NEWSFILE
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SSD and flash are ‘reliable but not fool proof’
ACCORDING to a recent SSD/Flash technology use and perceptions survey, Kroll Ontrack found that while more than 90 percent of respondents perceive SSD/Flash failure rates to be minimal and the technology to be reliable, 57 percent of respondents had experienced data loss with SSD/Flash technology.
Further, three-fourths of respondents consider the recovery of data from SSD/Flash to be nearly impossible or complicated, indicating respondents are skeptical of the feasibility of SSD/ Flash recovery when it is needed.
“System area corruption accounts for 60 percent of SSD/ Flash data loss, but physical damage, file system corruption, electronics failure and human error are also factors,” said Troy Hegr, Ontrack Data Recovery technology manager, Kroll Ontrack. “In the case of SSD/Flash data loss, recovery can be more complex. SSD/Flash data reside in a more scattered format on the drive as compared to traditional hard drive media where data is stored more linearly. Industry standards for data layout and organization on SSD/Flash mediums are not yet fully established, often requiring custom recovery solutions based on the specific manufacturer and model of the device.
eBay installs 100 TBs of Flash Memory storage
eBay has deployed more than 100 terabytes of Nimbus S-class flash memory to power its VMware virtual server infrastructure. The scale of the Nimbus deployment at eBay, which started with one system and expanded to 12 systems in less than one year, makes it among the world’s largest consolidated deployments of network-attached flash storage for virtualization today.
The selection of Nimbus came after eBay carefully evaluated its existing hard disk-based storage systems, flash-based caching solutions, and tiered storage architectures. eBay required a storage solution with tight integration with VMware virtual infrastructure, iSCSI connectivity over 10 Gigabit Ethernet, ease of administration, and inline deduplication to reduce storage capacity requirements. In the end, eBay was most attracted
to the performance, efficiency, simplicity, and comprehensive SAN and NAS software capabilities of the Nimbus Sustainable Storage™ platform. The Nimbus solution delivered near line- rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet iSCSI performance to the VMware hosts while consuming 78 percent less energy and 50 percent less rackspace than conventional disk-based solutions.
“The scope and scale of the eBay platform requires technology solutions that help us innovate faster and deliver outstanding results to our users, both internally and across
eBay.com. Nimbus’ S-class solid state storage system delivers exceptional performance and response time that was not possible before with traditional disk-based systems,” stated Michael Craft, Manager, QA Systems Administration.
64% of organisations failing to encrypt data in the Cloud
VENAFI, in conjunction with Echelon One, an IT security research leader specialising in security programs and guidance, has released the 2011 IT Security Best Practices Assessment. Echelon One led the effort to establish a set of 12 best practices and worked closely with Venafi to evaluate how well 420 enterprises and government agencies implemented them. The assessment reveals an epidemic of security worst practices, where a majority of organisations fail to adhere to simple data protection standards and, in many cases, are fully unaware of what security practices are currently in place.
“The assessment findings were startling. We suspected we would find that many organisations were challenged, but we had no idea that failure rates would run this high,” said Bob West, founder and CEO of Echelon One. “The good news is that with this information and self assessment, organisations can see where they rank in comparison to peers, determine where weaknesses exist and identify steps they can take to significantly reduce security and compliance risks by leveraging automated processes and multi-layered data security strategies, including managed encryption.”
6 SEPTEMBER 2011 |
WWW.SNSEUROPE.COM
Top 5 Best Practices and Failure Rates The assessment evaluated where organisations rank in the implementation of 12 IT security and compliance best practices, ranging from how organisations leverage and manage encryption to how often they conduct security awareness and training programs. The top five best practices, their high failure rates, and recommendations for mitigation include:
£ Best Practice 1: Perform quarterly security and compliance training. Failure rate — 77%
£ Best Practice 2: Encrypt all cloud data and transaction. Failure rate — 64%
£ Best Practice 3: Use encryption throughout the organisation. Failure rate — 10%
£ Best Practice 4: Have management processes in place to ensure business continuity in the event of a Certificate Authority (CA) compromise. Failure rate — 55%
£ Best Practice 5: Rotate SSH keys every 12 months to mitigate risk incurred by the average employee life cycle of 2 years of service. Failure rate — 82%
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