Articles by Bruce Backa

Storage & Security Journal: "Striking the Right Balance"

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:45:00 EST

Storage is still one of the most costly and fastest-growing aspects of everyone's network and is likely to remain so for some time. Every network user is a storage user. We're all part of a community that shares the costs and the benefits of this expensive resource. Storage management can be a challenging task. There's so much hardware, so many alternatives, and so many issues that it's easy to get lost in the details and fail to see the forest for the trees.

Where's the money?

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 11:45:00 EST

Remarkably, as we work with clients we discover that they rarely analyze the component costs of their operations. So let me make this easy: the bulk of the money is in whatever you do for data protection. But even if you know this, have you looked at the details of what you're protecting and how it flows through you systems? What components make up the bits you write? How often do you write them and why?

What's In Store For 2006?

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:00:00 EST

Okay, 2005 is over. Let's get back to work...But first, let's look at what's new. Microsoft has taken WinFS, its new file system, out of the first release of its next operating system. The story is that WinFS will follow soon after the OS releases. For most of us, this is something we don't need to worry about for a couple of years, at least.

Bruce Backa's Storage Blog: The New Economics

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 06:00:00 EST

Tape used to be much cheaper than on-line storage. Not any more. While it is still neither infinite nor free (and it's certainly not free to manage), on-line storage is pretty inexpensive these days. A smaller company needs tapes for disaster recovery (although on-line vendor-based alternatives exist), but daily backups should be on-line.

Information Security - No Longer the Perennial Afterthought

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 13:30:00 EDT

Storage always seems to come first in technical discussions and security seems to be the perennial afterthought. This can be considered reasonable given how we shop for things in general, namely finding the thing that meets our expectations and then ensure it has all the bells and whistles. The good news is that this seems to be changing bit by bit as our industry realizes that security is no longer a nice-to-have feature, but is actually a core requirement.

A Quick Look at the Coming Year in Storage...

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:00:00 EDT

We (Patrick and Bruce) are new to ISSJ. In a future article, you'll learn more about who we are and why we are here. In this issue, we thought we would take a minute to frame some of the discussions that will go on throughout the year.

How to Avoid Creating a Network Security Hole with Your Windows Server-Based App

Fri, 20 May 2005 11:00:00 EDT

Nowadays it's quite common for us to write server-based applications. These apps differ from desktop applications in many ways - one of the most important of which is how they handle security. For a desktop application, security is easy. The application runs in the security context of the user who loaded it. Whatever the user has rights to, the desktop app has rights to, and nothing more. Server-based applications, on the other hand, run all the time and have their own security context, in addition to others they may impersonate.

BizTalk Server 2004 Technical Drilldown

Thu, 26 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST

Come and join us for a technical drilldown on BizTalk Server 2004 - including the new features and toolsets available to help you solve Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Business Process Automation (BPA) and Information Worker Integration.

End-to-End Application Security

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST

Last month (.NETDJ, Vol. 1, issue 12) we demonstrated a simple technique that allows you to avoid storing passwords in clear text, making your .NET applications more secure and safer should they somehow be compromised. In this article, we want to step back a bit and look at the big picture: application security from end to end.

Advanced BizTalk Server 2004

Thu, 04 Dec 2003 00:00:00 EST