The Backup Wrap-Up

W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup)

Formerly known as "Restore it All," The Backup Wrap-up podcast turns unappreciated backup admins into cyber recovery heroes. After a brief analysis of backup-related news, each episode dives deep into one topic that you can use to better protect your organization from data loss, be it from accidents, disasters, or ransomware.

The Backup Wrap-up is hosted by W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) and his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi. Curtis' passion for backups began over 30 years ago when his employer, a $35B bank, lost its purchasing database – and the backups he was in charge of were worthless. After miraculously not being fired, he resolved to learn everything he could about a topic most people try to get away from. His co-host, Prasanna, saw similar tragedies from the vendor side of the house and also wanted to do whatever he could to stop that from happening to others.

A particular focus lately has been the scourge of ransomware that is plaguing IT organizations across the globe. That's why in addition to backup and disaster recovery, we also touch on information security techniques you can use to protect your backup systems from ransomware. If you'd like to go from being unappreciated to being a cyber recovery hero, this is the podcast for you.

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359 episodes
Updated Yesterday

Episodes359

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Feb 5, 2024 · 40 min
Hot, Warm, and Cold: DR Site Strategies
Creating an effective DR strategy means understanding the critical differences between hot, warm, and cold recovery sites. Join backup guru W. Curtis Preston and his cohost Prasanna Malaiyandi for the latest Backup Wrap-Up as they outline real-world strategies to match your RTO, RPO, and budget. You’ll learn the unique benefits and challenges of using both primary for hot sites, and backup replication to cost-effectively create warm recovery sites. They also tackle the complexities of cloud DR for VMware environments. Can you do DR of VMware to AWS? What conversion hurdles do you need to plan for? Tune in to find out. Whether you're a scrappy SMB or an enterprise with serious SLAs, this tactical episode delivers actionable advice to advance your resilience game. Learn how to leverage the cloud's economies of scale and keep business running no matter what gets thrown your way. The backup wrap up turns unappreciated backup admins into cyber recovery heroes.
Jan 29, 2024 · 31 min
Disaster Recovery Site: Build, Buy, or Cloud?
When disaster strikes, you better have a solid plan for where you’ll recover your operations. Join me, W. Curtis Preston, and Prasanna Malaiyandi, as we explore the nitty-gritty details of your three main options for a disaster recovery site. We’ll dig into the pros, cons, risks, and costs associated with rolling your own DR site, hiring a third-party service, or leveraging the public cloud. Each path has its twists and turns. How do you keep a secondary site in sync? What if a regional disaster takes down your DR provider? Can the cloud flex to meet your recovery needs? Tune in for straight-shooting answers. This episode tackles the tough questions so you can make informed, bulletproof decisions on housing your failover infrastructure. As always, I’m drawing from decades of experience as a recovering backup admin, and I've designed this podcast just for pros like yourself. Batten down the hatches and prepare to take notes - it’s time to build a life raft for your data! For those interested in The Gobox Studio, here you go! https://goboxstudio.com/
Jan 22, 2024 · 46 min
Disaster Recovery 101: Laying the Groundwork for a Good DR Plan
Staying resilient in the face of disaster is crucial for any organization today. In this episode, we dive deep into crafting robust disaster recovery plans that help you outmaneuver outages. We discuss critical groundwork like taking inventory across environments and analyzing risk to determine what to prioritize recovering when the worst happens. Whether it's ransomware, natural disasters, or other threats taking systems down, smart preparation makes all the difference. Key highlights include: Figuring out what scenarios are most likely to impact your business based on risk profiles Making sure you have visibility into all areas – whether data centers, cloud, SaaS, or endpoints Tackling basic protections first before advanced options Understanding regional risks that may be unique to your geography Thinking through tests that validate your ability to recover when needed The right disaster recovery means being able to get back to business rapidly. By learning from unfortunate events others have endured, you can architect resilience that lets you bounce back better no matter the scenario.
Jan 15, 2024 · 37 min
Disaster Recovery 101 - Back to the Fundamentals
