Disaster Recovery for Media &

Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl

 Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................3
Incidents, Accidents & Disasters................................................................... 3
The Value of Content .......................................................................................4
What is Disaster Recovery? ...........................................................................5
Protecting Assets with a Disaster Recovery Strategy ................................ 6
BlackPearl Methods of Protection ................................................................. 7
What About the Database? .............................................................................8
The Cost of Offsite Media Storage................................................................. 9
Conclusion........................................................................................................9

Copyright ©2017 Spectra Logic Corporation. All rights reserved worldwide. Spectra and Spectra Logic are registered trademarks of Spectra Logic. All other trademarks and
registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All features and specifications listed in this white paper are subject to change at any time without notice.

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 2

Introduction
It’s not about if. It’s about when. Without a solid disaster recovery plan in place, media and entertainment assets are
prone to unforeseen disasters and can easily be lost forever.

With media and entertainment businesses depending on content for revenue, lost assets could spell trouble for them.
Worst case, organizations that lose their digital assets can go out of business.

While many environments have well-established storage infrastructures in place, they often lack a well-planned disaster
recovery (DR) strategy. Rarely discussed in media and entertainment is the importance of disaster recovery. Spectra
Logic believes the topic deserves to be brought to the forefront. Keeping additional copies of content in a remote
location can be a saving grace in instances where the primary copy is destroyed. In the past, creating and keeping
duplicate copies in geographically separated locations may have been cost prohibitive, but solutions now exist that make
disaster recovery economically feasible. In order to safeguard content for future repurposing and monetization, it is
essential to protect it from a variety of threats – including acts of nature, viruses, hacking, ransomware, software
corruption, insider threats and accidental deletion.

In this whitepaper, you will learn about disaster recovery and why it is so important to bring the conversation about it to
the forefront. Finally, you’ll discover how the groundbreaking Spectra Logic BlackPearl® Converged Storage System was
designed from the beginning to address this gap in media and entertainment. It provides a highly cost-effective disaster
recovery solution that protects both digital assets and application databases facilitating quick recovery in the event of a
disaster.

Incidents, Accidents & Disasters

Drives fail, rains pour, employees ‘retaliate’, malicious viruses spread,
tornadoes spin, hackers hack. No matter how you slice it, there are threats to
content at every turn. Let’s journey through a few catastrophic losses.

Over the past century, several catastrophic film vault fires have occurred and
instances like these further exemplify the significant need to protect these high
value treasures. After several of these fires, it was discovered that
nitrocellulose film stock chemical composition caused it to easily degrade and
combust over time. The race began to preserve and protect films stored on the
volatile medium. Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation estimates that more than
90 percent of American films made before 1929 have been lost.

In 1937, nitrate films stored in a 20th Century Fox storage facility

spontaneously caught fire and destroyed over 40,000 reels of film. Fifty-seven
truckloads of film debris were ultimately removed from the
site. The Fox Vault Fire is now understood to be a significant loss of American One of many lost original films

film heritage.

Again, an electrical fire ignited the nitrate film stored in MGM’s silent film vault. During the 1967 disaster hundreds of
original silent films were burned – including silent films and original cartoon shorts including Tom and Jerry and Tex
Avery. Other pre-1924 films produced by MGM predecessors included Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B.
Mayer Pictures.

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 3

Fast forward to current times; a new slew of threats has cropped up
over the years with the digitization of content. Seemingly, all of
Hollywood is under cyberattack. Sony Pictures experienced a
modern-day disaster when a hacker breached the organization’s
sensitive data in November 2014. The cyberattack targeted yet-to-
be-released films, including “The Interview,” and confidential
personal data, including salary and social security numbers of Sony
employees. Over 100 terabytes of data were stolen. The identified
hacker group “Guardians of Peace” also known as “LulzSec” posted
the stolen films, salary information and other data online for the Ransomware is a growing threat to digital assets
public to see. Using a wiper malware variant (Destover), they were
able to wipe out numerous servers in Sony’s network infrastructure. The IDC estimates the cyberattack will ultimately
cost Sony up to $250 million 1.

In April 2017 a slew of unreleased Netflix shows called, “Orange Is the New Black” were held captive with ransomware, a
malicious software that encrypts its victims’ data preventing them from accessing it until ransom has been paid. In this
instance, the content was breached at Larson Studios in Los Angeles, even after paying the perpetrator,
‘thedarkoverlord’, the proprietary shows were released to the masses, resulting in a significant economic loss to Netflix.

