Hong Kong Computer Society - enterpriseinnovation.net

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Since 90% of the content will be the same
each day, it is a major advantage if your
system can execute de-duplication of the
contents. Volumes of email can typically
be reduced by 30% by removing duplicated
attachments and identical documents circulated
to many addresses, for example.
Databases can be reduced by up to 90% of
their volume. Using de-duplication technology
reduces storage volume and costs and
speeds retrieval.
Disaster recovery
Another crucial need is for a disaster
recovery strategy to ensure that a usable
copy of the enterprise data is available if
the primary site is completely unavailable
for any reason. Relying on a tape archive
is inviting problems – tapes may so easily
be lost, stolen or destroyed and even when
they are available, restoration of service is
slow.
Today large or small enterprises should
look into real-time data replication on
disk, linked with telecom lines. The ideal
is real-time mirroring, using a system
such as the IBM SVC (SAN Volume Controller),
an appliance that can virtualize
different brands of disks for data mirroring.
Enterprise and mid-range solutions
are also available.
There are three storage tiers commonly
used for enterprises:
Tier 1: Continuous, online, transactional
data mirroring.
Tier 2: Flashcopy, a snapshot technology,
which can easily protect data at intervals
of an hour or less, with recovery in the
same period. Suitable for applications such
as email and database, for example.
Tier 3: Basic restore within one day, or
suitable for long retention restoration requirements.
The security of data at rest
Most enterprises are tackling network
data security fairly actively, but numerous
serious security breaches result from the
theft or loss of ‘data at rest’ on tape cartridges,
USB thumb drives, notebooks and
disk drives removed for service. Even PCs
or servers can disappear from data centers
on occasion. The most common such
problem arises with routine servicing of disk
drives or when they are removed for redeployment
or retirement. Although we like to
trust service vendors that handle storage
www.cw.com.hk
Tier 1
Systems can provide full
data mirroring and higher
read and write performance:
series
series
devices, once a drive is removed from the
storage appliance, it is impossible to guarantee
that its content will not fall into the
wrong hands.
It is difficult to permanently delete the
data on a hard drive. Degaussing (magnetic
obliteration) is expensive and troublesome,
while physical destruction of the disk is obviously
not appropriate if it is intended for
re-use. The disk can be stored indefinitely
by the owner, but this will also prevent its
re-use.
A complete solution is now available in
52% of managers don’t have confidence in their
enterprise data, while 59% admit to missing vital
information.
the form of self-encrypting disks. These devices
encrypt all stored data as it is written,
and decrypt all content as it is read, without
any external application or encryption key.
This means when the drive is removed for
servicing, redeployment or retirement, the
data on it cannot be read by any party. IBM
experience is that 90% of drives returned
for warrantee service have readable data
on them. Nor can the drive be installed in
any other hardware, unless it is reformatted
in a secure way which absolutely destroys
the current data.
Most important, the encryption and decryption
processes are completed with
no performance overhead whatsoever.
One of the largest reasons why enterprises
users resist encryption is that
conventional encryption methods have a
processing overhead that slows system
performance for all applications. Self-encrypting
disks use a different technology
that eliminates performance loss and operation
efforts.
Data Availability Tiers
Tier 2
management:
series
series
Tier 3
System
The outlook for self-encryption
There is already a strong trend in place
to protect ‘data at rest,’ including thumb
drives, tapes and laptops and special technologies
have been developed for that purpose.
Part of the reason is compliance with
government and professional regulations
that require that data is protected using the
best technology available.
Most enterprises have suffered some
cost or inconvenience related to the disposal
of hard drives. Within one or two
years, most users may adopt self-encrypting
drives as a solution. The advantages
are very real, while the additional cost is
negligible, and there is no performance
impact – the encryption process is transparent
to users.
IBM is already providing self-encrypting
hard drives as an option with storage appliances
such as:
• DS5000 Mid-range series and
• DS8000 Enterprise class storage
servers
IBM’s self-encrypting hard drive also provides
an ‘Instant Secure Erase’ function
that enables users to safely redeploy disks
with no possibility of readable data remaining
on them. Early adopters are the finance
industry, driven by compliance. It is likely
that they will become standard in the enterprise
environment over the next two or
three years.
Enrol for the IBM Information
Infrastructure workshop on Nov 12 at:
www.ibm.com/hk/events/DS5020/
or contact Ms Yeung at
2825 6140.
Nov 2009 Computerworld Hong Kong 15