Are your backups collecting virtual dust rather than readying you for the next unavoidable disaster? Get back to basics on crafting an ironclad disaster recovery plan. We outline the essential infrastructure, applications, staffing, and execution steps often glossed over by the check-the-box enterprise crowd. Going beyond mere data recovery, we detail considerations around standing up replacement infrastructure, understanding system interdependencies, and restoring functionality faster with increased automation. Cloud's scaling and affordability make DR exercises less daunting these days if configured properly on the front-end. With major outages increasingly likely, the principles detailed could dictate whether your business emerges unscathed or shutters for good. We share tips for pragmatic preparation reflecting our scar tissue from failures past when lackadaisical DR rigor proved painful. Ever try troubleshooting recovery steps in the midst of a raging hurricane...or gotten that dreaded 2AM offline alert while welcoming your newborn? We have! Major takeaways: Start recovery documentation with manual steps, increase automation later Test often - the cloud enables cost-effective exercising at scale Availability outshines recovery - build resilient systems and staff cross-training Know precise RTOs and RPOs aligned to business priority and appetite Stay tuned as we separate the mavens from the mayhem when adverse events strike. Get your data DR ducks in order now before things migrate south! News articles from this episode: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/50k-wordpress-sites-exposed-to-rce-attacks-by-critical-bug-in-backup-plugin/ https://jorgedelacruz.uk/2023/12/06/veeam-whats-new-in-veeam-backup-and-replication-v12-1-major-new-features/
Jan 8, 2024 · 53 min
Backup Fails at Archive: Billion-Dollar eDiscovery Disasters
In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna do a deep dive on the differences between data backup and data archiving. They thoroughly explain that while backup focuses on restoring systems and files to a prior point in time, archiving is all about being able to search and retrieve specific information for legal or regulatory purposes. Key reasons you'll want to tune in: Learn exactly why companies archive data and how regulatory compliance and legal eDiscovery requests require specialized archive capabilities. Understand the dangers of using your backup system as an archive for eDiscovery - lacking full search and exposing too much irrelevant data risks your legal case. Hear multiple real-world horror stories of companies failing legal cases due to lacking proper archives - to the tune of billions of dollars lost. Get clear examples of how continuous, comprehensive archiving captures all versions of files, emails, and data - including deleted and intermediate items. Get a life-line for those of you who are still using your backup system as an archive If you need to implement archiving or fix broken archive approaches that risk legal noncompliance, this episode delivers an excellent primer on how archive differs from backup and what genuine archive systems can do. https://support.google.com/drive/thread/245861992?sjid=15540859157109248518-NC https://support.google.com/drive/answer/14286582?sjid=8199341837463411967-NA https://blog.23andme.com/articles/addressing-data-security-concerns https://www.backupwrapup.com/what-is-archive-and-retrieve-backup-to-basics/ https://www.sullivanstrickler.com
Jan 1, 2024 · 51 min
Backup to Basics: Traditional Data Sources
We’re going back to basics in 2024! Our hosts revisit their smash hit episode from last year all about protecting those traditional data sources like physical servers, VMs, laptops, desktops, and mobile devices. From on-prem to mobile, should it all get backed up? How and why? Tune in as Curtis and Prasanna rehash their spirited debate over backup best practices across your infrastructure and walk through real-world examples of what can go wrong. It’s chock full of fundamental wisdom for data protection pros getting started and veterans alike. Whether you’re making big cloud migrations or maintaining legacy systems, don’t miss this special re-release dedicated to the building blocks of backup as we start the year on a backup to basics kick.
Dec 25, 2023 · 48 min
Get Ready Before You Get Got: Ransomware Response Planning
This timely episode features an in-depth discussion between cybersecurity expert Melissa Palmer (@vmiss) and hosts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi on the crucial role preparation and planning play in effectively responding to and recovering from the inevitable ransomware attack. They stress that flying by the seat of your pants without an incident response plan when ransomware hits leads to chaotic, inefficient efforts and substantially higher costs. Melissa outlines pragmatic steps organizations should take before an attack to develop and test response playbooks, have partnerships in place with response firms, coordinate across internal teams, bolster detection capabilities, and harden backup/recovery mechanisms. Curtis and Prasanna dive into real-world ransomware response scenarios to highlight the complexity organizations face in assessing the scope of damage from attacks and recalibrating restoration priorities. Melissa offers tips on creating robust processes to rebuild compromised environments quickly. They discuss table-top exercises as cost-efficient ways to uncover plan gaps and get stakeholders aligned on roles and timeline expectations. With Melissa's depth of experience assisting ransomware victims, she provides unique insights into preparation best practices often neglected until the worst happens. For IT/security leaders looking to build organizational resilience against ransomware threats, this engaging episode delivers actionable advice on architecting defense-in-depth capabilities tailored to your business requirements. Join us for a great episode!
Dec 18, 2023 · 45 min
To Change or Not to Change Your Backup System
