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Heerim Architects Meets RPO and RTO Objectives with BakBone

Posted by BakBone on March 10, 2010

“NetVault: FASTRecover’s 30-second recovery performance will help increase our company’s productivity and help us continue to meet our clients’ needs. The simple and easy-to-use interface has freed me from the unneeded stress and problems of everyday IT administration.” ~ RH Kwon, Systems Operator of Heerim Architects

The Challenge: With many independent file servers allotted for each project team and hundreds of projects constantly in progress, it was critical for Heerim Architects to protect their data and minimize business interruption. Construction Management and architectural drawings were stored on data servers that contained sub-divided data storage space for saving prototypes separately. The new and old data, which included architectural drawings, required full data protection as well as a system that could manage the history of changes and modifications to these files. Heerim’s old backup solution caused too many backup windows and was increasing data recovery costs for the company.

The Solution: Heerim selected NetVault: FASTRecover for real-time data protection based on its 30-second recovery capabilities, which makes it possible to go back to any-point-in-time to quickly retrieve consistent data. This was not possible with their old  solution. The fast availability of data after recovery (BakBone’s Virtual On-Demand Recovery technology) was another feature that Heerim looked to employ in their data center because it would minimize downtime.

The Benefit: NetVault: FASTRecover enabled Heerim to protect critical data in real-time and eliminate backup windows. And FASTRecover’s easy-to-use interface reduces the level of expertise for system administrators to perform data recoveries. The high availability of information after recovery also limits operational downtime.

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What Does “Best-of-Breed” Actually Mean?

Posted by BakBone on March 2, 2010

Andrew Martin

When it comes to choosing “best-of-breed” in data protection the choice is neither simple nor obvious.

What does best-of-breed actually mean? Do we mean best-of-breed vendors that can provide total solutions from the ground up? Or do we mean the best technology for a given purpose?

An interesting analogy to use might be the financial services industry and how we buy insurance. We can go directly to an advisor from a large reputable insurance company or at the other extreme we can work with a third party insurance broker.

We get peace of mind when dealing with the big insurance company advisor, however they can only offer products from their own company. Whilst some of their offerings might be great, quite simply they will not have the best product available for every type of insurance requirement. On the other extreme is the third party broker – they can offer you a choice of products in every field and allow you to select the best one for your needs. However, you may have questions about the broker’s stability or even ethics. And, you may not have heard of some of the products that they offer you.

On balance I have always taken the “broker” approach. Initially it carries slightly more risk, but as an individual broker proves themselves to be trustworthy and stable over time, that risk diminishes. Ultimately, the broker is able to identify and offer me more individualised products that are better for me.

If we bring this back to data protection we see the “one stop shops” that offer solutions on every aspect of data protection including primary storage, storage management, backup and recovery, high availability, provisioning and archive. We also have companies that offer a range of closely linked solutions in specific areas of data protection. My own company, BakBone Software, fits into this category with a range of solutions all closely linked to protection and recovery of data across a wide variety of applications and platforms. Finally, there are point solution companies; more usually (though not always) these are start-up companies and often they get consumed by bigger companies over time. An example would be Asempra. This was a company with a targeted solution for fast recovery of windows applications, acquired last year by BakBone and integrated into the wider portfolio. However, these “point” solution companies need not be small. Another example might be Data Domain, who had developed a global business by the time they were acquired.

The large “one stop shop companies” are often labeled “best-of-breed” by default. They offer integrated total solutions and peace of mind that comes with working with a trusted, established player. However, no one truly believes that every solution on the books of a large player is the best-of-breed in its class.

The other option is to place your trust in the advice of a true value added systems integrator. A good SI will have strong knowledge of offerings from various vendors and assesses what they believe are the best products and build them into a single integrated solution that they vouch for, implement and provide first line support. As a company that works closely with SI’s we often see this happen at BakBone. As an example, it is not uncommon to see our FASTRecover technology integrated into an environment often already using another company’s backup software.

In principle this SI led approach should ensure you get “best-of-breed” for your own precise requirements. However, much depends on the quality and real knowledge of the SI that you work with. As with the insurance broker analogy, this risk is minimised as the SI gains your trust over time by delivering proven projects.

My personal view is that working with a knowledgeable, reputable SI is the best way to get “best-of-breed.” I subscribe to this way of thinking for a number of reasons:

  1. No single requirement is the same, therefore no one company can offer the best solution for every data protection requirement that presents itself.
  2. New technologies and new ways of doing things are often brought to the market by newer companies.
  3. By definition “one stop shops” need to steer customers towards “their view of the data protection world.” By contrast an SI works harder to find solutions that meet how their customer wants to operate.

I understand and accept that “one stop shops” can sometimes be the best option for some companies. However when it comes to choosing “best-of-breed” for your own requirements, it actually comes down to understanding and meeting your own specific needs and the answer will rarely be the same from one company to the next. For that reason, choice and differentiation will always remain vital in choosing what’s best for you.