July 2017 saw the HBO Network maliciously attacked by hackers with 1.5 terabytes of data stolen, including unreleased
episodes of the television show, “Game of Thrones,” as well as other popular shows.

On the side of human error, anything is possible. Pixar staff nearly deleted the Toy Story 2 sequel when an employee
accidentally entered a delete command that erased 90% of the film. Talk about a multi-million-dollar mishap. After
finding out their backups had failed and they couldn’t recover their assets, it was a saving grace that an employee had
been taking home an entire copy of the film with her on a weekly basis. Had they not been able to recover the files, it
would have taken 30 staff members and entire year to recreate the erased work. In the end, Toy Story 2 pulled in nearly
$500 million at the box office.

Content isn’t immune to human error either. Every once in a while a tape falls off the back of a truck, destroying it and
the precious content that lived on it. Fingers get sticky and the delete key is accidentally pressed. Sometimes, the delete
key is hit purposefully. All of these threats combine to reveal how vulnerable content is to damage, disaster and
destruction.

The Value of Content

Content is the lifeblood of your organization. It is up to you to help preserve it. Archives exist to not only repurpose and
monetize digital assets, but also to preserve it for generations to come. If content needed to produce a program, film,
or, perhaps a news segment, is destroyed and no disaster recovery copy exists – it can be crippling cost-wise to re-film
and recreate.

1 Thompson, N., Cone, B., & Kranz, J. (2016). Society's Genome. Boulder, CO: Spectra Logic Corporation.

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 4

Imagine a world where no old films exist. Content captures the essence of culture and truly provides a sign of the times.
From presidential inaugurations, to space missions, to that infamous ‘Hail Mary’ pass during a game, content is history
and helps propagate our society’s genome.

An organism’s genome (the complete set of genes present in the organism) stores
all the information that the organism needs to create and maintain its organs and
living functions. Likewise, the genome for a civilization, or society’s genome, is the
set of preserved data that defines that civilization and serves as the basis of its
organization and functions. It provides us with a view into years past – a virtual time
capsule. It tells us where we were, where we are and where we are going as a
society. Once content is lost, in many cases it is unrecoverable.

Long stressing the importance of ‘genetic diversity’ in data storage, Spectra Logic
emphasizes why users shouldn’t trust one media type with all of their data. These
ideas have been developed further in a book, “Society’s Genome: Genetic Diversity’s
Role in Digital Preservation,” that looks at protecting all the information in society
with an evolutionary approach to preserving it.

Nathan Thompson, the book’s author and the chief executive officer of Spectra
Logic, details how humanity’s progress and survival relies heavily on computing
power and the data sets created through art, science, and commerce. Destruction or
loss of that data would set civilization back substantially. The book examines the
many threats to information preservation, and in specific cases, to media and Society's Genome Available for Download
entertainment businesses. It details the technology available for protecting this on Amazon.com
information and how to leverage them to safeguard the most precious of archives --
society’s genome.

With most media and entertainment entities only keeping one copy of content, they are placing future revenue streams
at risk. This begs the question: If so many threats exist to content, and content is inherently valuable – why do so many
media and entertainment organizations put DR on the back burner?

Regardless of the threat, content creators and owners must diligently protect their assets and, as such, develop a sound
recovery plan. As Bill Gates once said, “Content is king”.

What is Disaster Recovery?

As exemplified earlier, disasters happen. Every. Single. Day. A disaster recovery plan is essential in recovering content in
the event of data loss. By definition, it includes a set of policies and procedures that are repeatable and provide constant
and reliable creation of additional copies of data (preferably in a geographically separated location), along with clearly
defined processes and toolsets to restore data in the event of human or naturally induced disaster. For this discussion,
disaster recovery means the protection of assets necessary to keep your media and entertainment business up and
running in the event of a disaster or disruption.

A well planned disaster recovery plan incorporates a recovery point objective (RPO), recovery time objective (RTO) and
several important features, including geographic separation of replicated data copies and genetic diversity in media. RTO
is easily defined as continuity planning – a business must calculate the target period of time in which data must be
restored after a disaster occurs – and can be defined in minutes, hours, days, etc. On the other hand, RPO is defined by

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 5

the age of the files that is acceptable to be restored from in order to maintain normal operations and is also defined in
minutes, hours, days, etc. Maintaining geographic separation ensures that, if a disaster takes place at one facility, a
second copy, kept remotely, is stored out of harm’s reach and available when needed. Genetic diversity of data storage
is also an important factor when it comes to protecting content. Say, for instance, a virus is spread throughout an
organization and targets one media type – data copies stored on another media would remain unscathed. Should
disaster strike, the DR copy(ies) of data should be easily accessible, so as to mitigate the extent of impact to the
business.

