Itil help desk

PC Backup Software - Are There Any Good Ones?
By Mike Singh

Why bother with backup? Can you imagine what would happen if all of a sudden *poof* everything is wiped off your computer. You had not installed any pc backup software. You could not get into files, retrieve pictures or music downloads and all programs and saved documents were lost. Permanently. Most people dread the thought and yet system crashes, file corruption and emergency disasters do happen to computers on a daily basis. So what can be done about it?

Saving the day

There are numerous commercially available software programs designed to backup your computer. Installing a pc backup software is critical to maintaining your computer and avoiding any unnecessary reinstalls or lost material. Pc backup software will store and save:

* Data entry files
* Emails
* Music
* Photographs
* Financial records
* Billing and invoicing records
* Programs and downloads
* Operating systems

Pc backup software works by protecting, preserving and archiving the data on your computer at regularly scheduled times. Programs can then be restored through the pc backup software program. By using pc backup software you do not have to go through the trouble of reinstalling operating systems and other programs. Wizards and easy to follow step-by-step instructions make pc backup software easy to use for beginner and advanced computer users, whether you are backing up just a few files or the whole system.

What is on the market?

There are multitudes of pc backup software items on the market. As with any program, knowing what you need is essential to determine which pc backup software program will most closely match your needs. A very brief list of pc backup software can be found below:

* Backup MyPC - is available for personal, small business computers as well as small networks. This pc backup software has won awards from PC World Magazine for three years in a row. It offers provides easy to follow wizards to help you automatically set-up your pc for regularly scheduled backups. This pc backup software uses password protection to ensure continued safety and security for your data.

* NovaBACKUP - allows backup to any number of devices such as tape, CD-RW, DVD or disk. In addition to the features mentioned above it also is network friendly and all computers on a network can be backed up from one pc. This pc backup software also scans for viruses while performing the backup and uses open file backup to allow files that are opened to be saved even as data is being entered.

* Norton Ghost - is also an award winning pc backup software. It has been editor s choice for two year in PC Magazine and in 2004 for Bityard. This program works only with Windows XP Home Edition/Professional or Windows 2000 Professional. There is a version, Norton Ghost 2003, that will work with Windows 98 and Me. This pc backup software offers fully automatic backup for everything on your computer.

On http://www.build-computerz.com/ you will find articles on build your custom computers and make your own computers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Singh
http://EzineArticles.com/?PC-Backup-Software—Are-There-Any-Good-Ones?&id=139844

How you respond your sound crapper attain or fortuity your company. In the geezerhood where the cyberspace has embellish indispensable, the beatific older anulus is ease a selection when it comes to client service. People ease aforementioned speech to a mortal kinda then sending emails and wondering when they’re feat to intend a response. The anulus is quicker and more pleasant to ingest for a aggregation of clients.

Being much an essential playing tool, the telephone, if utilised properly, crapper invoke enquiries into daylong instance business. When upbringing newborn staff, attain trusty you pay instance upbringing them on how the calls should be answered.
Here are whatever tips for you to consider:

1. Make trusty every digit in your consort answers the aforementioned artefact - mentioning their study and the study of your consort in a knightly way.
For example: “Good farewell study of your consort this is Samantha, how crapper I hold you?

2. Make trusty that you grinning and set up straightforward when you answer. That module guarantee you intercommunicate understandably and beam discover a welcoming and constructive vocalise to the mortal calling.

3. Answer the call by the ordinal ring.

4. If the mortal the utterer is after is on added line, provide him an choice of either inactivity or attractive a message.

5. If that utterer decides to hold, attain trusty you provide him feedback every 30 seconds to wager if he ease wants to move or yield a message.

6. If the utterer wants to yield a message, verify his name, sound sort and consort name. If you don’t see communicate him to move or speech the name. This module attain trusty that your co-worker knows who he is occupation backwards and asks for the correct person.

7. When you verify a message, attain trusty that the mortal it is for gets the message. Return your sound calls within 24 hours. If you are ease inactivity for an respond to a customer’s question, attain trusty you call that mortal and vindicate that you haven’t irrecoverable them and that you module intend every the aggregation to them as presently as possible. Keeping your clients conversant of the advancement of their letter module be rattling understood and you module acquire enthusiastic attitude from your clients.

