itıs not good for companies that are seriously outgrowing their systems, or for those with pressing Y2K concerns about their internal systems.
Incremental build strategy. This methodical approach carefully evaluates the internal workflows, then later defines a framework that should be used. Rather than doing a full-blown deployment, it suggests a series of pilot projects to ısampleı a given departmentıs workflow requirements. Adjustments are made based on the results of the testing, and the workflow framework is implemented after correcting the problem areas.
Advantages: This is a very low-risk solution and the most thorough approach since it tests in real life situations and allows for adjustments.
Drawbacks: The ıweıll fix it laterı or ıthat is not my problemı mentality can creep in. Things never get fixed and the system exists in a perpetual state of incompleteness.
Scott Ryser is the Chief Technology Officer of ManTech Advanced Systems International (MASI) (Elkridge, MD, 410-579-8240), a privately held systems integrator and technology provider, and a subsidiary of ManTech International.
Take the Worry Out of High-capacity Backups
Look for software with features you need. Look for support for on-line and off-line database backup, network and direct attached automated tape libraries, flexible tape rotation and tracking and other media management requirements, and emerging technologies like storage area networks.
Document your data backup requirements. Make sure that your network and tape library can supply the bandwidth required to backup your data quickly. Test system restore performance.
Pick your backup software vendor carefully. Your software developer should have the staff and experience to help plan the backups and install the software, train your personnel and provide 24/7 support. Expect the unexpected. Everyone plans for disasters but most system outages are due to something smaller, like a disk drive or controller failure. Plan recovery strategies to deal with both local system failures and major disasters. Document your plans and test your restore capabilities regularly. The more prepared you are, the better your chances of surviving an unexpected system failure.
Think ahead. Beyond your current backup, recovery and media management needs is the need to plan for future storage requirements. Assess your future storage requirements based on business requirements, budget, architecture design while taking into consideration the impacts of new technologies on your computing environment.
SCH Technologies (Cincinnati, OH, 513-579-0455) specializes in storage/systems management.
