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Zetta engineers have gone the extra mile so your network traffic will never be jammed by backup data.

There are two things that companies never seem to have enough of: disk space and bandwidth. Both are consistently increasing and as capacity increase, so does demand. Compounding the problem for networks is that as links become congested, throughput drops, leading to further congestion.
 
This is similar to the situation described in the paper The Freeway Congestion Paradox by Chao Chen and Pravin Varaiya of the PeMS Development Group of Berkeley’s Department of Electric Engineering and Computer Science.
 
Chen and Varaiya looked at traffic flow on a section of Interstate 10 in Los Angeles. They found that at 5:00 a.m., the fast lane was carrying 2100 vehicles per hour travelling 60 mph. At 7:00 a.m. the speed had reduced to 15 mph and the lane was only carrying 1300 vehicles per hour. In other words, although there were a lot more vehicles on the road during rush hour, congestion had dropped the actual traffic flow to just 15% of what it was two hours earlier.
 
“The evidence points unmistakably to the conclusion that maximum flow occurs at free flow speeds ranging from 65 mph in lane 1 to 55 mph in lane 4,” they wrote. “This means that the most efficient way to operate our freeways is to prevent congestion and to keep traffic moving freely.”

Networks see a similar situation when a line is congested. Packets get lost or delayed which leads applications to automatically retransmit the data, or users to keep hitting refresh, both of which increase the congestion and produce further delays.
 

A Suite of Technologies For Fast Online Server Backup Performance

WAN Optimization is a set of techniques designed to increase flow over a link and eliminate congestion within your online server backup solution. These techniques include:
 

• Deduplication: Not sending multiple copies of the same data, but just transmitting a pointer that references the earlier sent data.

 

• Traffic Shaping: Assigning priority to certain types of protocols or users. For example, making sure that the database access takes precedence over streaming videos.

 

• Compression: A variety of methods depending on the traffic type. For example, at the file level, this can include assigning a shorter string of bits to commonly used characters. For the packets, it can mean reducing the amount of header information when a series of packets belong to the same transmission.

 

• Caching: storing copies of commonly used files at the branch office or another location nearer the users to avoid multiple transmissions.

 

• Rate Limits: Restricting the amount of bandwidth allocated to a user.

 

• Multicasting: Sending a single copy of a transmission to multiple users. The networking gear nearer the users, say at the branch office, then creates individual copies for each recipient.

 

The Zetta Approach to Online Server Backup

WAN acceleration is commonly implemented as a network appliance, and while these appliances do a great job of addressing problems of network congestion, they can be thousands of dollars per unit. The appliance needs to be installed at both the source AND the endpoint of the transmission so the cost can be overwhelming. WAN optimization is primarily a matter of software. Appliances are simply one way of running that software, but it can often be achieved at the server, the switch, the router, or even an individual PC or laptop.
 
Zetta DataProtectonline server backup solution uses appliance-less optimization to ensure that your backups do not overload the network. It includes data deduplication at the source to ensure that only changed blocks get transmitted over both the LAN and the WAN. The data, after deduplication, is then compressed to reduce network traffic.
 
At Zetta’s data centers, all data is immediately cached to SSD before writing it to disk so backups are never delayed or need to be transmitted due to not being able to write the data fast enough.The transmission itself is done using the multi-threaded WebDAV protocol, which allows simultaneous parallel transfer of up to 64 backup streams.
 
With Zetta’s WAN optimization technologies, customers can transfer Terabytes of backup data daily over standard Internet connections without paying a congestion penalty. (Now, if only we could deduplicate the freeways.) To see how quickly you can start backing up with Zetta, start your free trial today.

http://www.zetta.net/

The post Online Server Backup and WAN Optimization appeared first on Storage Co-op.

From devastating computer viruses to user passwords being compromised on popular websites like LinkedIn, eHarmony, and Zappos, password protection continues to become a more pressing issue to the public.
 
Many of us are guilty of using the same passwords on several websites or using our pet’s names as passwords, but just how dangerous can that be? Is your personal information really at risk? Keep reading to find out what experts suggest you should include in your passwords as well as tools to help you manage your online security.
 

What to include (an not include) in your passwords

What do you usually include in your passwords – perhaps a capital letter or number? Maybe even the occasional symbol?
 
The truth is that you should be including capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and (not “or”) symbols for maximum protection.
 
Other strategies experts suggest include:
 

• Don’t use common phrases. These are weak and aren’t much more secure than common words.
• Do use complex phrases strung together and non-alpha characters (?!$%), recommends chief emerging threats researcher Roger Thompson of ICSA Labs in this Information Week article.
• Don’t use biographical details. In the same Information Week article above it’s suggested to “Avoid using public details about yourself to build a password,” such as your hometown or your pet’s name.

 
The article goes on to state: “The same should go for password-reset questions, as presidential candidate Mitt Romney learned earlier this week when someone accessed his Hotmail and Dropbox accounts after resetting his password to one of their own choosing.”
 

