Subscribe

Backup and archiving conundrum


Pretoria, 28 Nov 2014

Backup and archiving is probably one of the most boring topics out there. There is simply nothing sexy about these crucial tasks. But, they are important, if not critical, tasks that can cost companies everything in a dire emergency. So in this product focus, we look at what technologies are around for effective backup and archiving, from archiving video footage for later recovery, through to backing up and archiving corporate information and even destroying it when the law requires.

The time has long arrived for organisations to take a long, hard look at what the much written about 'explosion in data growth' is doing to their business, and why legacy approaches to managing it are unlikely to continue to deliver what they need to. You see, in many cases, we see a huge disconnect between what the business thinks IT does with an organisation's data, and what actually happens from an operations perspective.

The status quo, as it were, sees most IT operations imperatives predicated on the 'keep everything forever' principle, ie, any data currently stored will typically stay in production for a very long time with little proactive methodology applied to whether or not that should be the case. This is problematic for a few reasons:

1. This decision will almost single-handedly be responsible for the ever increasing demand and consumption of the storage resources in an organisation, as well as fuelling the unpredictability of future growth. In short, this "Aladdin's cave" of retained data is a sprawling mess of both very important and completely unnecessary stored data.

2. The amount of data stored in production is also being backed up time and time again, in line with whatever backup regime is in place in an organisation, and of latter years, this also will be retained for a significant period of time on disk resources, so this multiplies the inefficiency and wasteful use of storage.

3. If all this data is retained, as well as multiple duplicated copies of the data stored in a backup environment, as well as in offsite long-term tape format, it actually becomes detrimental when it comes to recovering from full or partial data disasters. In this scenario, now an organisation must sit and wait for all of the data, both fresh or important data, as well as all the old, stale data that is stored in the same place. This adds time and complexity to the recovery process.

According to IDC research, if we look at the global File and Block disk storage systems out there, approximately 80% of all disc space used houses file data (office docs, pdf, visio and general unstructured file types), while 20% is used by block-based database type data, and of the 80% of file data out there, the following norms are observed:

* Fifty percent of all file data stored is stale (ie, no one is using it or accessing it);
* Eighteen percent of all file data stored is duplicated (copies or copies of copies);
* Six percent is unknown or unclassified; and
* Four percent is non-business related and just taking up space (iTunes, movies, etc).

This alone presents a very solid argument for archiving the stale data away from expensive tier one storage resources and removing it from the daily backup environment, which will not only increase value for money in how storage is used, but also reduce risk when it comes to recovering from any disasters that may occur.

So, why is it that organisations struggle to come to terms with this? In short, it is because the complexity of managing the life cycle of a piece of data from its point of creation to the point where it may or must be purged is made even more difficult by the approach of most vendors in this space.

There are many aspects to effectively managing data, such as backup, archiving, deduplication, replication, content indexing, search, data analytics, etc, and for years, the market has provided multiple point applications that deal typically with just one of these at a time, so when customers seek to put in place a comprehensive data management policy, they have been forced to utilise lots and lots of disparate software applications, each of which comes with its own infrastructure and management overhead - not an easy thing to do.

At Ubuntu Technologies, we have, for a very long time, believed that a joined up, single platform approach is the only way to manage data. Simpana software was designed from the ground up so that all functions share a single code base and revolutionary back-end technologies. Through a single
pane of glass, you can view, manage, and access all functions and all data across your enterprise. Our console is simple, efficient, and comprehensive. So it requires less time, labour, and budget to operate.

With Simpana software, you can protect and manage data from virtual and physical servers, applications, NAS shares, cloud-based infrastructures, and mobile devices. Simply and easily. Simpana software enables policy-based automation, while role-based access ensures secure management. It also provides built-in alerts and reporting, for easier oversight of your data management operations.

Simpana IntelliSnap technology integrates with nearly all of the top storage arrays. So you can
easily automate the creation of indexed, application-aware hardware snapshot copies. And, you can accelerate data protection and recovery.

With backup, archive, and reporting built into a single platform, the Simpana OnePass feature uniquely performs these operations from a single collection of data. Plus, by leveraging built-in source-side deduplication, Simpana software ensures only unique data blocks are transferred over the network and stored on media.

All Simpana-managed data resides within the ContentStore - a safe, efficient, intelligent and
accessible virtual repository of all corporate data. You set the policies, and ContentStore intelligently
automates the process. Whether you need copies for disaster recovery or regulatory compliance, data within the ContentStore is secure, deduplicated, and application-aware for when you need it.

For information, contact Sarel Naude: snaude@ubuntusa.co.za.

Share

Editorial contacts

Fanus Momberg
Ubuntu Technologies
(012) 347 7944
fanus@ubuntusa.co.za