8. Never place your clients on utterer phone. That is by farther the rudest abstract you could do to them. It module attain them see aforementioned there is no concealment in your conversation and haw preclude them from informing you what their letter is. If you staleness place them on utterer phone, communicate their authorisation and permit them undergo the conceive ground you staleness do it.

9. If you permit your calls go to the company’s responsive machine, attain trusty the communication is professed and said tardily and understandably to guarantee that your customers see the manual to follow. Mention the study of the business, ground they got the responsive organisation i.e. land the inaugural hours, or open holidays, etc. If for a open holiday, name when you module re-open (day and time).

10. If the calls go to your individualized vocalise mail, achievement a communication apiece period mentioning the fellow and if you are in the duty or not. If you are not, provide an deciding to accomplish you. Either your ambulatory sort or the sort of a mortal that could hold them in your absence, or your telecommunicate come if you crapper admittance your statement from a distance.

In a nutshell, the key to respond your anulus calls is similarity (making trusty everyone answers the aforementioned way), professionalism (answer phones pronto and with a smile) and existence knightly (make trusty the calls are returned in a opportune behavior and ready your customers conversant of the advancement of their request). If in doubt, conceive most how you would aforementioned to be aerated if you were the digit occupation with a problem!

About the Author

Paul adventurer is the trainer of Auratech Software, a consort that specialises in Help Desk Software to hold businesses with their client support.
If you would aforementioned to feature more articles on rising your hold or would aforementioned to analyse discover Auratech’s arrange of Help Desk Software, gratify visit:
http://www.helpdesk-support.com/better-support.htm

[tags]client support systems, help desk software, good customer service, professional customer service[/tags]

So you’re eventually at the saucer where playing is palmy and you’re effort mountain of calls and emails per period from customers, possibleness or existing, wanting to either communicate a discourse most your products or inform a imperfectness in digit they’ve meet purchased. And if they dispatched you an telecommunicate and it wasn’t answered in 24 hours, they WILL call, adding to your ever-increasing backlog.

As a beatific playing person, you poverty to fulfill every computer that comes to you with a ask and attain trusty that it’s resolute apace so that they become backwards for more after on.

The exclusive difficulty is, you didn’t wait your sound to be feat soured the substance from the marketing crusade you’ve meet ended - not that such anyway!

What you requirement to do today is encounter a artefact to country the accumulation of calls you hit and fast!

Getting the comely agency to hold you with your computer assist module not exclusive verify a alluviation soured your hold body but module process your staff’s fecundity as they module be in curb of the hold they substance and not swing discover fires every day.

If you possess a website, you should earnestly study purchase hold desk software. With this online, every your customers crapper feeding finished your database (which contains resolute issues most your products) to encounter the respond to their queries without having to call or telecommunicate you.

This database should be updated regularly, especially if a discourse comes up a some nowadays and it crapper be resolved by your clients on their own.

If your computer doesn’t encounter what he/she wants and decides to beam you an email, an semiautomatic telecommunicate would be dispatched to that computer locution that you hit conventional their ask and that digit of your body module hold it shortly.

You crapper modify go further, ownership them updated on how your customer’s supply is evolving, sending them added telecommunicate explaining where you’re at with his/her issue. That way, he/she won’t requirement to call to wager if you’ve institute a resolution - digit inferior call to answer!

If you don’t possess a website, then a beatific assist grouping module also crapper greatly process your hold staff’s efficiency. This assist code would hit every your computer info (if applicable), the products they’ve purchased and the story of calls that they’ve lodged with you. Your body would hit admittance to a generalized noesis humble where every the calls and resolutions hit been posted to behave as a meaning to hold them cipher your customers problems quickly, thence reaction your accumulation of calls and crescendo their fecundity as they would respond and hold more calls per day.

Lets grappling it. The hold playing is famous for its broad body turnover, so having code that’s hurried to see and cushy to ingest module preclude your computer assist from suffering.

Also, with the comely tools, you won’t requirement to pay life upbringing newborn staff. They’ll be healthy to respond calls within hours and hold you fulfill your customers! If you poverty more aggregation on how a hold desk grouping crapper hold your business, gratify analyse discover the mass link: http://www.helpdesk-support.com/webciss

Making trusty that every your customers’ concerns are answered and that they are mitigated with the assist they were provided module attain trusty they become backwards and intend their kinsfolk and friends to you.

