Until now, the full recovery of a server after a catastrophic failure could take several hours. Bare Metal Recovery technology is able to quickly recover an unusable system. It can restore both system and data in a single pass, eliminating the need for multiple backups and significantly reducing downtimes.

Bare-metal restore is a technique where the backed up data is available in a form which allows one to restore a computer system from “bare metal”, i.e. without any requirements as to previously installed software or operating system. Typically, the backed up data include the necessary operating system, applications and data components to rebuild or restore the backed up system to an entirely separate piece of hardware. Bare-metal restore differs from simple data backups where application data, but neither the applications nor the operating system are backed up or restored as a unit. It also differs from the local disk image restore. The local disk image restores from a copy of the disk image and the software performing the restore is invoked by booting the server with the setup/installation disk. Such server backup application supplied with the OS is not designed to be an enterprise-level solution. Bare metal restore for rebuilding a server from ground up is offered by many disaster recovery solution providers.

Vendors offer an optional “bare metal” restoration for rebuilding a computer or server from scratch. Using a separate storage device, the vendor creates a mirror image of the client’s complete system. The device is then shipped to the data center and stored. In case of a system crash, the system can be restored to its original configuration.

The virtual machine technology enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a single machine. Virtualization increases the efficiency and the effectiveness of the disaster recovery process and offers cost-savings opportunities. Virtualization is hardware-agnostic; systems can be restored without identical or near-identical hardware. This creates flexibility and expands options regarding the type of hardware one can recover to in case of hardware failure. The virtual server software creates a generic hardware platform that’s consistent, regardless of the physical hardware used to host the virtual servers. This simplifies the “bare metal” restore process, because it is possible to perform a bare metal install on dissimilar hardware.

Outsourcing the disaster recovery solution to a vendor that specializes in
Virtual machine technology along with integrated bare metal restore is the best possible DR solution for an enterprise dealing in mission-critical data.

Some of the common causes of data loss are hardware failure, human error and natural calamities. Data loss due to a natural disaster can be recovered by storing backup data in a physically separate location. File system corruption can frequently be repaired by the system administrator with proper software tools. Deleted files in most occasions can be successfully recovered. Data loss due to hardware failure can never be foreseen and forestalled and can spell a major disaster for business continuity. The cost of a data loss event is directly proportional to the value of the data and the length of time of unavailability when required, and results in financial loss, tarnished business image and in an extreme case can stop all business activities. Businesses nowadays have to protect data at all costs.

When backing up data from a computer system, there are many different methods available, some more reliable than others. The most common method is to copy the files on the system, to the archive device, a file- backup. File-backup has many variations depending on the volume of backed up data, such as, incremental, differential, full, grandfather – father – child, etc. Another backup method is based on the process of mirroring the entire contents of a disk volume. This creates the backup by copying each sector on the disk volume as raw data, creating an Image of the entire disk. This last method is referred to as image-based backup.

Though both these backup processes have their pros and cons, image-based backups are the choice for businesses handling mission-critical data or for enterprise-level organizations. The image can actually be mounted as a virtual drive and can be used as a regular physical drive.

Another use of an image-based backup is while performing a bare-metal recovery. Bare Metal Recovery technology is able to quickly recover an unusable system. It can restore both system and data in a single pass, eliminating the need for multiple backups and significantly reducing downtimes. Bare-metal restore is a technique where the backed up data is available in a form which allows one to restore a computer system from “bare metal”, i.e. without any requirements as to previously installed software or operating system. For such restoration the image includes the necessary operating system, applications and data components to rebuild or restore the backed up system to an entirely separate piece of hardware. Image-based backup of servers or server imaging is an essential ingredient in a disaster recovery solution.

Virtualization technologies date back to IBM Mainframes in the 1970s. From that time, virtualization has been used to run multiple, separate processes on the same hardware. A virtualized environment consists of one or more virtual machines (VMs), in which multiple guest operating systems reside and run one or more applications simultaneously. The physical hardware on which the virtualization is done is called the host. The host CPU is manufactured with advanced hardware features so as to be compatible with the virtualization software. The current AMD Opteron family of CPUs and Intel Xeon family of CPUs has advanced hardware features needed for virtualization. The host operating system runs the virtualization software, which is called Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM). This software can either be a special firmware concerned only with virtualization, or the operating system itself can do the job if it supports virtualization. The former is termed type 1 virtualization or type 1 hypervisor while the latter is known as type 2.