Protecting Assets with a Disaster Recovery Strategy

It’s time to address the elephant in the room. Traditional storage models that
include media and entertainment middleware (sometimes known as
Hierarchical Storage Managers or HSM) make creating and implementing a
disaster recovery plan difficult and expensive. In some cases, scripts must be
written for an HSM to create multiple and remote copies of content. Further
licenses are required to create and manage multiple copies of assets – and that
doesn’t come free. These roadblocks have made it difficult for many media and
entertainment businesses to justify implementing a disaster recovery plan.

Image of Burned Nitrate Film Reels Enter the modern storage model: Spectra Logic’s BlackPearl® Converged
Storage System. In comparison to traditional HSM storage models, BlackPearl
solves the problem of costly and complex approaches to disaster recovery, wholly eliminating the traditional pricey
licensing model. It accomplishes this by combining multiple standard interfaces (CIFS/NFS with object storage) and
several storage targets into a simple and affordable solution that can support many diverse workflows.

BlackPearl’s Advanced Bucket Management (ABM) policy engine is the driver within BlackPearl that enables it to excel at
disaster recovery. With ABM, the BlackPearl solution has the ability to write content to various storage media, including
nearline disk, archive disk, LTO tape and IBM’s TS tape technology, as well as to the public cloud (Amazon AWS or
Microsoft Azure). BlackPearl ABM also extends capability to create multiple copies of assets. For example, one copy can
be made to keep on-premise, while another is written to tape and externalized for offsite storage at another site. The
externalized copy can be kept at another location, or in a vault, at Iron Mountain. This creates geographic separation,
sometimes referred to as an “air-gap” between the copies of data. ABM also allows for the replication of content to one
or more remote BlackPearls, enabling an externalized copy for vaulting, or for storing the public cloud as a fail-safe.

Keep in mind that the defacto storage medium for DR has always been tried and true tape technology; BlackPearl makes
storing copies of precious content to tape (LTO, or IBM® TS tape technology) easy and affordable. Using tape mitigates
the risk of data being infected by disk-specific viruses, unintended deletion, code upgrades, etc. Tape is cost effective,
and boasts a healthy shelf life, is easily encrypted, and provides an extremely low bit-rot error rate ensuring the integrity
of content over many years. It also facilitates economical transport and storage of media offsite to a separate
geographical location from the primary copy. At the time this was written, a second copy on modern LTO-7 6TB tape
would cost a user about $90.00 or $.015 per gigabyte.

Furthermore, content should be kept on two separate pieces of tape media—which are preferably geographically
separate. In Spectra’s experience, the odds of tape failure average about 1 tape in 10,000 owned per year. If a tape has
a 1 in 10,000 chance of being lost or destroyed, two copies (again if separated) raises the odds to 1 in 100 million within

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 6

a year. Three copies on tape increases odds of loss or destruction to an astronomical 1 in 1 trillion chances over the
course of a year. All-in-all BlackPearl helps end users perpetually maintain their content.

BlackPearl Methods of Protection

With BlackPearl, users can choose their preferred method of duplicating/replicating content copies for DR. ABM policies
can be set to replicate to a remote BlackPearl, send a DR copy to the public cloud, and eject a copy of tape for vaulting.

BlackPearl Disaster Recovery Offsite/Offline

Example 1: Content from the asset management
application is stored to a local BlackPearl, then
two copies are written to a local Spectra Tape
Library, one kept onsite, the other is ejected for
offsite/offline DR storage at a remote location.

BlackPearl Disaster Recovery Replication

Example 2: Content from the user’s asset
management application are stored to Site 1
BlackPearl, which replicates to Site 2 BlackPearl,
in a remote location.

BlackPearl Disaster Recovery Offsite/Offline

Example 3: Advanced Bucket Management
policies are set to store content from the user’s
asset management application to Site 1
BlackPearl, which replicates to Site 2 BlackPearl
(remote location). Site 2 BlackPearl stores
content to a Spectra Tape Library, with a copy
ejected for storage offsite (i.e. Iron Mountain).

BlackPearl Disaster Recovery Public Cloud

Example 4: Content is stored from the asset
management system to the BlackPearl and a
DR copy is then created and sent to the public
cloud.