Paul adventurer is the trainer of Auratech Software, a consort that specialises in Help Desk Software to hold businesses with their computer support. If you would same to feature more articles on rising your hold or would same to analyse discover Auratech’s arrange of Help Desk Software, gratify visit: http://www.helpdesk-support.com/better-support.htm

[tags]customer service, clearing backlog of calls, client support, help desk software, support issues[/tags]

Data Backup - Which is the Better Way?
By Lee Morrell

Before we investigate which data backup method is a best fit for your business, we need to evaluate why and what you expect from your backup solution.

Obviously, we backup our data so we can continue trading after a disaster, but what type of disaster are you protecting yourself from and how quickly does your system need to be back online? Please think about this before you think of the usual stock answer, “I am protecting myself from all disasters and I want to be back online as soon as possible” easy to do if you have ?500,000 budget and many man hours to devote to the task of backup. You need to be realistic about your backup and restore plan. Are you planning to recover from a hardware failure, total server failure, fire flood or any malicious event? Remember, the rule, the bigger the disaster you plan for, the bigger budget you will need.

Let’s look at the business backup options

Tape Backup -

Is a solution which has been around for many years, recent technology means backup and restore is becoming faster and faster. The main benefit of tape based backup is the speed in which you can restore, tape solutions are now capable of moving data at rates of up to 80MB per second. The down side is the initial cost, a high end tape backup device will cost from ?4,000 and can work their way up to hundreds of thousands. The software to control the backup starts at around ?500 per device to be backed up and can escalate to ?3000 per device. Cost of media, ?30 per tape and usually you will
need a minimum of 10 tapes.

Cost aside, the human intervention requirement can be a drain on resource, for example someone will need to ensure a tape is fitted into the backup device and removed offsite after the backup has taken place. Usually most company’s leave the tape inside the server overnight, leaving your backup exposed to the same threats as your server.

Disk to Disk Transfer -

Easily the fastest way to backup and restore and is suitable for high quantities of data which can be transferred between two servers at up to 320MB per second. The speed of this form of backup is usually only slowed down by the network connecting them together. There are two downsides behind this solution, firstly the cost you will need a second server and this server will need to grow at the same time as your live server. Secondly it is impossible to remove the server to a secure remote or offsite location, again leaving your backup exposed to the same threat as your live server.

Offsite or Online Backup -

By far the cheapest method of backup, however until recently your backup and restore process can usually operate only as fast as your internet connection, usually 2MB per second. This form of backup has usually only been suitable for smaller companies with smaller quantities of data. Times have changed, some offsite backup solutions now offer high performance disk to disk backup functionality whilst still securely backing up your data to an offsite location, you might say this offers the best of both worlds, very fast restore using disk to disk functionality but still copying your data offsite ensuring you will always be able to restore regardless of disaster.

One final benefit is zero human intervention once you have setup you backup schedule the whole process is automated from there on in.

To find out how online backup can help your business please visit http://www.perfectbackup.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Morrell
http://EzineArticles.com/?Data-Backup—Which-is-the-Better-Way?&id=361016

The Top 3 Computer Backup Myths - Exposed!
By Levi Bloom

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Sound familiar? That was always my motto (still is sometimes) but as far as backing up my computer, procrastinating is the last thing I do! I have learned my lesson after losing precious data from multiple hard drive crashes!

Think disaster won’t strike your computer? I have news for you: statistics show that 1 in every 4 computer users suffers a critical data loss every year. Laptops are stolen and hard drives crash it’s a fact of life. If you’ve never seen a grown man cry, wait till his computer crashes!

Still, I’ve heard many excuses from other computer users about why they don’t backup their machines. Well, they might sound good, but they really do not hold up.

I conducted a small survey among computer users to find the most popular excuses. The top three excuses are shown below, along with my rebuttals.

3. I don’t know how.

Now’s the time to learn. If you have learned to use a computer, you can learn to backup your files. It can be as simple as burning a CD or clicking on folders and selecting “back this up.”

