Best practices dictate avoiding disasters or data loss in the first place. From the hardware standpoint, the Test Center decided to build a white-box server, using widely available industry-standard components to ensure quick repair, service or replacement of the server in case of a hardware failure.
Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 was chosen as the operating system because it offers elements that meet the needs set forth by the line of business applications often used by accounting firms.
A pair of 250-Gbyte MaXLine Plus II SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives from Maxtor were installed and mirrored using features included with SBS 2003. Mirroring offers realtime data and drive replication to prevent the loss of data if a hard drive fails.
The Test Center chose SATA drives over SCSI drives because they offer adequate performance for smaller networks but cost significantly less than SCSI hard drives. SATA drives also tend to be easier to install and configure and use a simple hardware interface that speeds replacement. Simply put, at $350 each, the Maxtor drives offer high capacity at an attractive price.
The primary element of the disaster-recovery process comes in the form of backing up and protecting data. Solution providers will need to carefully consider hardware and software technologies that help accomplish that goal. After all, if data is not backed up, disaster recovery becomes not only pointless, but impossible.
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