WHAT'S COOKING IN BACKUP MEDIA?
WHAT'S COOKING IN BACKUP MEDIA?
From STORAGE Magazine
Vol 7, Issue 8 - November/December 2007
Selecting the right flavour of backup media is critical for any business
- but where do you start? Brian Wall puts some of the main solutions on offer to
the tape test
When looking at your storage requirements as a whole, backup is often the
last part to be considered. However, it is an absolutely critical component,
particularly when you consider how vital the data is that you have to back up.
After all, what would your business do in the event of a disaster, if this
information couldn't be retrieved and was lost forever?
"Backing up to tape is still an important factor for safe, secure and reliable
backups, especially if the need for off-site storage of backup data is a vital
part of your disaster recovery plan," says Norio Yoshioka, ITP marketing
manager, Sony Semiconductor & Electronic Solutions (SES), a division of Sony
United Kingdom, part of Sony Europe.
So what should you look for when including a tape library as part of your
storage solution? First, it is essential to consider precisely what data you are
backing up and how you will access it, he points out.
Also, it is important to establish what type of backup strategy will suit your
needs best. "Ideally, you would want a reliable solution that won't let you down
when you need it most,” he points out. Flexibility should certainly be a factor
- ie, what are your storage requirements now and will they be the same in the
next few years or are your capacity demands growing quicker?
“Whether it is on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis, do you really want to
keep investing in different hardware and media formats to keep up?" questions
Yoshioka.
"Also, do you want the backup data secure and do you also have the need to keep
the more crucial data off-site? Do you need to meet with legislation compliance
of ensuring that backup data cannot be amended, deleted or overwritten in the
future. Then you need Write-Once -Read-Many (WORM) tapes. Sony offers an 8mm
tape solution called Advance Intelligent Tape (AIT) that satisfies the above
requirements and more besides.”
AIT offers uncompressed capacities, from 40GB to 400GB per tape, across five
generations, with at least two generations backwards compatibility as you
increase capacity. It delivers a small form factor with each generation in the
same tape size (9.5 x 6 x 1.5 cm), leading to less space utilisation. Usefully,
AIT tape drives are available in many flavours: from single tape drives to
install inside or besides servers - with a variety of interfaces (IDE, SATA,
SCSI and USB) - to automation solutions offering capacities up to 6.4TB, using
the various generations of AIT.
Sony AIT automation solutions are also available to suite different needs. There
are 8-slot autoloaders as desktop and 1U rackmount solutions, and 16 slot 2U
rackmount libraries
Taking the 19-inch rackmount library solutions as an example, there is the LIB81
range, with eight slots from 1.2GB up to 3.2TB, and the LIB162 range with 16
slots, from 2.4TB up to 6.4TB. The LIB162 can have up to two drives installed to
increase data transfer rates and the drives are hot-pluggable from the front to
ease maintenance.
Both the rackmount eight-slot and 16-slot libraries utilise a simple carousel
mechanism that increases reliability via access direct to drive, which makes for
quicker tape loading times.
Both libraries also come with a barcode reader to make media management more
efficient and can utilise the memory-in-cassette (MIC) option of AIT media,
which can hold important tape usage information to decrease significantly the
average file access times.
Finally, supplied as standard with Sony AIT Autoloader libraries are bundle tape
backup software, barcode labels and data and cleaning media. Rails are also
included in the 19-inch rackmount solutions.
To testify to the effectiveness of AIT and the library solutions, we spoke to
John Greenwood of NCE Computer Group, one of Sony's key partners for AIT
products. He gave as an example the customer case study of Grundon Waste
Management, which has implemented the Sony LIB 81 libraries at each of its
depots and a LIB162 at head office.
"Grundon Waste Management are the UK's largest privately-owned waste management
company," states Greenwood. "The centralised IT department is responsible for
computer equipment spread across the Thames Valley corridor at numerous sites
and offices."
IT manager Steve Short explains why they chose Sony’s AIT Library solution. "We
wanted a solution that would evolve as we continued to evolve. Having seen the
plans going forward on the AIT range of drives, we felt secure that we wouldn't
be buying into a fad."
Space was also an issue. "Having 1U 8 cartridge automation (the LIB81) was a
great benefit, while the 2U 16-cartridge library with two drives (the LIB162)
works well for us at our head office. In 1U, we can back up all of the site data
well within our backup window, ten times over. At our head office, we chose the
dual drive solution, not because of storage, but because of the backup window we
had. Our business works 24/7 and the backup window has been getting smaller and
smaller over the past few years. By utilising the two drives, we are now able to
complete the backup both quickly and efficiently."
Cost was also an important factor, as was the choice of supplier. "The cost of
the units for what they would give us far outweighed other offerings," adds
Short. "And we chose NCE mainly because they listened to us. They knew what they
were talking about, didn't try any hard-sell tactics, and gave us a solution
that was cost effective and time effective. We did look at other solutions and,
if anything, we were favouring HP to start with, because we already used 4mm DAT
and DLT. However, we now have six Sony libraries and we are about to order
another one from NCE."
Sony also works in partnership with tape library manufacturers such as Qualstar
and SpectraLogic for enterprise solutions. Both offer various large scalable
library solutions, with AIT hardware and media at the heart.
For any business selecting backup media, thinking long term is of utmost
importance. This enables the development of a backup strategy to be put in
place, which has cost-saving benefits. This means that needlessly spending on
point solutions can be avoided and the possibility of realising the benefits of
sustained investments can be realised.
"The first and most obvious consideration when thinking long-term is costs,"
says Steve Mackey, UK area sales director, Quantum. "While media costs may be
falling, most businesses are experiencing rapid data growth, meaning that
investment in data backup is at its highest ever.
