Entries categorized under “Disk Based Backup”

Talk all you want about the different features and functions found in backup software. If an IT administrator in a small and midsize enterprise (SME) thinks about backup at all it is in the context of "How easy is it to get it to work?" and "How much does it cost?" However, calculating any backup software's ease of configuration and price is tricky at best. (read more)

Backup problems are supposed to be gone, right? All you have to do is throw in some disk and a good dose of deduplication and organizational backup problems will magically disappear. So while that may be true up to a point, today's newly released Information Management Health Check survey conducted by Applied Research and sponsored by Symantec reveals that organizations are failing to take into account the implications of what infinite backup retention periods mean for them long term. (read more)

Taking snapshots of applications is fast becoming a prerequisite for backup and recovery as well as a means for testing how well application fixes, patches and upgrades will work. But as more organizations adopt Linux as their preferred operating system to host their applications, they are also finding that the native Snapshot utility found in Linux's Logical Volume Manager (LVM) does not provide them with all of the functionality they need. (read more)

One of the principle struggles within organizations in the first decade of the new millennium has been solving Windows backup issues. Now that a new decade has arrived the problem has changed as organizations turn their attention to how they can recover their Windows application servers in a time frame and manner that meets their requirements. But to identify such a solution they first need to define what such a recovery solution should look like. (read more)

This has been a bit of a quiet week in terms of blog entries on the DCIG website but I did not want to leave everyone hanging on the Friday before going into the Memorial Day weekend. So for this week's recap blog I opted to reflect on a conversation that I had with Hosting.com's Backup Operations Manager a few weeks ago. In that conversation, he provided some interesting perspectives in terms of how Hosting.com is using R1Soft in its environment. (read more)

Quite a few articles have already been written about the new Iomega StorCenter ix12-300r Network Storage Array with many of them focusing on the disruptive nature that this model is going to have on storage arrays intended for the midsized business space (250 users or less). But as I read many of these articles, they are overlooking some of the key reasons why it will be so disruptive. (read more)

Data deduplication has exploded onto the backup scene in the last few years. But now that data deduplication has firmly established itself, new options for its deployment and implementation are presenting themselves. One such option is last week's introduction of Data Domain Boost from EMC. (read more)

Disk is fast becoming the primary storage target for archive and backup data but that does not mean the future of removable media is dead. If anything there are probably more use cases than ever for the use of removable media. It is for this reason that DCIG is today pleased to announce that it has joined the RDX Storage Alliance as a partner. (read more)

One of the key concerns that businesses have is how providers of the cloud will handle and respond to spikes in application demands. It is these questions that InMage's newly announced cloud-optimized infrastructure is designed to answer. (read more)

It's easy for those new to VMware, or even for those who have used VMware for awhile, to assume that all VMware backup solutions provide similar functionality. While it might be true to say that all of these solutions protect VMs, their similarities in many cases end there. Among their differences, two of the largest focus on how they manage VMware backups and the ensuing archives that are created which is where software like VizionCore's vRanger Pro stands out. (read more)

How target-based deduplication solutions are implemented going forward may have just been permanently altered after this week's announcement from EMC. While EMC simultaneously announced a number of new Data Domain features, its implementation of global deduplication in the GDA through its heightened integration with backup software changes some assumptions as to how one should think about target-based data deduplication architectures going forward. (read more)

These days it seems that all someone has to do is use the word "deduplication" in conjunction with a data protection product and that data protection product magically looks "better". But what organizations have to be careful to do is not allow deduplication to color their view of what they hope to accomplish with the implementation of disk-based data protection. Rather organizations need to look at data protection from a different viewpoint that it is not tainted by deduplication and allows them to fully leverage the flexibility that disk-based backup provides. (read more)

Going into the Omaha VMUG meeting, I was expecting to find maybe 40 - 60 users in attendance. However upon my arrival I found a steady stream of cars pulling into the parking lot, over 200 users registered to attend and I counted more than 150 people physically present at the event. So anyone who still doubts the impact virtualization is having on organizations need question no more. (read more)

Today IT managers have to think about more than just buying products that only solve their tactical day-to-day problems. Increasingly they have to consider how any new solution that they implement solves their more strategic data center management problems as well. This is why IT managers should be encouraged by the newly announced snapshot integration between CommVault® Simpana® software and Dell EqualLogic midrange arrays. While this integration solves their pressing backup and recovery problems, Simpana gives IT managers a path to better managing their data long term as well. (read more)

