For credit unions that are in the planning and strategy development process, proper planning can make or break a SAN initiative and kill ROI assumptions that are made at the outset of the effort.

• What are the benefits of proper planning of an iSCSI infrastructure as it relates to applications? One of the large benefits is performance. Like any other environment, credit unions are subject to server sprawl. In the long run, virtualization will take care of this problem, but Microsoft SQL has to be independently planned.
• Why is this? The “best practices” for SQL published by Microsoft are well-known and best for large enterprises that can afford SQL DBAs and “coders”. What often happens in the larger environments is an SQL developer with bad coding habits can negatively impact SQL performance. These poor SQL developers are often employed by vendors selling applications to credit unions. This badly written code sits on servers and then the iSCSI SAN arrives.
• What happens next? Credit unions typically can’t afford SQL DBAs (database administrators) and when they can, the DBA is generally application-focused and not particularly skilled with the O/S and hardware side of SQL tuning. Prior to placing the databases on the LUNS of the SAN, SQL consolidation into a SAN and general data base needs to be planned.

Download the White Paper to see a diagram describing application programming, operating systems, and hardware, and an in-depth look at SQL performance.

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• Fatpipe load balancers
• VMware
• Backup software (Issue: tapeless versus traditional? They were partial to tapeless)
• Doubletake
• Platespin
• HP NAS appliance
• iSCSI SAN from Lefthand
• DR Site
• Connectivity

The executive summarized his predicament, “the products all appear to be good.” I agreed, but based on his current network problems, tight back-up windows, huge WAN latency and more, it appeared that several of these products had overlapping functionality causing them to argue and step on each other. “There is no way I can roll this out into production without being sure,” he said. The credit union asked me to come up with solutions in several areas, in particular the executive wanted answers to these questions:

• How can they repurpose the HP NAS so that the investment is not wasted?
• What is the best way to use the iSCSI SAN from a block level replication perspective?
• How is back-up and corruption protection going to be handled?
• What function will Doubletake play in the new design?
• How will the WAN network respond to the new design? The credit union had a combined MPLS and point-to-point architecture.
• Why are backups barely being completed overnight? This could be indicative of bigger issues that need to be solved first.

For larger credit unions, one must approach back-up differently, often through production uses of a SAN. The following summary of questions will help you understand Disaster Recovery as two necessary categories including 1) backup and correction protections and 2) production SAN and virtualization.  Download the White Paper for information that will get you started on the path to implementing an IT Disaster Recovery Plan that works!

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This video is produced by Training in a Flash, and presents great tips about identity theft, and using a laptop at internet cafes. These tips are so important to protect personal and company private data.

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The NCUA wants an action plan and actionable progress being made toward implementing a DR site, but what about back-ups? For clarity’s sake let’s compare a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) versus an IT Disaster Recovery Plan. Everyone has a definition for both, and pretty much everyone agrees on the importance of both so here’s my definition:

BCP Plan – A plan that recovers credit union business processes.

IT DR Plan – The technical reality of recovering processes with underlying IT systems.

I strongly believe that both are needed. For now, however, I’m going to focus on the IT part since this is where I see most of my credit union clients having difficulties, regardless of size. What is happening now with credit unions is interesting. Here are two recent stories that highlight challenges I often come across.

EXAMPLE 1: A Small Credit Union [$68 million in assets] – When I asked him why he wasn’t backing-up his new Microsoft Systems and Imaging systems, the senior executive in charge of technology stated: “We just installed our network and since our core processor is backed-up we didn’t think that it was important to back-up the new systems right away. Our imaging system might be backed-up but our Exchange and File systems are not……” Needless to say, I was stunned; I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This decision, by the way, went all the way up to the board of directors.

EXAMPLE #2: Medium Credit Union [$200 million in assets] – When asked what systems are backed-up on tapeless back-up solutions, the IT manager replied: “Everything is backed up to the tapeless backup solution including the core system, Microsoft Systems, and Imaging.” The IT Manager left the credit union shortly thereafter and the CFO engaged us to help their staff do a recovery test to a reputable recovery facility. We found the following during the test:

1) Most of the backup agents were not configured properly

2) There was no encryption between headquarters and the DR site, leaving all backup data “in the clear” when transmitting to the recovery facility

3) They had no local restore and no corruption protection with their tapeless solution. They had decided to go with only 1 device at the DR site and forego the device at HQ.

In summary, they were unrecoverable, which is almost unbelievable! Ironically, since his old IT manager left, the CFO has “rolled his sleeves up” and now embraces network IT strategy. His comment: “If I can’t even get clean backups of my enterprise, what does it matter if I have a fancy DR site?”

So What? My point with these short stories is to point out that credit unions are faced with interesting challenges when it comes to the basics of simple backups. Yes, the NCUA wants a DR site but what about backups?

