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Avoiding Disruptive Backups
Data Protection Without the
Interruptions
Regular data backups are essential, but they are also very
disruptive and time consuming, especially as the volume of
information grows and the process gets longer and more complicated.
Then there is the question of data recovery -- how reliable
is it and how quickly can it be done?
DataCore offers a simple and effective solution that will
let you achieve your data protection and recovery objectives
without having to frequently interrupt your business applications.
The solution takes advantage of backup products you already
have in place.
Central to DataCore's approach is the use of a Disk Server
-- a general purpose server capable of making its disk space
available to other application servers such as email, web,
and database machines. The Disk Server can maintain up-to-date
copies of each application server's internal disk drives to
recover quickly from a failed drive or a damaged server.
Disk Snapshots Take Place of
Daily Backups
Disk Servers can be configured to periodically generate daily
'snapshots,' or point-in-time copies, of critical volumes
on separate disks -- eliminating the need for daily tape backups.
The snapshots may be mounted just like a removable drive to
rapidly restore an application to a known good image from
the previous day.
Where conventional tape backups can disrupt application processing
for several hours, an online snapshot only requires a brief
application pause to record the current state of the data.
Immediately after a snapshot is taken, the 'live' source volume
is released and applications may resume updates. SANmelody
then captures subsequent changes to the data in real-time
on a separate volume. This process dramatically reduces the
time to create a "backup copy."
Offload Weekly and Monthly
Tape Backups As Well
While the principal advantage of SANmelody snapshots is having
a backup copy to quickly fall back on, you'll find that your
longer term tape backup regimen also improves. Disk servers
enable weekly and monthly backups to proceed in the background
using the offline snapshots, rather than the live production
data. This technique enables tape backups to occur in the
background while applications run uninterrupted.
Copyright DataCore
Software, reproduced with permission. |
