Data backup to move to new off-campus location

If a natural disaster were to strike Princeton, many of the files the campus community relies upon —currently stored on on-campus servers — could be lost. To prevent this, the University is planning to store backup data files off-campus by spring 2006.

The University currently keeps all backup data solely on campus in two machine rooms — one at 87 Prospect Avenue and the other in the New South administrative building. "In the case of a major disaster encompassing both machine room locations, the University could lose some or all of the information stored in these rooms," Donna Tatro, Associate Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services at OIT, said in an email.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, many Louisiana universities lost large amounts of data that were saved only to servers in the region.

Other universities could experience a similar fate. A 2003 report from Educause, a nonprofit organization which promotes information technology use in higher education, said that disaster recovery planning for college networks is often difficult, as it is not "a priority ... over competing activities."

Prior to spring 2005, University backup data was stored on thousands of low-capacity tapes. "It would have been costly and laborintensive to maintain offsite copies of all of those tapes," Tatro and Charles Augustine, Senior Manager of Systems and Database Management at OIT, said in a joint email. The current backup system was considered an "acceptable risk," they said.

After an upgrade in spring 2005, however, University information was moved to tapes that could hold 10 times more than their older counterparts.

"Reducing the number of tapes by a factor of 10 made it much more cost-effective to maintain offsite copies," Tatro and Augustine said. OIT hopes to move critical information offsite by spring 2006.

Though still unsure of where the site will be located, OIT is looking at different regional vendors of offsite storage with plans to hire one for the move.

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The first data group to be moved offsite will be the Central File Services System, a file storage system used by faculty, staff, and students that, for technical reasons, will be easiest to move. The second group, for which detailed planning has yet to occur, will involve the storage of email and administrative databases offsite. Movement of other data groups might occur in the future but only after the effectiveness of the first two stages has been assessed, Tatro and Augustine said.

"As a community, we are seeking to learn lessons from the recent experiences of the Gulf region," Tatro said. "We hope to make sure that Princeton's important data is protected from loss even in the unlikely event of a major, widespread disaster."