Storage Expo
I’ve been pretty busy in the last couple of days demonstrating outside Olympia (http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/10/14/238126/anti-upgrade-demonstration-at-storage-expo.htm); on a couple of speaker panels (one on Data Centre trends and the other on Thin Provisioning); speaking to customers and partners and generally not getting enough sleep.
Although it seems that there were fewer attendees than previous years the quality was so much better. Frankly, for the first time ever, no one asked me how to configure their Norton 360 home PC product (for which I am eternally grateful because I know as much about Norton as most home users). No, this year every conversation I had was pretty specific about how to get more out of IT assets, which was handy as that’s what we do at Symantec.
The hardware vendors had a tough time – storage infrastructures desperately need to be optimised and consolidated. Backups need to be architected around the business requirements and specific infrastructures with centralised management and automated processes.
Backup Exec System Recovery was a hot topic. Virtually every conversation I had came back to: “How do I get a simple, cost effective DR process for my servers and desktops and laptops?” The answer is, of course, BESR. Actually, when it comes to backup, whatever the question, the answer is invariably The Backup Exec Family.
One size does not fit all
Today organisations of all sizes are faced with managing their disk backup storage growth and improving the speed and ease of recovery of application data, all of which has led to increased complexity for IT administrators. Unfortunately, data protection solutions of old are failing to keep pace with this overwhelming data growth and complexity whereas new data protection solutions are trying to centralise on a single code base and common platform to deliver next generation data protection. The fact is: it just doesn’t work like that.
Next generation data protection solutions need to be complete, powered by disk, and centred on recovery – regardless of size. All organisations are required to protect data in the most efficient way to maximise time and resources – irrespective of size or location. But not only this, they are required to ensure service level requirements are consistently met and at the same time squeezed to improve backup windows and recovery time – all while data growth skyrockets.
In order to manage the way that data protection solutions have altered, technology has had to shift with it. Backups powered by disk make the backup and recovery process faster, more reliable, and automated. It also eliminates the outmoded hassle of trucking backup tapes to a DR facility. In the past, data protection solutions focused on backup, but the focus for businesses large and small is shifting to recovery. That includes system recovery (physical and virtual machines, as well as individual files, documents, users, etc.), disaster recovery, and mission-critical application recovery. Organisations that redesign around disk-based data protection are discovering that they can recover their data quickly and automatically because, in many cases, it is still local and easily accessible.
Because human error is the biggest problem hindering successful recoveries, organisations should look to automation to speed recovery and reduce errors and reliance on personnel. Backup Exec System Recovery is a data protection solution that is optimised for the unique requirements of disaster recovery – because “One Data Protection Solution” does not fit all. It offers:
- Fast, flexible recovery-complete server, desktop, or laptop system recovery in minutes, even to dissimilar hardware or virtual servers
- Granular recovery-individual file, folder, Exchange email and SharePoint document recovery from a one-pass backup, using a single interface
- Cold image recovery-after-the-fact recovery, even of systems that won’t boot
- Central management-single-console management of system backup and recovery environments, including remote systems
- Off-site protection-system protection using remote FTP locations or secondary disk drives for advanced business continuity
I rest my case – thank you!
Disaster Recovery – Just Tick The Box And Move On?
Symantec recently carried out a survey on DR habits and discovered that, on the whole, DR is possibly not as successful as it should be. Seems a bit weird when the same organisations surveyed said that DR has an impact on customers, sales, and revenue. Nearly one-third of organisations reported that DR will impact their customers, while over one-fifth admitted this could also impact their sales and revenue. Hmm, I smell a rat!
OK, it’s pretty simple for me to talk about, but implementing a DR strategy can be difficult. You don’t want to impact the end user or production systems, you also don’t want to make a mess of your infrastructure in the process of putting in the very system that is supposed to save your bacon. As a result approximately half of the organisations surveyed test their DR plans either only once a year or less.
Bottom line: Organisations are not testing frequently enough to improve their plans and are not using adequate tools to reduce the overall business impact.
Ah, well, in that case that’s easy to overcome … unless you have a virtual environment, of course? The Symantec survey reports that only 37% of respondents reported that they back up all of their virtual systems. Currently, native DR tools in virtual environments are immature and don’t provide the top level protection that organisations really need today. While having a DR plan is essential in most organisations, knowing that DR plans work is just as important.
One of the reasons that DR plans fail is because they do have a tendency to become shelf-ware and this is mainly because implementing DR plans is pretty tricky. Well, here’s where you can save yourself some heartache.
Backup Exec System Recovery provides organisations with extended system protection with Scheduled Automated Virtual Conversion – NEW to 8.5 .. what this does is builds on the off-site copy capability. If you have a BESR server at your DR site that can see the duplicated images (FTP’s from the main site) a schedule can be set to convert the images from v2i to either vmdk or vhd formats. Once this process is complete the resulting virtual file can be mounted on a VMware ESX or Microsoft Hyper-V server ready to be booted should disaster occur at the main site – good, hey?
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