It is easy to think that the arguments regarding the cost of disk versus tape have abated. While that may be true in some circles, it still rages in the circle of small and midsized businesses (SMBs) that purchase and use direct attached media for backup. However a careful analysis of the total cost of ownership between RDX and LTO-3 will show that an RDX disk-based backup solution can be more affordable than a comparably configured LTO-3 tape solution. (read more)

The introduction of disk and deduplication into the backup process over the last few years has certainly helped to minimize existing backup problems. Organizations using these technologies have found that their backup success rates now approach 100% and that they no longer have to continually troubleshoot backup problems. But while these technologies may fix existing backup problems, they relegate disk to a glorified form of tape and do not serve to fundamentally transform the recovery process. (read more)

Maybe it is just me but 2010 has, up until now, seemed pretty slow on the news front. Or maybe it is just that much of the news released did not really pique my interest. Regardless, the last two weeks a number of news items jumped out at me that I wanted to spend a little time commenting on today in my weekly Friday recap blog. (read more)

Just a few years ago disk-based backup was considered the cutting edge of backup. No more as cloud storage is now all the rage. However a cloud-based backup strategy that works or using cloud storage for archival data is still the exception, not the rule. This is why CommVault's announcement today regarding its new cloud storage connector merits attention for those organizations looking to make cloud storage a viable part of their corporate data management strategy. (read more)

Some of the most read blogs on DCIG's website in 2009 covered how small and midsize businesses (SMBs) were implementing disk-based backup in their environments. So it should come as no surprise that individuals like Ken Clipperton, the Director of Information Technology at Midland Lutherans College (MLC), is also in the midst of implementing disk-based backup at MLC. What is unexpected are some of the decisions that he needs to make as he implements it at MLC. (read more)

I have heard it said that you cannot compare the complexity found in small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) to what is found in the "really big" enterprise shops. That is certainly true in some cases but when one starts to examine the complexity associated with backing up, recovering and managing data at the dozens of branch offices that many SMEs support, it equates to any challenge that large enterprises face. However it is this exact complexity that the new features on the Nexsan Dedupe SG 2.0 are designed to address. (read more)

Small, mid-sized and large enterprises are not the only ones looking to consolidate and simplify their IT management to create more cohesive management solutions. In the last few years, Symantec has been taking many of the same steps to integrate components of its Backup Exec, Enterprise Vault and NetBackup product suites to deliver solutions appropriate for the different size organizations that it serves. The progress that it has made in delivering on these ideals is reflected in today's Backup Exec 2010 and NetBackup 7 product releases. (read more)

This week it was evident everyone is getting back to work - at least those individuals who still have jobs and received something other than pink slips over the holiday break. People starting returning my phone calls and emails, PR agencies started requesting my time again for briefings and, maybe most importantly, news releases started flowing again so I have something other than 2009 recaps and 2010 trends to write about. This week three news items caught my attention: FalconStor Software's FDS 2.0 release; a cloud storage announcement from Pillar and a new term (like this industry needed any more): Disaster Proof Hardware. (read more)

Right now deduplication and replication are the two main features seen as critical to delivering on the promise of disk-based backup. But as organizations store more of their backup data to disk, they are quickly realizing that other features are required to successfully execute on the redesign of their backup infrastructures. Specifically, companies with numerous remote offices are finding that systems availability and data management cannot be overlooked in their disk-based backup redesigns and is what today's release of FalconStor's File-interface Deduplication System (FDS) 2.0 is intended to address. (read more)

Right now on Yahoo finance it is counting down what it considers the top 10 tech trends for 2010. However some of the trends that it is including in its top 10 are so broad in their definition that when it lists 'Data Centers' as its #2 trend and then identifies nearly every technology company in the space as being part of this trend, you have to question just how real this trend is? The list of what I consider the more subtle storage trends of 2010 will be a bit more specific in terms of what features, products, services and/or vendor alliances are taking place that support these theories. (read more)

Last week's blog took a look at the 10 most read blogs in 2009 that were written in 2009. This week I wanted to step even further back and reflect upon the top 10 most read blogs in 2009 regardless of when they were written as I find this insightful in two ways. It lets me know what information continues to hold the attention of readers on as well as what topics from the past might become new trends in 2010. So while there is definitely some overlap between the two, there are also some entries that appear on this list that knock some of the top 10 blogs from last week off the list. (read more)