Find the nearest computer whiz and tell them you want to back up your data. Or just browse the internet for data backup. Someone will be happy to help. (After losing a lot of my data due to hard drive crashes, I’m happy to help people backup their data.)

2. It’s too expensive.

Backup does not have to cost an arm and a leg. Although some services are very expensive, it is possible to backup all of your data for a few dollars every month. What do CD-Rs cost these days, a couple cents each? Even one top-notch online backup service is a mere $5 per month.

You buy insurance for your house and car, right? Think of data backup as insurance for your documents and digital photos. (Remember, even if your insurance covers the cost of your computer during a catastrophe, they will not cover your data loss, which most likely is worth more than the computer itself.)

And the #1 reason

1. It takes too long.

This reason would actually be better stated as “I’m too busy!” or “I’m lazy!” but I figured I would combine those into one sentence!

If you burn CDs with all of your data, then yes, it takes a while. But even that does not take as long as trying to start over from scratch once you have lost everything!

Just think if you lost everything. What would you do?

Remember that backup service I mentioned earlier that’s only $5 per month? Not only is it cheap, it works automatically after a few minutes of setup time. It will actually backup your entire computer without any effort on your part! If you don’t have time for that, I don’t know what you have time for.

Levi Bloom runs PCBackupReview.com where you can learn everything you need to know about computer backup. Check out his website to learn the secret to backing up your computer easily for just $5 per month or to subscribe to a free e-course about computer backup.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Levi_Bloom
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Top-3-Computer-Backup-Myths—Exposed!&id=202943

What s Your Backup Plan for Customer Data?
By Christine Harrell

Is it possible for you to wake up and find that your entire customer base is completely gone? Speaking in terms of your customer database, the possibility is very real and also true for employee records, payment history, electronic documents, etc. While just about everyone has experienced the sinking feeling of realizing that an important file has been lost for good, most people and businesses still aren’t backing up their primary data even though direct attached storage, network attached storage and tape is affordable and simple to implement.

What is Direct Attached Storage?

Direct access storage is considered a simple type of storage to implement and is perfect for businesses that use one or two servers to share information locally. If you’re running a network your server is most likely the prime storage area for all of the computers on the network or possibly you have a small RAID attached. Direct Attached Storage (DAS) is a storage unit that is directly connected to the server, but not accessible by the other computers on the network without express permissions.

Depending on the type of direct attached storage drive you choose, the backup can be set up to occur automatically on a periodic basis. In the event of a hard drive crash, all of your data is still in tact on the direct access storage drive and easily accessible.

Cost of Direct Attached Storage:

The potential cost of loss associated with not having some sort of data backup plan like direct attached storage is obvious - but what about the out of pocket expense? Direct Attached Storage is not as expensive as you might think. Rackmount units are available with a mere 8 drives up to 42 drives, and start well under $10,000.00

Alternatives to Direct Attached Storage?

Network Attached Storage: The next logical alternative to direct attached storage is network attached storage (NAS) where the RAID is not connected to the server itself, but can assess data across an entire network with multiple servers (Gigabit connection). This is beneficial for many companies, the set up and administration of a NAS is not time consuming and can be implemented very quickly.

Tape Backup Drive: Another popular alternative is the tape backup drive, be it stand alone or be within a tape autoloader or in a library. The benefit of tape is that they can be stored at a different location, thus minimizing exposure to natural disaster or theft. A tape backup drive is ideal for many types of businesses that need a record of a document’s progress throughout time. The tape library can provide a snapshot of a document, such as a customer contract, as it looked one at any point in its history.

No matter what type of data backup plan you choose, it is most important that you implement something now before you encounter a problem. Companies that provide DAS, NAS or Tape solutions can work with you to assess your business needs and address the most effective solutions, thus preventing any significant down time.

Author is a writer for Sunstar Company which specializes in direct
attached storage and tape back drives. For additional information you can visit
http://www.SunstarCo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christine_Harrell
http://EzineArticles.com/?Whats-Your-Backup-Plan-for-Customer-Data?&id=205290

The Need for Help Desk Tracking Software
By Kent Pinkerton

Companies that use help desk software note the many benefits of having it. Flexibility in web-based programs and the ability to effectively organize and manage trouble tickets are two of the most prominently praised features. Many businesses are now realizing the importance of help desk tracking software. They’ve learned that effectively managing consumer issues can create a loyal customer base. Help desk tracking software is a vital component in help desk technology. Your competitors know the benefits of help desk programs. In order to stay abreast of current trends and customer expectations, you should too.