Trust, but verify. Here are some questions that you can ask yourself, or even better, your network support personnel – regarding your “non-core” systems like all Microsoft Systems which will be systems like File, Email, and Imaging.

1) Are the non-core credit union systems recoverable in the event of a system outage caused by hardware failure, virus, water spill, or flood?

2) Are these systems recoverable in a mini-disaster or outage?

3) Would they be offended if you asked this question?

4) What is needed to demonstrate proof? You might also consider how often you get this proof.

5) Is a non-core system going down during the middle of the day a disaster or just a problem?

6) Has your IT manager proved to you recently that Active Directory is not corrupt? What would it mean to you if it were?

7) Has your IT manager proved that the imaging systems can be recovered?

8) Can the IT Manager prove to you that all Microsoft systems can be recovered?

9) Can the IT Manager prove to you that the Imaging system can be recovered?

10) Have you asked how much time it is taking to backup all systems?

11) If non-core system nightly backups fail, do you know why? Are you notified?

12) Can you complete all system backups during the night? How tight is this window?

If you like what you see, email vidsales@itcustrategy.com for pricing and details. Any Train in a Flash video can be customized with your credit union’s name, logo, and information! Videos can be purchased through ITCU Strategy either a la carte, or create your own training series by purchasing several flash videos that are most relevant to the needs of your credit union.

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If you like what you see, email vidsales@itcustrategy.com for pricing and details. Any Train in a Flash video can be customized with your business’s name, logo, and information! Videos can be purchased through ITCU Strategy either a la carte, or create your own training series by purchasing several flash videos that are most relevant to the needs of your company.

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This series of videos is an excellent way to communicate simple ways to reduce your liability, increase security, and protect and your company’s information.

You will find that the information in the “Airport, Train, and Travel Safety” Train in a Flash video is invaluable to you, your staff members, and your company as a whole. You can purchase the video through ITCU Strategy either a la carte, or create your own training series by purchasing several flash videos that are most relevant to the needs of your company. Want to find out more? Email vidsales@itcustrategy.com for video pricing and details!

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In a meeting last week with a local credit union, I asked about their core system performance and imaging systems, and they mentioned that performance was very poor when their tellers were in the Synergy imaging system. As usual, IT was ready to pull their hair out – but it didn’t have to be that way.

A credit union must be intentional with its data. Databases hold data, and your data (including the way you use it) is often the only difference between you and your competitor.

SQL (Structured Query Language) data bases distributed haphazardly across ten, twenty, or even fifty servers are not only hard to manage, hard to recover, and costly to manage for IT personnel, but are also costly from a licensing perspective.

Too much application software has been sold to credit unions. Vendors install their application, including an SQL data base, then walk away. Little if any attention is paid to the SQL data base, since a vendor’s primary concern lies in getting the application up and running properly, rather than optimizing the data base itself. As the predominant type used by my clients, SQL data bases need care and feeding, oil changes if you will, to avoid having them slow down.

A common excuse I hear is: “The vendor won’t support us if we touch the data base.” This just isn’t the case. In reality the vendor won’t provide support if you touch the application, but adjustments to the data base itself can be made without any problem.

So where does IT strategy fit in here?

A database consolidation strategy should encompass the following elements:

1) Has data base recovery been tested? For example from a tape back-up?
2) Has the data base been optimized for performance?
         a. Data base hardware optimization;
         b. O/S optimization;
         c. Application optimization;
3) Have the countless SQL databases been consolidated into 1 or 2 load-balanced servers?
4) Will the consolidation of databases help with DR planning?
5) How would this work with virtualization?
6) How would this work with a SAN (storage area network)?
7) Do you have expanding or contracting back-up windows for your databases?

Reviewing your database planning and approach can be very useful. The following elements should be covered when addressing SQL databases:

1) How many SQL instances do you have?
2) Can you outsource the optimization of SQL? This would work sort of like oil changes and tune-ups for your car.
3) How does one consolidate, and what is the staffing impact to consolidation?
4) What is the back-up plan?
5) What is the recovery plan?
6) Has it been tested?
7) What is the licensing impact?

Finally, ask yourself this: How much would our managing costs drop if we consolidate SQL data bases in our environment?

Two Credit Union Strategists that I work with follow this same rule. One in particular a $1.8 billion dollar CU has outsourced all their Core Systems to a CUSO and the CU focuses on staffing Business Analysts. The CUSO handles the technical aspects of running the core systems and the third party interactions between the core and the member. By having this covered by the CUSO, his credit union can be incredibly focused on delivering value and differentiation to it’s members.

You can call it “Cloud” or anything that you want but at the end of the day, the focus on efficiency and delivering value differentiation is what a credit union should be focused on. I hope you enjoy the podcast and the accompanying CASE STUDY as well.

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