"Power and cooling costs should also be factored into any serious cost
considerations. High-speed disk, for example, costs a lot more to power and cool
than tape, particularly in larger data centre environments. These running costs
are linked to impact on the environment - tape's low-power consumption and
limited requirement for cooling make it an appealing option for any business
looking to reduce its carbon footprint."
There is little doubt that the benefits of tape are becoming increasingly
appealing to a broader selection of businesses as data growth starts to impact
even the smallest of businesses. As such, several tape-based products have been
launched for new market sectors, including Quantum's Scalar 50, which is aimed
at the SME market.
Another important consideration in selecting the right backup media is
performance. "While tape is certainly cheaper than disk, frequently accessed
data is still most suited to disk-based storage," adds Mackey.
"As such, backup strategies should ideally incorporate a variety of media, so
that higher performance media is only used where performance is of real benefit.
By using a D2D2T strategy, for example, businesses can build up chunks of backup
data on high-speed disk before transferring the data over to tape."
Software can now automate the implementation of complex backup strategies, and a
number of intelligent archiving and automated data movement solutions are
available, such as Quantum's StorNext technology.
Alternatives to traditional tape and disk do exist, and businesses now have a
growing choice of backup media available to them. De-duplicated disk, for
instance, has become very popular and provides a useful mid-point choice between
tape and traditional disk.
"By only storing unique blocks of data in to backup storage, de-duplication
reduces the amount of disk space required by a factor of around 20:1," states
Mackey. "Disk-based de-duplication backup solutions, such as Quantum's DXi-series,
are making disk cheaper and more environmentally friendly, but also offering
important benefits, in terms of minimising the bandwidth required to replicate
data for disaster recovery. Such solutions can be integrated into backup
strategies alongside tape and traditional disk to yield further cost and
time-saving benefits."
Selecting the right backup media is individual to each and every business.
However, by taking a top-down approach - and considering present and future
needs, costs and performance requirements - cost-effective backup strategies can
be put in place. "Investing in backup should be seen as investing in a complete
backup solution," says Mackey, "possibly incorporating multiple products, as
opposed to making a series of investments in point products to address immediate
needs."
As Breece Hill is quick to point out, small and medium businesses are looking
for data protection solutions that are easy to own, manage and operate. These
companies require the right functionality and performance, and are in position
of having to contend with minimal IT support.
"Today's tape-only and disk-only products offer only part of the solution," it
argues. "While tape remains a cost-effective alternative for long-term storage
(archiving), restoring data from tape is time consuming and backups are often
difficult to manage. Disk-only systems offer a viable alternative. They are
relatively fast when trying to restore lost files and eliminate the need to
search through
a multitude of tapes. Still, disk-only solutions are more expensive than tape
and are not easily portable for offsite storage."
The question Breece Hill poses is: "what if you could get the best of disk and
tape together, in a low cost, high- performance solution?" It has introduced an
all-in-one disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) appliance that, it claims, combines "the
reliability of tape and the speed of disk with network connectivity and
qualified software, in an easy-to-implement package".
Breece Hill's D2D2T appliance is said to be ideal for a variety of data
protection applications, including:
Backup recovery: Breece Hill claims to combine best-of-breed hardware, and
qualified backup and recovery software, for a fully integrated backup and
recovery solution.
Archiving: Architected with Xendata Archive Series, Breece Hill's archive
appliance is described as ideal for medical, broadcast, print production and
financial service applications.
Overland Storage is another major player in the tape arena. Its REO 4500, for
example, is part of the REO SERIES of versatile, disk-based backup, recovery and
virtual tape library (VTL) appliances. The REO 4500, launched in July this year,
is engineered for improved performance and reliability, with a new hardware
platform, increased speed and greater capacity, as well as advanced VTL
functionality.
The REO 4500 extends the capabilities of its predecessor, the REO 4000, with
enhanced functionality and expandability, while complement- ing Overland's other
REO models, including the entry-level REO 1500 and top-of-the-line REO 9100.
Overland has deployed more than 5,000 REO appliances, representing in excess of
25 petabytes of vital data.
With its REO SERIES, Overland offers 'drop in' disk-to-disk (D2D) VTL appliances
that are said to lower the costs and administrative overhead often associated
with software-based VTLs. The new REO 4500 is described by Overland as being a
simple, economical product that helps to solve increasingly complex backup
challenges, while facilitating near-instantaneous data recovery.
"The REO 4500 rounds out Overland's next-generation REO line-up with fast,
reliable, 'set it and forget it' operation, intuitive management and on-demand
expandability," says Michael Kerman, vice president of worldwide marketing and
chief strategy officer for Overland Storage.
"Our mid-range REO offering blends price and performance to give SMBs a D2D VTL
appliance that can grow right along with them to keep pace with rapidly rising
data protection needs."
Overland Storage has now also introduced the REO 9100c, which adds hardware
compression to the high-end model of the REO SERIES family of versatile,
disk-based backup, recovery and virtual tape library (VTL) appliances. The new
product is said to deliver superior data backup, recovery and retention
capabilities by doubling the amount of data that can be stored on the REO 9100
and connected expansion arrays.
The REO 9100c also provides flexible functionality when configured as a VTL,
standalone virtual tape drives and/or disk volumes (LUNs). The combination of
hardware compression with Overland's patent-pending Dynamic Virtual Tape (DVT)
technology, which lets users create virtual tape cartridges that automatically
expand or shrink to match capacity requirements, is also said to deliver
significant VTL efficiencies and cost savings.
This is an important factor in what is a more cost- and environmentally
conscious times, as more economical retention of data on disk conserves valuable
power and rack space, while also lowering administrative overhead. It's the way
the industry must increasingly head and those that achieve it most effectively
will be the new market leaders. ST
|