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Storage Technology Predictions for 2010 – What’s to Come

Posted by BakBone on January 21, 2010

Andrew Martin, VP of APAC

For much of 2009, deduplication was the “buzz” technology in storage. We started seeing major adoption of deduplication across different business sectors and companies of varying sizes, from large enterprises down to SMEs, adopt the technology. In addition, we saw a move from deduplication specialist companies dominating the space to traditional storage and software companies (BakBone included) coming to market with their own deduplication offerings. Finally, we saw the soap-opera-like battle of two industry giants slugging it out to take control as the leading deduplication specialist, Data Domain.

So what’s going to be the storage buzz technology of 2010?

Unfortunately, I don’t see anything on the horizon about to explode into every IT department. I stand to be proved wrong, but I do not see a technology taking us by storm in 2010 in the way deduplication did last year.

Cloud storage is growing with many vendors aiming to get on the bandwagon, form alliances and drive IT departments toward their vision of how cloud should be adopted. However, I have spoken to many people about cloud storage: IT directors, government departments, analysts, journalists and systems integrators, and whilst cloud is becoming increasingly relevant, it seems that adoption of cloud based will still be steady with corporate companies, particularly experimenting with different providers to find out what, if anything, works for them.

Whilst cloud is going to continue to grow, my educated guess is that it won’t be the must-have storage technology of 2010.

I have seen one technology making a comeback – archiving. However, I don’t think we can refer to archiving as  something new; in fact, it is one of the oldest storage technologies around with HSM-type products being popular in the height of the mainframe days.

However, across Asia and beyond, many companies are expressing a renewed interest in spending money on archive and HSM-type products. This is not only for e-mail but also for applications like SharePoint and even for file-system data. In addition, we are seeing numerous startup companies come to market with new archive products. It is interesting to see startups cropping up in such an old arm of storage technology. However, these new companies are working on the next generation of archive technology. Products that understand and take advantage of server and storage virtualisation, that can classify data in many different ways and even build a repository of archived data that can be used for analysis by other applications. BakBone recently released NetVault: Archive in Europe (a “next-generation archive product”), and it has been fascinating to see the level of demand for us to launch this product in Asia.

For me, I wonder what the natural progression from archiving might be. I have wondered if there ever might be demand for a vendor to build a platform that can intelligently delete data; not secure deletion, there are many light utilities available that securely delete data. My vision is of a technology that can identify data based on strong preset criteria that can be permanently deleted without impacting compliance or inadvertently removing required/useful data.

We are always reluctant to simply delete data; however we know two things for a fact:

1 – The rate of data growth causes significant data management problems.

2 – We store and protect large volumes of data that we do not need and will never use again.

Deleting data sends a chill down the spine of most IT administrators and is something we just don’t do. The risk of deleting something critical outweighs the potential benefit of getting rid of the waste.

However, if intelligent file systems ever become a reality, then maybe a product that allows data to automatically be “thrown” into the waste bin could be in our future.

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Disaster Recovery Planning or Data Recovery Planning?

Posted by BakBone on October 21, 2009

Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin

Something that I have become aware of over the years, but never really stopped to analyse is the concept of disaster recovery planning.

Many people from vendors (including myself) often extol the virtues of Disaster Recovery Planning. We will preach to IT departments that the starting point of protecting your data is to put a disaster recovery plan in place first and then make sure the technology you implement allows you to meet the criteria of that plan.

Great advice? Well, I always thought so when I have given it, however when I really stop to think about it, I am actually doing a great disservice to those companies that do real disaster recovery consultancy and services.

The problem is this - Disaster Recovery is about much more than IT alone. It is about “hot” office space, diverting phone systems and ensuring personnel are accounted for. The list goes on and on. This was graphically demonstrated to me recently on a trip to Shanghai, when a partner that BakBone is starting to work with showed me their disaster recovery facilities that have been in place for their financial customers. It included a server room with warm, standby pre-configured servers ready to “kick in,” office space with workstations ready for staff to use with just hours of notice, office equipment, security access control, etc.

In IT, when we talk about “disaster recovery” what we are really talking about is “data recovery” and whilst data is often a critical part of any business asset, it is only a subset of a full disaster recovery initiative.

I am not advocating that we in the IT space stop discussing Disaster Recovery Planning, however I am suggesting that we position our contribution to the process correctly. We are a component, albeit a vital component, of the total plan.

That said we should not shy away from continuing to advocate the importance of planning. However, to be accurate, perhaps we should refer to this as “Data Recovery Planning” and we should recognize that without a robust “Data Recovery Plan” it is difficult for companies to ensure that their data protection solutions are truly delivering the required level of assurance.