Help desk tracking software allows your company to deliver effective and timely responses to customer trouble tickets. By using a ticket-tracking program, you can prioritize and manage all incoming and outgoing responses. Tracking software also allows customer and technical support personnel to check the status of queries they have already submitted.

The ticket categorization feature of many help desk tracking software programs is also very helpful. Most programs allow the user to organize incoming tickets on the basis of category, channel and priority. Instead of having technicians spend countless hours sifting through emails, tracking software successfully manages the tickets. This means more time for your personnel to spend working tickets, and a more productive workday.

Effectively managing trouble tickets can set your company at a higher standard than your competitors. Customers in today’s world want instant access to their questions and many expect and rely upon 24 hour support 7 days a week. Help desk software can also compile a list of the most frequently asked questions so that your customers can find solutions to their problems without contacting a technician. Quality customer and technical support is valuable to your business strategy, and ignoring this need can mean loss of business. Help desk tracking software is one among many ways to better manage your inbound service inquiries.

Help Desk Software Info provides detailed information on help desk software solutions, including IT help desk software, web-based help desk software, free help desk software, help desk tracking, help desk support software, and reviews of help desk software programs. Help Desk Software Info is the sister site of Recruiting Software Web.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kent_Pinkerton
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Need-for-Help-Desk-Tracking-Software&id=62696

Using SANRAD V-Switch as the VSS Hardware Provider for Windows Backups
By Efrat Aharoni-Levi

Introduction

Many Microsoft Window applications (like Exchange, MS-SQL, etc) are critical to the daily core functionality for many companies and organizations. Managing the data backup for these applications presents new challenges for system administrators. While there is an ever increasing need for more and more data to be backed up, at the same time the system administrator must cope with the issue of shrinking backup windows in which the application can be taken offline in order to backup the application data. Another issue to contend with is the performance hit the production server takes when backup is running.
Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and SANRAD iSCSI V-Switch acting as VSS storage provider can help the system administrator resolve these issues by:
Eliminating the need to take the application offline.
Quickly responding to the increasing need for storage.
Enabling fast backup and restore by backing up to disks and offloading the backup performance hit from the production volumes and servers.

This application note describes VSS, how it works, the required basic configuration in order for VSS to work with the SANRAD V-Switch to create snapshots as well as the backup design options using VSS and SANRAD V-Switch. We use Veritas’ BackupExec (V10.0) to help us demonstrate taking backups with VSS using SANRAD V-Switch.

This application note assumes that the user has basic knowledge of how to use SANRAD V-Switch to configure volumes and expose them to the servers as disks. The user should also be familiar with Microsoft Iscsi initiator for connecting Windows 2003 server to the exposed iSCSI volumes by the SANRAD V-Switch.

What is VSS?
Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) provides the backup infrastructure for the Windows Server 2003 operating systems, as well as a mechanism for creating consistent point-in-time copies of data known as shadow copies or snapshots.
VSS can produce consistent snapshots by coordinating between different applications (business, file-system services, backup) and storage hardware.

The following steps describe VSS Architecture:

STEP 1. Path 1: The Requestor (usually a backup application) make a request to VSS (running on the application server) to create snapshots of production volumes so that backups can be made from the snapshots and not from the production volumes.

STEP 2. Path 2: If the volumes “belong” to an application that has a VSS Writer (VSS aware application like Exchange), the VSS requests the Writer to prepare the volumes. The Writer will usually flash the data to the disk and freeze IO writes from the application during the time the VSS takes the snapshots (usually few seconds). This ensures application data consistency when recovery is needed. If there is no VSS writer then VSS will go directly to the next step but there is no guarantee that the data is in a consistent state.

STEP 3. Path 3: VSS requests a provider to create a snapshot. There are three kinds of VSS providers: Hardware, Software and System. A system provider is part of the Windows 2003 OS and it will take snapshots and keep them but only at the OS level. A hardware provider is usually a storage provider, like SANRAD Iscsi V-Switch, which creates and maintains snapshots at the storage hardware level. VSS chooses the provider from a list (first on the list with priority given to hardware provider if one exists).