Changing your organization's backup system is no easy task - it requires careful evaluation of requirements, risks, and capabilities. Many admins get stuck with backup environments they've outgrown or that lag on modern demands. On this episode, backup guru W. Curtis Preston and his cohost Prasanna Malaiyandi lend their expertise to help you determine if and when migrating your backup solution makes sense. You'll learn: Key indicators that your current system is no longer fitting your needs How to clearly define backup requirements and alignment to recovery objectives Ways to evaluate ease of use, security, and other qualitative factors Guidance on integrating specialized systems only when necessary The importance of prioritizing immutable storage and rapid recovery Change management best practices that curb instability With ransomware threats growing, the bar for backup keeps rising. Tune in as our two hosts cover everything you need to make backup system change decisions that balance innovation, budget, and risk - avoiding needless switches while still meeting evolving data protection demands. You'll gain real-world clarity that turns unappreciated backup admins into cyber recovery heroes.
Dec 11, 2023 · 41 min
Why you should care about Copy Data Management
After diving into the details of the recent Okta breach enabled by password manager vulnerabilities, Curtis and Prasanna tackle the growing issue of copy data sprawl. They define copy data management – the practice of tracking and governing all duplicated production data for backup, DR, development, analytics etc. What problems result from copy proliferation? How feasible is a single consolidated platform? What regulatory and cost implications exist? Tune in as our hosts break down best practices for cataloging, securing, reducing, and better leveraging your organization’s data copies. Specific topics covered include: Password manager risks exposed in Okta hack Copy data management 101 Storage cost, compliance, security issues Tools and solutions landscape Backup reuse considerations and cautions Cloud vs. data center copy management Join Curtis and Prasanna for another engaging combination of news commentary, frameworks, debates, warnings, and recommendations – this week with a data protection slant. Whether you’re a backup admin or IT leader grappling with copy sprawl, this insightful episode has something for you! Articles discussed in this week's episode: https://sec.okta.com/harfiles https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/11/no-okta-senior-management-not-an-errant-employee-caused-you-to-get-hacked/ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/druva-expands-multi-cloud-protection-140000597.htmlhttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/druva-expands-multi-cloud-protection-140000597.html
Dec 4, 2023 · 40 min
Snap, Replicate, & Protect: Leveraging Near CDP
Tired of backup windows and 24-hour recovery point objectives? Then it's time to learn about how snapshots and replication work together to create near-continuous data protection, or near-CDP. In this episode, backup experts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi dive into leveraging snapshots for instant point-in-time recovery and replication for an offsite copy. By combining these technologies, you can achieve recovery point objectives measured in minutes rather than hours or days. Listen in to understand what near CDP is, how it differs from backup and true CDP, and the key capabilities it enables. Discover when to take crash-consistent vs application-consistent snapshots. Learn how near CDP integrates with backup software and how you can use replicated snapshots for automated recovery testing. If you need tighter RPOs and near-instant RTOs for your mission-critical systems, you can’t afford to miss this explanation of how snap and replicate delivers a high-frequency, budget-friendly data protection option. Tune in to become a hero by enabling your organization to recover quickly from data corruption, ransomware, and other threats!
Nov 27, 2023 · 51 min
Reborn and Reimagined: Don't Write Off Tape Just Yet
Ransomware attacks and data breaches dominate the headlines, but is your data protection strategy truly secure? This must-listen episode dives deep on an unsung hero of cyber resilience - tape. Tape may have been written off by some as a legacy technology, yet it offers unparalleled air gap protection that no hacker can penetrate. Top experts from Fujifilm and IBM (sponsors of this episode) reveal the major advances that make modern tape more scalable, reliable, and cost-effective than ever before. Learn how the pioneering capabilities of the newest LTO-9 drives and 50TB tape cartridges can economically safeguard tens or hundreds of petabytes. Hear the shocking sustainability advantage, with tape generating 97% less CO2 emissions and using drastically less power than comparable disk solutions. With powerful integrated encryption, quantum-safe algorithms on the horizon, and clever optimizations to tame growing data volumes, tape has been reborn as the undisputed information lifeline every organization needs. Don't let your backups remain exposed - get the insider intel on fortifying your last line of defense with tried and tested tape. Stories referenced in the episode: https://blocksandfiles.com/2023/11/03/backblaze-shard-stash-cache/ https://blocksandfiles.com/2023/11/06/cohesity-smartfiles-becomes-snowflake-analytics-playground/
Nov 20, 2023 · 50 min
Virtually Air Gapped: Assessing Cloud Data Protection
What does "air gap" really mean when it comes to backups? Curtis takes us back to the early days of offsite tape backups with Iron Mountain to explore the principles behind physical air gaps. We learn about barcode tracking, unmarked vans, and multi-factor delete authorization. How do modern "virtual air gaps" in the cloud compare? Are backup vendors misusing important security terms? Join us as we separate marketing hype from real backup protection and learn timeless lessons around alerting, access controls, and immutable data. After this episode, you'll know how to assess if your backups are following air gap principles - no matter what technology you use.
Nov 13, 2023 · 49 min
Snapshots vs. Backups: Understanding the Difference