Many companies will never implement a full disaster recovery plan and as such data recovery will still often be the centre of their business continuity preparations. Vendors and SI’s have great knowledge, skill and experience in this area and we can work with our users to develop comprehensive plans that ensure data is protected and recoverable in a way suited to the needs of your business.

Areas that need to be considered include:

  • How fast is your data growing?
  • Do you have backup windows available?
  • How quickly do I need to recover my data?
  • Can I classify my data with different levels of recovery priority?
  • Do I regularly perform spot checks to prove my data can be recovered?

Of course these are just top-level questions and an in-depth plan will cover significantly more than this.

The important point here is that having a plan is vital. Without it you can never be sure that your data protection solution delivers the recovery times that your business needs. However, the truth is that many of the companies I speak to do not have any kind of documented data recovery plan at all.

Many vendors, including companies like BakBone (and many of our competitors and cooperative vendors) have the ability to help you with this process.

It may be time to take us up on the offer!

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Most companies believe that backing up data counts as a disaster recovery and business continuity strategy. In truth, unless they back up their applications and operating systems (called bare-metal) these companies are vulnerable to a major crash that can cripple the business for days – not hours. In a series of videos on SearchStorageAsia.com, I discuss proper backup strategies. You can watch the videos here: http://www.searchstorageasia.com/content/importance-bare-metal-recovery-drbc

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How Green is Green?

Posted by BakBone on October 7, 2009

Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin

A few months ago I was presenting at a conference in Kolkata aimed at stimulating adoption of IT in West Bengal. One of the other presenters at the event was the trade minister for the region and I was fascinated as he outlined the challenges and aspirations he saw ahead in West Bengal. However I was also struck by a comment he made about green computing. He mentioned that it was important to repurpose old IT equipment and recycle old computers from companies into the community.

I have no doubt that his intention is a good one. Taking computers discarded by businesses and placing them into the hands of community centres and schools is something that will deliver enormous benefit to large parts of the population that could not even begin to think about buying their own computers. However, is this green computing as the minister described?

The answer is “I don’t know” and the truth is, when you look into the issue of energy saving it is enormously complex.

On the surface, if you extend the life of a PC and keep it in use after the original owner has discarded it, that would seem to be a green practice, as manufacturing requirements for new PCs will be reduced. However, to really assess whether an IT-related policy is truly green, so much more needs to be considered than simply extending the life of a piece of equipment.

  • How much energy was consumed in the manufacturing process?
  • How much energy was consumed in the manufacturing of the components?
  • What is the ongoing energy consumption over time? (Older equipment typically consumes more energy just to run.)
  • How much energy will be consumed in the safe disposal of the product?

In short, to really understand if we are achieving green computing we need to consider the energy consumption over the entire lifetime of the product from manufacturing through to the final disposal process. For most of us this is an impossible task. It requires expert consultancy, a long-term vision with senior level commitment to that vision. Large, multi-national companies are taking this approach, but for the rest of us necessity demands that we take a more pragmatic approach.

The view that I have heard from many IT managers and directors is something akin to, “I believe in looking for efficiencies and cost savings and often if I can achieve these, the result is less power consumption and fewer wasted resources. If I can drive efficiency and save money, the spin off is that most likely I am being more green.”

On balance, I subscribe to this view. Efficiency is generally a good thing. When we utilise just enough resources to deliver the functionality that we need, then waste is trimmed, budgets are saved and over-consumption is eliminated.

When it comes to data protection, the practice is intrinsically “non-green.” Data protection involves creating duplicate copies of existing data. By it’s nature this process creates “waste” as it requires more storage hardware, dedicated storage networks, redundant systems, increased power consumption, and the list goes on.

However, all vendors in the data protection space are trying to drive efficiency, and in doing so, are finding ways to reduce excess resource utilisation. Examples of technology that aid the green cause, even if the reason for being is nothing to do with green issues, include: 

  • Tape – Tape is offline media. It does not consume power when stored in a vault. Perhaps it is the greenest of all media?
  • Data depulication – Compressing 30TB of data onto 5TB of disk is truly efficient. Less hardware required and reduced ongoing power consumption.
  • MAID – Intelligently powering down disks that are not in use saves money on datacenter cooling and on powering the disks themselves.
  • Virtualisation – converting physical servers or storage into virtual enables you to consume more resource from every piece of hardware you own.
  • Cloud-based backup – Sharing a single backup infrastructure between numerous companies and users.
  • Software enhancement – Things like “incremental forever” eliminate full backups, which in turn reduces media consumption.

Most of us believe the green cause in IT is a good one. Actually doing something about it can be complex and difficult. However, keeping up with the data protection technology curve is in itself a way to support a green agenda and save costs. When it comes to repurposing old PC’s in Kolkata, is that green? Possibly not. However, is it wrong? Well, that’s a moral dilemma and whole different debate!

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