STEP 4. Path 4: VSS goes back to the VSS Writer (if it exists) and allows it to unfreeze the application I/O activity and resume normal activity.

STEP 5. Path 5: VSS goes back to the requestor (backup application) and gives it the location of the snapshots so it can start the backup from the snapshots.

STEP 6. Path 6: Once backup is complete, the requestor informs VSS which in turn informs the VSS provider to delete the snapshots.

Summary
The combined solution of Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), SANRAD V-Switch as the VSS storage provider and backup VSS aware applications (like Veritas BackupExec V10) allow companies to offload backup jobs from the production environment, leave applications up for user access while backing up the data and have a data life cycle for regulations compliance.

SANRAD is a leader in IP Storage Networks enabling organizations to effectively Access, Share & Manage Stored Data across Standard Ethernet Environments.

SANRAD delivers simplified networked storage with excellent price/performance by coupling open IP storage connectivity with comprehensive network-based data management using IP Storage Area Networks (IP-SANs).

With SANRAD, organizations of all sizes can leverage the benefits of networked storage to link employees and clients with stored data for full storage availability, flexible and scalable storage using an economical Ethernet (IP/SCSI) network.

for further reading:

http://www.sanrad.com/objects/support/Library

http://www.sanrad.com/iscsi.asp?IP-SAN=231

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Efrat_Aharoni-Levi
http://EzineArticles.com/?Using-SANRAD-V-Switch-as-the-VSS-Hardware-Provider-for-Windows-Backups&id=125379

Securing Backups in Microsoft SQL Server
By Som Dutt Tripathi

Backing up database without password contains several vulnerability of
disclosing the confidential information. The reason that any database can be
restored at any location makes this problem more serious. You can check it out
by creating a Backup of your database and restoring it in some other machine.
The information stored in your backup media also get disclosed by - Restore
filelistonly or Restore headeronly options. Backing up a database without
supplying password could lead to several anomalies that no company would like to
suffer.

Some common problems concerned -



(1) Disclosing of company information, such as customers, policies and future
plans.

(2) Disclosing of contact information or accounts information especially in case
of Bank or Insurance companies.

(3) Disclosing of structure of the storage pattern of the company.

(4) Utilization of future plans by rival companies.

These are common problems, but there are numerous specific problems that could
be faced. Let s have an estimate of some reasons why backup set must be password
protected -

(1) Backups in Tapes is not kept in a secure manner.

This is also recommended to store all the backup off-site. In such cases where
your company stores Tapes off-site, there could be some physical security
problems of there storage. There are cases when disgruntled employees have sold
these tapes to rival companies to gain better perk and confidence in rival
companies. As you all know, each company wants to know the structure and pattern
followed by other company. A employee of company may be unfaithful and he can
damage some information. But damaging some data is not a big issue than selling
or disclosing information.

(2) Backups can be sent as e-mail or uploaded.

This problem is not hidden to anyone. Your company firewall may be strong, but
Thumbnail drives can anytime be applied in USB port and data can be transferred.
Thumbnail drives are nowadays in fashion also. Anyone can have a 1GB to 10GB of
such thumbnail drives. The important thing to notice about thumbnail drives is
that they do not require installation. Just plugging into USB port and computer
shows a Removable media and then copy and paste of files. This is so easy to do
that a newbie can do this.

How to provide security in Backups ?

This only requires to add an option of password to make your backup set password
protected. The advantages of providing password in backup are -

(1) Restore Filelistonly, Restore Headeronly commands does not disclose
the backup information.
(2) If you want to restore from media, error is generated by SQL Server.

The following commands can be used to provide a password. I assume that you have
a backup media and backup device name backup01 .

Statement#1
Backup database Northwind to backup01 with password= secretpass

Now, let us have a test on this and see what SQL Server says when password is
not provided.

Restore database Northwind from backup01

Server: Msg 3279, Level 16, State 2, Line 5
Access is denied due to a password failure
Server: Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 5
RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

This was an error with severity level 16. That means it s working. Now, let us
have a look on restore related commands that produce some information.

