Brace Rennels

IT Strategy Server backup and recovery isn’t rocket surgery, but you would be surprised by the number of IT organizations that can’t get it right. Here are five of the most common mistakes that I have seen. 1. “Don’t worry, it’s Backed Up” Famous last words! Is it really? Prove it! Just because you have run a backup procedure, throw in a fresh tape into the drive doesn’t necessarily mean that the server(s) are protected. Over confidence or misconceptions about backup are common mistakes. It’s like having a plan without ever testing. So, test it. If you have data backed up when was the last time you tried to restore it, is the data any good? How long did the process take? Don’t leave anything to chance. Make sure that your backup and recovery procedures are exercised ... (more)

Five Tips for Consolidating and Protecting Your Data Center

There are several challenges when attempting a data center move or even just consolidation. Availability is the number one priority. All the systems during the move need to be available so production operations are not interrupted. Depending on the technology you use some solutions will require more downtime than others. If you are consolidating to a blade or virtual machine infrastructu... (more)

A Pandemic Exercise - Telecommuting & Will the Infrastructure Support It?

I attended a pandemic exercise at Northeastern University last year that was really enlightening and timely considering the latest information about the “swine flu”. Although far from a pandemic at this time, the CDC is taking preventative measures by communicating with the general public what they can do to avoid becoming ill. Here are a few tips that can help spread the transmission. ... (more)

Move, Flex and Protect Your Workloads

Server, storage and site migrations have always been the elephant in the room. IT managers know that it is necessary to reduce costs and improve workload management but cringe over the potential impact to production. In the past, migrations have usually required significant planning, design and downtime, which is no longer acceptable. Now flexible, more efficient workload infrastructure ... (more)

Virtualizing Workloads: There Has to Be a Better Way

The need for moving, provisioning and migrating workloads in real-time for server and storage consolidation is necessary to help IT organizations deploy more efficient and flexible technology, as well as consolidate other site locations for centralized facility management. Many organizations have been reluctant to embrace migration projects because of downtime and interruption to product... (more)