S 3.54 Administrator training on the storage system

Initiation responsibility: IT Security Officer, Top Management

Implementation responsibility: Head of IT, IT Security Officer

A storage system is the primary instance storing most or even all of the intangible assets of the organisation. In addition, the administration of storage systems becomes more complex with increasing functionality and requires up-to-date knowledge. For this reason, it is essential that the administrators of the storage system receive enough training to be able to avoid problems through intervention, detect technical problems early on, and to utilise the functions and security features optimally.

In the training course, sufficient knowledge of the procedures, tools and technologies necessary to configure and operate the components of the storage system must be imparted. This also extends beyond basic knowledge of IT technology and must include manufacturer-specific aspects of the individual products that will be used as components of the storage system. This means that the administrators must receive additional special training for newly used products.

When purchasing IT components, a sufficiently large budget must be planned for the training measures, and a training plan for administrators must be created. The contents of a training course must contain the following items:

• Basic principles of storage systems and storage networks
  • overview of networks and protocols
  • layout of mass storage systems
  • method of operation of a storage area network (if an SAN is used)
  • SAN switching (if an SAN is used)
  • data backup of mass storage systems
• Configuration of storage systems and storage networks
  • installation and cabling
  • setup and configuration of storage units, SAN switches, and backup devices
• Operation of storage systems and storage networks
  • management of the devices, software tools
  • integration into network management systems (NMSs)
  • logging
  • setting, administrating, and backing up the configuration.
• Eliminating errors in storage systems and storage networks
  • sources of error and their causes
  • measurement and analysis tools
  • test strategies for troubleshooting
• Information security in storage systems and storage networks
  • basic principles of information security and relevant security aspects
  • antivirus protection
  • authentication, authorisation
  • encryption procedures and applications
  • "default settings" as a source of risk
  • prevention measures, reactions, and analysis
  • incident handling
  • disaster recovery safeguards

Even when the tasks are distributed among a group of administrators in such a way that each administrator only has a certain area of responsibility, it is essential that all administrators possess general knowledge of all tasks. The individual focus points can then be built on and expanded based on this general knowledge. For many products, the manufacturers or specialised providers offer a wide range of individual, in-depth seminars and sequences of seminars. The number of qualified training courses is also a criterion that should be taken into account when deciding which of the manufacturers will be used.

Review questions:

• Have the administrators received training for planning and operating storage networks?