Restore Filelistonly From backup01

Server: Msg 3279, Level 16, State 2, Line 5
Access is denied due to a password failure
Server: Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 5
RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

Again the same error. In this way, we may conclude that this approach is easier
to create this. Some other options can also be provided like media name, media
description and media password.

Media Name, Media Description and Media Password

There are some differences in directly applying password while backup and using
media name. When you are using following command while backup.

Statement#2
Backup database Northwind to backup01 with medianame= Set-1 , mediapassword= passwd

This would create password for backup01 and once it was done, you get the same
error Msg 3279 while you execute the following command on the same media.

Backup database Northwind to backup01

So, when your provide password for the media, you can not backup any information
into media unless you provide password. After the Statement#2 you need to
provide password for other backups.

Backup database MSDB to backup01 with medianame= Set-1 , mediapassword= passwd

The statement executes successfully. This is the actual difference in using
with password= and with medianame case. After executing Statement#1, you can
use the same for other backups without mentioning password or mentioning
different passwords.

Conclusion

This is all about providing protection for passwords. There are many other
things to research in the same scenario and I would like to share my ideas when
such studies are complete. Overall, my aim was to open your eyes that backups
are not only to secure your data, but due to carelessness this may lead to
leakage of information. In my opinion, disclosure of important information is
more serious matter than loss of information. So, awareness is important and
there is a little effort to apply in securing your backups.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Som_Dutt_Tripathi
http://EzineArticles.com/?Securing-Backups-in-Microsoft-SQL-Server&id=305304

The Safety Net of Online Backup Services
By Christopher J Enders

Online backup services are one of the most revolutionary ideas of
the internet age in my opinion. All computer users who rely upon
their computers for their day to day operations know how
important it is to have a recent backup at all times. Technology
has simplified our lives in so many ways however, technology is
not fail proof. Because we are so highly dependent on it in this
day and age, a technological failure or a simple spurt of human
error can throw us back, seemingly into the stone ages,
especially if we do not have our computer data backed up where it
can be quickly and easily recovered.

Of course we all have good intentions and plan to do regular
backups “some day”. Some companies even require computer users on
their staff to make regular backups as a matter of policies and
procedures. However, in both cases we are relying on humans to
take care of backing up data so it will be available if
unexpected hardware failures occur. Humans don t always do what
they are supposed to do, and making backups is one of those tasks
that gets overlooked more often than others. Automating the
process of making backups on a regular basis using online backup
services diminishes the odds that you will caught in a bind
without a backup of your electronic data.

Another major advantage of online backup services is that they
provide an offsite backup of your computer data. Sometimes the
backup is even stored on a separate computer network in a remote
location that is in a different geographic region. This is a
remarkable advantage of online backup services because not only
is the backed up data safe in case of a hardware failure, it is
also protected against catastrophic events like fires or floods
at your place of business as well as being protected from loss in
case of a natural disaster like a tornado, a hurricane or a major
earthquake. Online backup services can literally save the day,
and the business, when such disastrous events occur.

With online backup services you can schedule backups to be done
through an automated process at regular intervals throughout the
day. The frequency of your backups conducted through online
backup services is pretty dependent upon your business and the
volume of business you do in a day. With most online backup
services, the frequency of the backups affects the cost of the
services, so this is something to consider when deciding how
frequently it is necessary to backup your computer systems.

Different online backup services also have a range of packages
with different levels of online backup services and relatively
varying fees. Pricing structures for online backup services
generally fluctuate based upon the level of service provided. The
cost, automation capabilities, security and the availability of
the backups for immediate restoration are important
considerations when selecting online backup services for your
business.

The price of online backup services usually increases along with
the amount of storage needed in terms of megabytes or gigabytes.
So, before you choose a particular plan for online backup
services, be sure you know what data will need to be backed up,
the intervals at which the automated backups will need to be
made, and the storage space required from your online backup
services to house your data.

Regardless of the type of business you operate or the size of
your business, the use of automated online backup services is
recommended. Online backup services give you peace of mind
knowing that your backups are safely stored in a remote location
and available for restoration whenever you need them. Online
backup services that are automated also ensure that backups are
made in a timely manner at preset intervals that you have
determined are necessary.

Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope,
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