Disk-Based Backup Brings Replication Into End User Data Protection Conversations

At recent storage conferences (Storage Decisions, Storage Networking World, etc.) replication has emerged as a hot topic of discussion among end-users. In talking with these different users and listening in on a number of end-user panel discussions, there are a number of factors that they attribute to their increased interest in using replication as part of their company's overall disk-based data protection strategy:

• The need to move data offsite after their data is backed up to disk. Should some type of disaster strike their production site (floods, hurricanes, tornados, power outages, etc.) they need to have some means to recover their data offsite. This generally means using either removable media (tape, optical, etc.) or replication to move it to another location.
• Companies want to use removable media as a last resort to recover data as they view it as problematic to manage and recover from. If companies do store data on removable media, they prefer to view it as data's final resting place and not their primary or even secondary means of performing a data recovery.
• Broadband network connections continue to remain affordable. The capacity and cost of a broadband connection is determined by the amount of data that a location needs to transmit. Remote and branch offices can obtain DSL (digital subscriber lines) that provide connection speeds at up to 512 Kbps for under $100/month while T1 lines (1.5 Mbps) run around $1000/month and T3 lines (45 Mbps) are about $10,000.
• Using deduplication makes replication more affordable. Rather than replicating all of the data created by each backup, using deduplication companies only need to transmit net new blocks of data. This reduces the total amount of data that companies need to send which translates into the need for smaller, lower cost network pipes for replication.

Of course, implementing replication in large enterprises as part of their overall disk-based data protection plan becomes more complicated. While large enterprises are always looking for solutions that are easy to deploy and implement into their environments, these are only some of their considerations when selecting a solution. Large enterprises may have offices and data centers that span the globe, multiple backup software products, different data retention policies and numerous network links of varying capacities. As a result, they will want a solution that they can install that matches the size and cost constraints of these different enterprise environments.

Enterprises also need to identify products that provide architectures that meet current and future needs. Features such as global deduplication and more granular control over replication, such as what data is replicated and when it is replicated, are almost prerequisites in enterprise shops. These companies also need to think outside the box to take into account new architectures such as grid storage that provide new enterprise data recovery options. For instance, using grid storage, companies can start to think about creating storage grids that replicate data across geographic distances such that companies can recover data from any of the sites.

End-users now readily recognize that replication is becoming as integral to their corporate data protection plan as data protection software and hard disk storage systems. However enterprise corporations need to think more broadly about how they implement replication as part of their disk-based data protection strategy.

Deduplication and replication alone are not enough as large enterprises require disk-based backup solutions that scale in a manner that is very different than what is generally available on the market. These new solutions require new architectures such as grid storage that scale in such a way that they remain cost-effective short and long term. The grid storage architecture the makes up NEC HYDRAstor provides the type of scalability and cost effectiveness to complement the deduplication and replication features that large enterprise companies are seeking. In an upcoming blog entry, I'll take a closer look at how the HYDRAstor delivers on these features.