Disaster recovery options for legal firm file servers
Mike Talon
Published: 13 Jun 2005 11:30 BST
Replication tools
Replication tools can also assist you, especially if you’re looking to fail over to alternate data-systems in the event of an emergency. Since legal documents are typically created over a number of weeks or months, but once finished they're only read from then on and not often changed, replication systems can be very effective at protecting this type of data. These systems only send the changes to your documents, and typically don't replicate read operations. So after an initial synchronisation, they'll only send the new information, no matter how large the overall file store becomes.
The only drawback is that the data will take up the same amount of space at the backup datacentre as it does at your production site, so you'll need twice the amount of disk as you would if you didn't replicate at all. You’ll also need somewhere to put the replicated systems, so floor space is an issue again. Also keep in mind that most law firms will have to use some kind of indexing product or tool in order to allow employees fast-search access to these documents. Normally this wouldn’t pose a problem, since the indexing tools are generally independent of the file servers, and therefore don’t cause a lot of changes. However, indexing tools that sit on the file servers themselves will generate a CPU and I/O overhead that could easily interfere with your replication systems. Keep this in mind when selecting indexing tools, or make sure that your DR plan won’t conflict if you’re already using the indexing systems.
Law firms and other legal entities have very specific DR needs that extend beyond the normal organisation. Keeping these in mind will help you create a smooth DR plan, while not infringing on the needs of the law firm, or leaving them open to potential data loss.
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