BACKUP/EXECUTIVE: Where Data Protection is Headed A look ahead Pierre Dorion Business Continuity Consultant Mainland Information Systems Ltd. Calgary, Alberta Canada.
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Transcript BACKUP/EXECUTIVE: Where Data Protection is Headed A look ahead Pierre Dorion Business Continuity Consultant Mainland Information Systems Ltd. Calgary, Alberta Canada.
BACKUP/EXECUTIVE:
Where Data Protection is
Headed
A look ahead
Pierre Dorion
Business Continuity Consultant
Mainland Information Systems Ltd.
Calgary, Alberta Canada
Definitions
Backup:
• The action of taking a copy of the data and writing
to an alternate location for safeguard. Data backed
up must typically be restored (written back) for
access.
Data protection:
• The act of protecting data from potential loss,
corruption, alteration, etc. This can be achieved
through backups, data replication, high availability
or redundant storage components.
Simpler times…
Not so long ago data protection meant:
•
•
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Making sure there was a tape in the drive before leaving
Applications were likely shutdown for the backups
We had all night to backup
Tape operator was an entry-level position
Today’s IT environments
Terabytes of data to protect
Multiple applications to support the
business
Shrinking backup windows
24X7 access to data
High-end skills requirements
IT & business trends
On-demand computing
Business intelligence
Portal solutions
Distributed environments
New paradigms & drivers
Legislation & regulations compliance
ILM (Information Lifecycle Management)
Business continuity
Compliance – The latest driver
New legislations are taking data protection
beyond business requirements
Prompting the review of existing B&R
infrastructure, policies and procedures
Generating increased storage requirements
beyond usual growth
Will have to rethink storage strategy to
accommodate capacity and recoverability
Information Lifecycle Management
(ILM)
Vendors offer only partial solutions at this time
A lot of work remains in order to offer an end-toend solution
Still a very manual process
Requires a good understanding of the value of
data, retention policies and requirements
Will be necessary to exert some form of control
on data growth
Business continuity
Every organization will need some form of
recovery strategy
Tighter RTOs keep driving new technologies and
data protection strategies
Direct links between business continuity and
compliance are emerging
Again, requires a very good understanding of
data retention policies and requirements
Data replication The way of the future
Data replication will gain more popularity as the
primary means of data protection
• Allows the creation of data point-in-time copies ready to
be accessed within tight RTOs without requiring a restore
operation
•
Can be supplemented by tape backup for low-cost, offsite
storage
•
Copies can be backed up without accessing the production
copy
•
Can be extended to remote site copies at the hardware or
software level
Data replication - Scenario 1
Disk-to-disk
$
Data replication - Scenario 2
Disk-to-disk-to-tape
$$
Data replication - Scenario 3
Disk-to-remote disk-to-tape
$$$
Data replication - Scenario 4
HA Cluster + disk-to-remote disk-to-tape
SERVER A
SERVER B
$$$$
Leveraging technologies Data storage
Central storage & SAN (Storage Area
Network)
NAS (Network Attached Storage)
Storage intelligence
Central storage & SAN
Central data storage is at the core of
many emerging technologies
Allows data replication at the storage
device level
Numerous new technologies
NAS – Network Attached Storage
Does not require a costly front end
Data is accessed through a TCPIP
network
Reduces the cost of deployment
Back-end disk can be provisioned from a
central storage array or SAN
Storage intelligence
Storage virtualization
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Sun’s QFS/SAM-FS
IBM SVC & SAN File System
HDS
Compaq/HP
FalconStore Datacore, CommVault & many more
However, highly competitive market often result
in the hasty release of partial solutions
Leveraging technologies Data transport
Fibre channel – Offers bandwidth, low processing
and long distance but at a cost
iSCSI – The new contender which relies on
proven TCPIP to encapsulate SCSI protocol –
More affordable but higher processing
NDMP – Network Data Movement Protocol.
Specific to NAS.
Disk vs. tape
Is tape dead?
• Because of the generally slower performance of the
media due to sequential data access, tape is slowly
falling out of favor as the preferred backup media
Is disk the only way?
• Decreasing cost, multi-session and random data
access capabilities have made disk an increasingly
popular backup media. However, disk still presents
some offsite storage challenges.
How about backups to disk?
The new order
We need to change how we look at data
protection
Data protection must be integrated with the SDLC
(System Development Life Cycle)
We must close the gap between both the
business and IT’s view of the data
We must establish the value of the data and make
it common knowledge within the organization
Not all data is critical
Why should it all be stored on premium
storage?
Tiered storage with QoS, performance,
availability and redundancy aligned with
the value of the data
Business continuity planning is a good
way to establish the value of data