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 7

 What About the Database?
Beyond protecting the actual archived assets, it is equally
important to protect your MAM or PAM database or index.
Without the MAM or PAM archive database intact, it is nearly
impossible to search and find any assets in your archives.

It is just as critical to protect your database along with your assets

when considering a DR plan. Spectra Eon Protect, a software
application available to BlackPearl users, automatically backs up
not only the Asset Management application database, but also
backs up the BlackPearl database. These backups can all be placed in designated buckets (logical containers) on
BlackPearl. It is important that multiple copies of the Asset Management Application and BlackPearl databases are
created, and that one copy is housed in a geographically separated location from the other copy. As such, each bucket
can be configured with disaster recovery policies in mind.

Storing regularly scheduled snapshots of the databases as well as the metadata that your software relies on in an LTFS
volume enables it to be restored by simply dragging and dropping it back into place if disaster were to strike. This speeds
up recovering the system (hence, meeting both recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives) to online status
and reduces the amount of downtime experienced after all hell breaks loose.

For example: policies can be set to create snapshot copies of the databases on BlackPearl local storage as well as on
multiple tape copies that are ejected and kept in a remote location, or copied to the public cloud after a designated time
period. Additional copies can even be replicated to remote BlackPearl sites. In cases where a BlackPearl is destroyed, a
replacement BlackPearl can be used
to recover the most recent database
backup – by using offsite backups.

With no extra licensing costs or

additional hardware needs, Eon
Protect provides a truly sustainable
disaster recovery option for M&E
environments. With BlackPearl, the
ability to make multiple copies is
accomplished at no additional
license costs. Tape users can typically
make a duplicate copy for only the
cost of another partial set of tape
media.

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 8

The Cost of Offsite Media Storage
Storing copies of data offsite in a vaulted location such as Iron
Mountain is a routine practice in many DR plans. Iron Mountain
specifically has become the go-to for offsite data storage protection
and has been in business since 1951. The organization offers both
onsite collection and drop-off services of tape media via secure
transportation, streamlining any businesses with an offsite
data/content strategy. Stored in environmentally controlled
environments, media is ensured longevity (up to 30 years or more).
Customers can select the cadence of data pickups onsite at their
location, as well as the number of containers that they need to
house their data. For example, Iron Mountain will provide weekly collections/drop-offs onsite at a facility with a
maximum of 8 containers (each holding 10 tapes = 80 tapes) for about $185.00/month. Iron Mountain charges
$12.00/tape/year, or $1.00/tape/month – which equates to $0.00017/GB/month – a mere fraction (up to 1000% less
expensive compared to storing that same data in the public cloud over a five-year period). Additionally, customers are
charged on a per-tape basis, versus the per-GB cost model employed by public clouds. In instances where a DR copy of
content must be retrieved, customers can access their data in as little as three hours, and a critical drop off can be
scheduled for $170, where an Iron Mountain truck can drop off tapes.

Conclusion
To ensure the protection of content in the event of a large-scale attack, hardware malfunction, human mistake or
natural disaster, IT managers today must undertake a disaster recovery plan to protect their life blood – their vital
content. To do otherwise is to risk the loss of productivity, revenue, reputation and, possibly, the business entity itself.
As such, Spectra BlackPearl and Eon Browser combine to provide a cost-effective solution that meets the needs of a truly
sound DR plan.

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 9

Through key partnerships, Spectra Logic delivers industry-leading BlackPearl-based storage solutions. To learn more
about Spectra’s ever-growing library of BlackPearl Certified Partners and integrations visit the BlackPearl Client Partner
page.

Disaster Recovery for Media & Entertainment with Spectra BlackPearl 10

 About Spectra Logic
Spectra Logic develops data storage solutions
that solve the problem of short- and long- term
digital preservation for business and technology
professionals dealing with exponential data
growth.

Dedicated solely to storage innovation for nearly

40 years, Spectra Logic’s uncompromising
product and customer focus is proven by the
adoption of its solutions by industry leaders in
multiple vertical markets globally.

Spectra enables affordable, multi-decade data

storage and access by creating new methods of
managing information in all forms of storage—
including archive, backup, cold storage, private
and public cloud. To learn more, visit
www.SpectraLogic.com.

303-449-6400 • 800-833-1132 • (Fax) 303-939-8844 • 6285 Lookout Road • Boulder, CO 80301 USA • spectralogic.com

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