Virtualization is primarily intended to increase server utilization, which translates to reduced expenses for server deployment, server maintenance, IT center floor space and cooling systems.

VMware is the market leader in virtualization software for x86. ESX 3.5 being the most common x 86 virtualization platforms. Hyper-V is Microsoft’s virtualization layer, and is simply a feature of Windows Server 2008.

Virtualization technologies have revolutionized DR systems. Virtualization deployed as a feature of online backup service can reduce the amount of hardware required and simplify recovery operations. Implementing a disaster recovery solution can be simplified using virtual technologies and result in a much lower overall cost. In the past, it has been expensive to get one server to replicate to the other because those two servers had to be basically identical. In order for them to be identical, the same hardware was needed in both the main and backup locations. With virtualization, those hardware costs are cut down significantly because of the ability to host several machines on one server. The DR solution should be such that, each workload running on a physical server can replicate and failover to a dedicated virtual machine on a single physical server, eliminating the need to deploy and manage multiple physical servers at the recovery site. In a virtual machine at the DR solution provider’s end, a number of the client’s physical servers can be protected. The result is a very high level of application protection and availability for the clients with a much lower TCO as virtual machine solutions offer improved efficiency and lower IT costs.

Disaster recovery and business continuity planning are processes that help organizations prepare for disruptive events like a hurricane or simply a power outage.

Disaster recovery planning is now accepted as basic requirement for every business and organization. It is widely accepted that a detailed business continuity / disaster recovery plan should not only exist, but should be effective also. Although disaster recovery plan is implemented by most of the large business but still many small scale industries tends to neglect them.

Small business owners have an enormous amount of responsibilities on their shoulders. Most don’t have the time to think about planning for a natural or man-made disaster. According to a recent poll, almost forty percent of small businesses experience disaster within two months of their operation. That statistic is broken down to ten percent man-made and thirty percent natural (flooding, hurricane, fire etc.). In the survey it is also found that 60% of small businesses don’t have proper disaster recovery plan implemented. So if any disaster happens then the business runs into huge loss. As a side effect of this the customers also suffers huge losses.

The main reasons small business owners neglect disaster planning is-
• Lack of Resources like staff, outside resources, etc.
• Limited budget.
• The owner doesn’t see the need for a disaster recovery plan.

When developing a disaster recovery plan, one can use the online resources to put together one on your own or you can search for a third party company that can help you. There are a number of disaster recovery companies that will help you plan for alternate work space, communication contingencies and computer storage and back-up in the event of natural disasters like flooding, a fire or any other disaster destroys part or all of your business facility.

One of the most important and useful resources you can reach out to for disaster plan assistance is a document restoration company. These companies will assess your businesses, document storage facilities and mechanisms and provide you with recommendations for how to better prepare for a water or fire disaster.

Too often small businesses realize the importance of disaster recovery plans once it is too late. Take the time to do some research and develop a plan for your business so that it can exist for a long, healthy while.

In the modern era we all know how important it is to have our data safe. With technology involved in our everyday life more than ever we have almost all of our critical information stored in some form of data. So it is very important for us to prevent any kind of data loss. The major causes of data loss are:

• Natural Disaster
• Human Error
• Software Failure
• Viruses
• Mechanical Failure

To prevent data loss due to natural disaster, online backup is the most convenient form of disaster management. Through online backup you send your critical data over the internet to another computer, and this other computer acts as a remote backup. In case of any disaster you connect to that remote computer and restore it. Thus your company is disaster proof. Also the added advantage of online backup is that you need not carry the vital data with you when you are traveling. If you have your data backed up online them you can download them when and where required. This also minimizes the risk of data loss.

Online backup is of two kinds:
• The first form is to download the software provided by the online backup provider, install it in the computer then connect to the internet and transfer all the vital data to the online backup providers server. So if you happen to lose your data all you need to is to connect to the server and download the data. This is suitable when the data is of large volume.
• The second form is the case where you directly connect to the online backup provider website through internet and upload all the data directly to their server. When the data is of less volume then this method is best.

Advantages of Online Backup:
• The cost is less to set up and run than other options.
• No need to buy or maintain hardware.
• It can be completely automated releasing time for more productive tasks.
• Simple to manage, all that is required is to turn it on.
• Some online data backup programs can offer features unavailable in media based backups, such as remote data access and synching.
• All your backup files are available online, from anywhere in the world, at any time.
• All your backup files are encrypted by your computer before sending, and stored in that format ensuring a very high level of security.