Free Chapter of New Backup Book

SearchStorage is offering a free 43-page download of Chapter 2 of W. Curtis Preston’s new book, Backup and Recovery (O’Reilly, 2007). Preston (unlike me) is a real backup expert.

Chapter 2 is entitled “Backing it All Up” and starts “Don’t Skip This Chapter!” Now that’s a sentiment I can agree with:

The casual reader might assume that this chapter is an introduction to basic backup concepts. While that is, in fact, the purpose of this chapter, it is also true that many seasoned administrators are unfamiliar with the ideas presented here. One reason for this is that administrators find themselves constantly being pulled away from “mundane” activities like backups for things that are thought to be more “important,” such as installing new servers and figuring out why systems are running slowly. Also, administrators may go several years without ever needing to perform a restore. The need to use your backups on a regular basis would undoubtedly change your ideas about their importance.

There probably aren’t all that many seasoned administrators reading this blog. After all, my target readership is people with home offices and small businesses, the ones who know less about computers than I do. (And for my detractors out there, yes, there are in fact lots of people who know less about computers than I do.)

But the fact that this particular chapter does cover the basics means that it’s worth reading even if you’re not an IT professional. The pre-backup inventory questions are something any computer owner—and certainly any business owner—should ask before choosing a backup solution, and the ten types of disasters are things we should all think about.

Nip on over and download the chapter. You’ll have to fill out a form, but that’s pretty typical for downloads of this sort, and you can always unsubscribe later.

Meanwhile, I’m going back to laughing about the fact that someone thought I should receive a free subscription to Dr. Dobb’s Journal. Of course, it wouldn’t be any stranger than the free subscription to CFO Magazine, but honestly—do I look like a programmer to you?