Saving money is outstanding, but achieving data resilience is our biggest accomplishment…. Veeam helps us ensure data is always accessible.
Thomas Nguyen, Infrastructure Engineer, IT Division, Santa Clara Office of the Sheriff
The Business Challenge
When deputies approach a car that is driving erratically or knock on the door of a resident suspected of drug trafficking or terrorism, they find themselves in an unpredictable situation that can become deadly.
“Deputies have to assess these situations quickly because they don’t know who’s behind the wheel or behind the door — or whether or not they’re armed,” said Thomas Nguyen, Infrastructure Engineer in the IT Division of the Santa Clara Office of the Sheriff. “Deputies must know immediately if they’re dealing with a previous offender or a person of interest, so they check our IT systems.”
Nguyen said these systems contain criminal data, case files, reports, and forensic evidence from county, state, and federal agencies. The Sheriff’s Office works closely with the California Department of Justice (DOJ), the United States DEA, the FBI, and the Secret Service.
“Public safety is on the line, so our systems must be accessible and secure,” Nguyen said. “Our challenge was determining best practices for backup, recovery, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance, and the answer was right in front of us. Veeam had been deployed before I was hired, but I had used it in my previous job. Veeam’s track record for delivering rock-solid solutions for data resilience is unrivaled.”
The Veeam Solution
Veeam Data Platform Premium provides best practices for backup, recovery, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance, enabling the Sheriff’s Office to achieve data resilience for the first time.
“Veeam was already a key component of our business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan, so by incorporating additional features like Continuous Data Protection (CDP), Instant VM Recovery, Veeam Recovery Orchestrator, and Veeam Threat Center, we reached a new level of secure data protection, giving us the resources to deal with malware now and into the future,” Nguyen said.
To achieve data resilience, the IT team created a failover and recovery plan featuring CDP and Instant VM Recovery, which reduced recovery point and recovery time objectives (RPOs and RTOs) from hours to minutes. Nguyen said the plan came in handy when their largest virtual machine (VM) failed.
“The VM contained a shared library for investigative material, policies, procedures, guidelines, and payroll — everything needed for daily operations. We failed over, performed Instant VM Recovery, and live-mounted the VM so colleagues could access data and work could continue without interruption. Veeam provides business continuity and data resilience at its finest.”
Veeam Recovery Orchestrator and Veeam Threat Center also support business continuity. Veeam Recovery Orchestrator lets the Sheriff’s Office customize, automate, and test recovery plans, as well as document and verify recovery for regulatory compliance with the Santa Clara County Information Security Office, the California DOJ, and the FBI Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS). Veeam Threat Center scans for malware so the Sheriff’s Office can keep backups safe from unauthorized access, encryption, and deletion.
“Veeam takes a security-centric approach to everything — including integration with third parties,” Nguyen said. “For example, integration with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools like SolarWinds and Elastic is critical for us because they enable real-time backup server analysis and log analysis. If there’s an alert about a possible infection, Veeam will back up before the infection hits.”
Veeam also integrates with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, saving $40,000 in backup storage each year. Here’s how: Veeam backs up and deduplicates 2.5 PB of data to Data Domain, which compresses data 30 times to 71 TB, saving significant space.
“Saving money is outstanding, but achieving data resilience is our biggest accomplishment,” Nguyen said. “If our deputies are about to raid a building with partner agencies from local and federal levels, they must have immediate access to critical operation data for their safety and public safety. Veeam helps us ensure data is always accessible.”
The Results
- Secures backups for relentless ransomware protection and safe recovery
“Failover is great unless you’re failing over malware too,” Nguyen said. “We don’t have to worry about that because Veeam scans for malware, enabling us to go back in time to a backup that we can safely restore. Additionally, Veeam reduced RPO and RTO from hours to minutes, which is great for business continuity.” - Supports compliance with the FBI CJIS and California DOJ security policies
“Whenever we get an audit request, we don’t think twice about it because Veeam provides all the testing documentation that is required,” Nguyen said. - Integrates with PowerProtect Data Domain to save $40,000 in storage annually
“One of the things we appreciate most about Veeam is integration with third parties like Dell, SolarWinds, and Elastic,” Nguyen said. “We save money while also getting comprehensive data protection.”
