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Submitted by: Raspal Chima

With dramatic increases in data growth and a growing dependence on data for business continuity, companies need to know that their data is stored securely and can be recovered quickly using the minimum of space for the maximum benefit.

Keeping pace with the data explosion is not easy. With up to 50% growth year on year and increasingly complex IT environments, many backup systems are struggling to cope. At the same time, achieving high levels of redundancy can be expensive and companies risk paying a premium for high-spec solutions that far outperform their needs.

Every customer is different, both in terms of architecture and budget. So everything needs to be considered – from simple off-the-shelf tools to solutions that are custom fit to your systems with a constant focus on increasing capacity and reducing costs.

Backup vs Redundancy vs Archiving

The technology overlap between backup, redundancy and archiving can often lead to confusion, but each has a different role to play in streamlining and safeguarding data. Backups essentially create a second copy of data at specific points in time, ideally keeping multiple historic copies. Redundancy establishes a straight copy of an entire system, ready to take over if the original system fails. Backup offers a certain level of redundancy, and redundancy a basic level of backup, but neither are stand-alone solutions.

Archiving makes a primary copy of selected data with the aim of retaining data in the long-term. Not all of the data contained in a backup will ultimately end up in an archive so archiving is rarely an adequate backup solution in itself but as a complementary approach, it can considerably optimize the data storage process.

Most backup strategies rely on a combination of backup, redundancy and archiving. An important factor to bear in mind when planning a backup schedule is prioritization of data. Not all data is created equal and a tiered backup strategy that restores the most critical applications first will get you back in business faster and cut data storage costs.

Backup Types

Full – A full backup copies every file in a system. Restore times are fast but backups are time-consuming and space-intensive so scheduling and data prioritization are important considerations.

Differential/Incremental – Differential and incremental backups fill in the gaps between full backups, storing any changes to data. They require a fraction of the server CPU cycles, bandwidth and storage space. The risk of data loss is obviously greater than full backups and restore times are slower but Blueberry can use special snapshot technology such as Amazon EBS to rebuild images more rapidly.

Synthetic – A synthetic backup consolidates a full backup and subsequent incremental backups into a single file. Recovery is fast, using less server cycles and bandwidth.

Continuous Data Protection – In contrast to scheduled backup, continuous data protection (CDP) continuously tracks data modifications. CDP saves all changes and data can be recovered rapidly from any point in the past. Bandwidth burden is considerable but using compression techniques and block-level incremental backup, Blueberry can significantly reduce this load.

Mirroring – Mirroring is a redundancy solution that literally mirrors your systems by making a straight copy of data to two or more drives simultaneously. Thereafter only new and modified files are copied. Unlike a full backup, data is not usually compressed so recovery is faster.

Backing up to the Cloud

Cloud-based services such as Amazon s EC2 offer a cost-efficient and scalable option for offsite backup. Users can easily access data remotely and businesses can expand their storage requirements as needed. There are still some issues to consider when choosing a solution. Pricing models vary from provider to provider, ranging from tiered pay-as-you-go options to basic flat fees. Some vendors may also charge for additional backup services. Sufficient bandwidth is a crucial consideration, although many providers will only send changed data over the network after the first full backup. Data security is also a valid concern and Service Level Agreements (SLA) should be carefully scrutinized to ensure the proper measures are in place.

The same is true for all backup offerings, particularly when delivered as part of a package by hosting companies or Internet Service Providers. It pays to find out exactly the level of backup on offer. SLAs should stipulate specific levels of data availability and set timeframes for recovery.

Tackling Common Issues

Live data presents a number of challenges for backup, particularly in the case of database files that are continuously being written to. Ensuring no changes are lost in the backup process can require considerable configuration. Blueberry can apply a number of optimization techniques to ensure continuous backup of live data.

Backing up Web or database servers can also be tricky. Traditionally, a list of folders is written to backup but this leaves data open to human error. A full backup is the failsafe option but with storage space at a premium, solutions that combine one full backup with subsequent incremental backups offer a cost-efficient alternative. One example is the incremental snapshot system provided with the Cloud-based Amazon EBS service.

Backing up in virtual environments demands a different approach from physical servers. The critical factors are storage availability, configuration and management. If these are properly addressed, the benefits can be considerable. Blueberry has experience in engineering unusual backup systems in virtual environments and mirroring virtual machines from one server to another.

Achieving high levels of redundancy usually requires two servers. This can be costly and companies should consider whether instant redundancy is really vital for their business. With solutions such as Amazon EBS, for example, a new system can be set up from a snapshot in just 30 minutes without the need for two servers. Redundancy of database servers is more complex to configure and usually requires some level of mirroring or replication. Blueberry Consultants leverages a range of tools and techniques to optimize this process. These include custom compression, encryption, data deduplication and incremental transfer approaches.

Tried and tested

Testing is often the missing link in backup strategies. The time and money invested in backing up data is too great to risk your recovery plan failing at the critical moment. Companies should schedule regular testing of their backup and restore processes. Cloud setups offer the most convenient test environment with the capacity to restore to a second server instance temporarily. Backup reporting tools can also help safeguard your data by tracking backup failures and determining their causes.

Conclusions

These reporting tools look at the whole data protection lifecycle. This type of holistic approach is perhaps the key to optimizing backup on an ongoing basis. The big picture is critical. You need to know your business, know your provider and know your limits in terms of budget, bandwidth and storage space before you go looking for a solution. This not only means analysing your data volumes and usage, but also assessing how well your current backup tools are aligned with your business priorities. And don t let technology stand in the way of these priorities. Whatever works best for your company can be made to work best for your IT systems.

Blueberry Consultants has a strong background in backup and redundancy projects. Assessing your specific backup issues from the outset, we can design a solution that works optimally with your IT systems and strikes the right balance between reliability, accessibility, security and cost.

About the Author: Blueberry Consultants Ltd

bbconsult.co.uk/Expertise/CustomBackupSolutions.aspx

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