In this episode of The Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston discusses the importance of understanding the difference between snapshots and backups. He emphasizes that storage snapshots should not be considered as true backups. The episode also covers the recent 1Password and Okta hack, highlighting the frustration of such incidents, especially for those who advocate for password managers and cloud technologies. Tune in to learn more about the risks and implications of relying solely on snapshots and the importance of proper backup strategies.
Nov 6, 2023 · 43 min
CDP: The Next Great Thing in DR?
In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and its potential as the next great thing in disaster recovery. They explore the concept of meeting an RTO and RPO of zero and question why CDP isn't used for all backups in DR. Tune in to learn more about CDP and its role in backup and disaster recovery. Article mentioned in the story: https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/10/ransomware_attacks_register_record_speeds
Oct 30, 2023 · 45 min
The Role of Replication in Modern Data Protection systems
In this episode, W. Curtis Preston, aka Mr. Backup, and Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss the fundamental technology of replication in data protection systems. They explore what replication is, how it differs from other methods, and why it's not used for everything. They also delve into the differences between synchronous and asynchronous replication and why it matters. The hosts also share news of a backup company called Alcion, which recently raised funding with support from Veeam, a backup company investing in Alcion's focus on Microsoft 365 backups for SMB customers. They also discuss a report from ESG about how cloud backup has evolved. The episode provides insights into the world of data protection and highlights the importance of replication in safeguarding valuable data. Articles discussed in this episode: https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatabackup/news/366552363/Veeam-leads-funding-round-for-SaaS-backup-provider-Alcion https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatabackup/feature/Cloud-backup-and-disaster-recovery-evolve-toward-maturity
Oct 23, 2023 · 46 min
Is it a backup or just a copy?
In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston discusses the importance of distinguishing between a copy and a backup to ensure the protection of valuable data. He also explores key backup concepts such as multiplexing, incremental backups, block-level incremental backups, and source-side deduplication. The episode kicks off with a discussion on the recent MGM hack, highlighting the significant impact it had on the hotel chain and the potential for personal information leaks. Tune in to learn how to safeguard your data effectively and become a backup hero. Articles mentioned in the episode: https://www.reddit.com/r/vegas/comments/16hxwj0/explain_like_i_am_5_mgm_hacking/ https://www.reversinglabs.com/blog/what-we-know-about-blackcat-and-the-mgm-hack
Oct 16, 2023 · 36 min
The importance of backing up cloud resources
In this episode of the Backup Wrap-up, we continue our Backup to Basics series by discussing the importance of protecting cloud infrastructure, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). We then dive into the differences between these various cloud services and highlight the need to back up various components of each. We also discuss a recent incident where a Danish hosting company lost a significant amount of customer data due to a ransomware attack, emphasizing the ongoing threat of ransomware and the vulnerability of service providers. Tune in to learn more about safeguarding your data in the cloud. Links to articles mentioned in the post: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hosting-firm-says-it-lost-all-customer-data-after-ransomware-attack/ https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-back-up-restore-your-documents-in-windows-10
Oct 9, 2023 · 37 min
The Importance of Backing Up IOT Devices
In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston and co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi explore the topic of data protection in the Internet of Things (IoT) era. With the increasing number of IoT devices in our homes and organizations, it is crucial to understand how to back up and secure the data generated by these devices. They discuss the importance of knowing which devices create important data and where that data is being stored. They also discuss IBM's release of a 150 terabyte tape, which showcases advancements in data storage capacity, and a TechTarget ESG survey about the use of the cloud in data protection. Tune in to this informative episode for insights on safeguarding your IoT data.
Oct 2, 2023 · 27 min
Hybrid Cloud Storage: Back it up or not?
In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston, also known as Mr. Backup, and his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi, discuss the importance (or not) of backing up data in hybrid cloud storage systems, with a possibly surprising answer. The episode begins with backup-related news, followed by a deep dive into a single area or lesson that can help protect against ransomware. The news segment includes a story about Toyota, where multiple manufacturing plants shut down during their production process. Tune in for the answer to the question about backing up hybrid storage systems, and to learn more about data backup and disaster recovery systems.
Sep 27, 2023 · 1 min
Restore it All is Changing Its Name
This is a very short episode to explain our name change and a few other minor changes to the format. The show you know and love is getting better! (Prasanna and I aren't going anywhere.)