You probably think it is enough to be trained on a backup solution to set it up correctly. Have you ever done a restoration test based on the worst case scenario ?
If you are honest with yourself, you know full well that you are content just testing the ideal scenario, the one you find reassuring, because it is simple.
A backup solution is just a tool like a hammer or a saw. Though you know how to use these two tools, you may not be able to build a solid, custom-crafted piece of furniture.
It is essential to know fundamentals and techniques whether you are a carpenter or a computer specialist. A backup solution is a tool meant to make your job easier, but it will only do what you ask, with the IT resources allocated to it.
Data Protection is a fully independent profession, a specialty, just like that of network engineer or DBA for example.
One of the biggest difficulties you have as an IT manager or administrator of systems, networks, etc. is providing justification for your choices to upper management, who do not always understand the need to allocate a budget for data protection since they just invested in a new state-of-the-art infrastructure, at your request ...
I know how tiresome it can be explaining why you can not restore data, or that it will take some time to restore it, when your software appears properly configured.
The hard truth is that in some situations data simply can not be restored. When this happens your credibility in front of your managers, or your client if you are a provider, is at stake, and the trust placed in you by users suffers.
When I started my career at a large Parisian software firm in 1995, I naively thought that making a copy of each day's data (with a crude "tar" at the time on an 8 mm DAT Tape Drive) protected data effectively in the event of a disaster.
The volumes were far less than those generated today and I knew very little, especially about legal constraints. At the time, companies were not as dependent on IT as they are now.
Storage Area Networks did not exist and virtualization was still the stuff of science fiction. Things were simpler then. However, thinking back, in many cases it would have been difficult to restore all the data of my customers because I lacked specific skills in backing up data.
More than 20 years have passed since then - years devoted to this speciality of computer science while working for big names such as Nestle, Airbus, Novartis, Merrill Lynch (I helped save some of their data after the collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001), private banks in Switzerland, national television and radio (TSR, RSR, Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation etc.), the police, etc. It is this knowledge, gained from years of technical and practical experience, that I have decided to share with you by creating the "U-Restore™".
Why? Because it is a rare speciality that companies will need more and more, especially with the advent of GDPR, Big Data, etc.
For one month I will accompany you on your own system (the one in place in your company) with practical exercises that will enable you to acquire the reflexes of a good specialist in this field and thereby avoid the pitfalls I myself fell into when, just like you, I thought I had mastered my data backup solution.
My name is Laurent Linty. I help IT professionals who want to play an active role in their organization's efforts to retain their enterprise's crucial data, even in the event of a cyber attack.
For 20 years, I have been working as an independent international consultant with multinationals such as Damart Somfy Group, Nestlé, Airbus, Alcan, Patek Philippe, and Raymond Weil; national institutions like URSSAF (France), the Cantonal Police of Valais (Switzerland), the Graduate School of Health (Switzerland), Radio Suisse Romande (Switzerland), the National Gendarmerie (France), and the MBC (Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation); and banks and insurance companies including SWAN Group (the first Mauritian insurance company), Banque Internationale in Luxembourg (Switzerland), Standard Chartered Bank (Mauritius), Barclays (Switzerland), and Merrill Lynch (Switzerland), etc.
I also work with SMEs and VSEs to help them choose and configure solutions that meet their needs and budgets.
Lastly, for 15 years I have trained computer professionals and network administrators in the intricacies of data protection.
Aware of the importance of data in a company and the impact data loss has on a company's life expectancy, I am keen to pass on my expertise so that each person's work can be kept in perpetuity and the dynamism of your company can be maintained.
Chef de projet/Analyste
Thanks to Laurent and his experise, we decided to choose a backup/recovery software called Time Navigator from Atempo. He's very impressive at work implementing the solution. His ability to communicate and share his knowledge with us contributes to make our project a success. I strongly recommend Laurent at any stage of an implementation project of the Atempo solution.