BACKUP/EXECUTIVE: Where Data Protection is Headed

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BACKUP/EXECUTIVEWhere Data Protection is Headed

• A look ahead

Pierre Dorion Business Continuity
Consultant Mainland Information Systems
Ltd. Calgary, Alberta Canada
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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.

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Simpler times

• Not so long ago data protection meant
• 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

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Todays IT environments

• Terabytes of data to protect
• Multiple applications to support the business
• Shrinking backup windows
• 24X7 access to data
• High-end skills requirements

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IT business trends

• On-demand computing
• Business intelligence
• Portal solutions
• Distributed environments

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New paradigms drivers

• Legislation regulations compliance
• ILM (Information Lifecycle Management)
• Business continuity

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Compliance The latest driver

• New legislations are taking data protection
  beyond business requirements
• Prompting the review of existing BR
  infrastructure, policies and procedures
• Generating increased storage requirements beyond
  usual growth
• Will have to rethink storage strategy to
  accommodate capacity and recoverability

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Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)

• Vendors offer only partial solutions at this time
• A lot of work remains in order to offer an
  end-to-end 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

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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

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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

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Data replication - Scenario 1

• Disk-to-disk

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Data replication - Scenario 2

• Disk-to-disk-to-tape

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Data replication - Scenario 3

• Disk-to-remote disk-to-tape

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Data replication - Scenario 4

• HA Cluster disk-to-remote disk-to-tape

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Leveraging technologies -Data storage

• Central storage SAN (Storage Area Network)
• NAS (Network Attached Storage)
• Storage intelligence

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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

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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

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Storage intelligence

• Storage virtualization
• Suns 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

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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.

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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?

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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 ITs view of the data
• We must establish the value of the data and make
  it common knowledge within the organization

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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