• Do make your passwords long. When it comes to passwords, you’ve probably heard that longer is better, and that is indeed true since longer passwords take much more time to break.
• Don’t rely on common patterns, like day/month combinations. This means if you’re using your kid’s birthday – let’s say it’s September 9th – as a password, then 0909 is actually considered weaka.

 

Tools for storing passwords

This Lifehacker article had readers vote on their favorite password management programs. The three that came out on top were KeePass, LastPass and 1Password.
 
KeePass (Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobile)
KeePass is open-source and – perhaps best of all – absolutely free. In fact, chances are it supports your mobile device, even if you don’t own an iPhone or Android phone. KeePass also supports BlackBerry and even Palm OS.
 
LastPass (Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobile)
The free version of LastPass will provide you with features such as a master password, automatic form filling, one click login, synchronization across browsers, and more.
 
If you want to upgrade to the LastPass premium version, it costs just $1 per month and allows you to use LastPass for mobile (which includes a long list of supported operating systems and browsers: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Firefox Mobile, and Dolphin Browser). Moreover, it eliminates ads and gives you “priority support” via email and phone.
 
1Password (Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android)
This may be the slickest option in terms of user experience and design, but it’s also by far the most expensive option of the three.
 
After your 30-day free trial, 1Password for Mac or Windows costs $39.95. If you’d like 1Password for your iPhone or iPad, it will cost you $17.99.
 

Security in the cloud

Talk about personal password protection might eventually lead you to thinking about your data’s security in the cloud.
 
If so, we have two blog posts that are essential reading. First, “5 Cloud Backup Security Concerns” explains how data is kept safe in the cloud. Second, “Online Server Backup Essentials: Cloud Security” looks at the difference between tape backup and cloud backup security, along with an explanation of DataProtect – Zetta’s solution to cloud security.

http://www.zetta.net/

The post Safety Tips: Password Protection Best Practices appeared first on Storage Co-op.

From devastating computer viruses to user passwords being compromised on popular websites like LinkedIn, eHarmony, and Zappos, password protection continues to become a more pressing issue to the public.
 
Many of us are guilty of using the same passwords on several websites or using our pet’s names as passwords, but just how dangerous can that be? Is your personal information really at risk? Keep reading to find out what experts suggest you should include in your passwords as well as tools to help you manage your online security.
 

What to include (an not include) in your passwords

What do you usually include in your passwords – perhaps a capital letter or number? Maybe even the occasional symbol?
 
The truth is that you should be including capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and (not “or”) symbols for maximum protection.
 
Other strategies experts suggest include:
 

• Don’t use common phrases. These are weak and aren’t much more secure than common words.
• Do use complex phrases strung together and non-alpha characters (?!$%), recommends chief emerging threats researcher Roger Thompson of ICSA Labs in this Information Week article.
• Don’t use biographical details. In the same Information Week article above it’s suggested to “Avoid using public details about yourself to build a password,” such as your hometown or your pet’s name.

 
The article goes on to state: “The same should go for password-reset questions, as presidential candidate Mitt Romney learned earlier this week when someone accessed his Hotmail and Dropbox accounts after resetting his password to one of their own choosing.”
 

• Do make your passwords long. When it comes to passwords, you’ve probably heard that longer is better, and that is indeed true since longer passwords take much more time to break.
• Don’t rely on common patterns, like day/month combinations. This means if you’re using your kid’s birthday – let’s say it’s September 9th – as a password, then 0909 is actually considered weaka.

 

Tools for storing passwords

This Lifehacker article had readers vote on their favorite password management programs. The three that came out on top were KeePass, LastPass and 1Password.
 
KeePass (Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobile)
KeePass is open-source and – perhaps best of all – absolutely free. In fact, chances are it supports your mobile device, even if you don’t own an iPhone or Android phone. KeePass also supports BlackBerry and even Palm OS.
 
LastPass (Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobile)
The free version of LastPass will provide you with features such as a master password, automatic form filling, one click login, synchronization across browsers, and more.
 
If you want to upgrade to the LastPass premium version, it costs just $1 per month and allows you to use LastPass for mobile (which includes a long list of supported operating systems and browsers: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Firefox Mobile, and Dolphin Browser). Moreover, it eliminates ads and gives you “priority support” via email and phone.
 
1Password (Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android)
This may be the slickest option in terms of user experience and design, but it’s also by far the most expensive option of the three.
 
After your 30-day free trial, 1Password for Mac or Windows costs $39.95. If you’d like 1Password for your iPhone or iPad, it will cost you $17.99.
 

Security in the cloud

Talk about personal password protection might eventually lead you to thinking about your data’s security in the cloud.
 
If so, we have two blog posts that are essential reading. First, “5 Cloud Backup Security Concerns” explains how data is kept safe in the cloud. Second, “Online Server Backup Essentials: Cloud Security” looks at the difference between tape backup and cloud backup security, along with an explanation of DataProtect – Zetta’s solution to cloud security.

http://www.zetta.net/

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