Pervasive data volume reduction: a high-value alternative to aging tape-based backup technologies; A paradigm shift in backup technology can cut lifecycle costs by 50% or more.

Open systems tape backup processes, originally developed back in the late eighties, were designed to make optimum use of low-cost serial media; data and process efficiency took a second priority to the goal of keeping steady, continuous streams of data flowing to the tape. As a result, the backup process, even with modern enhancements, stores and manages ten times the amount of primary data being protected just in active (non-shelved) backup data volumes. While this data-intensive process worked well when data volumes were relatively small, as volumes continue to increase in the enterprise, this old-style backup process simply cannot keep up.

The problem has become particularly acute now that collaboration has become a favored business practice. With a large and growing number of staff members sharing information by copying it, communicating it, and storing their own versions of it, data volumes have truly exploded. The result: tape backup systems become increasingly overloaded, even as the number of tapes required to house archives soars along with associated backup costs. At the same time, backup windows need to be extended, forcing companies to choose between comprehensive data protection, and decreased access to network resources while backups are running during business hours.

And the situation is likely to get worse as new applications that increase data volumes become increasingly popular. As an example, consider that content management applications, fast becoming a business-critical need for companies striving to deal with exploding content volumes, are often based on XML technology--a technology whose metadata typically expands data by a factor of two. In fact, in an Avamar survey of 100 companies, there are on average at least two copies of all files stored on disk, and when data replication associated with backup processes is factored in, this number is multiplied by anywhere from 10 to 100. In other words, every single file created in the enterprise can result in hundreds of copies of that file stored on backup tape.

While many companies have worked to control the magnitude of their tape storage issue by judicious retention policy management, the value of these programs is fast becoming moot because of regulatory requirements that virtually force companies to save all data forever, just to protect against possible downstream litigation or compliance issues. Against this backdrop, tape backup vendors are working furiously to come up with fixes. But all suffer from the same basic flaw: they're based on outdated serial access technology and rely on high-volume data management tapes that are thinner than a human hair and prone to distortion and, therefore, data corruption. And, they're expensive.

Instead of band-aids, what the backup industry really needs is a totally different approach, a re-engineering similar in scope to the great ERP transformation. Instead of tape, the industry cries out for a disk-based alternative. Instead of complex and time-consuming retention management practices and data compression algorithms, companies crave cost-effective, automated techniques for reducing data volumes. What they don't need are systems that increase overhead, require large investments in new software applications and massive amounts of disk space, or that demand extensive manual intervention to laboriously identify and mark every piece of data to indicate whether it should be archived forever or not. A massive content management system for all structured and unstructured data across the entire enterprise is simply not a cost-effective or practical solution--and is not likely to be so for the foreseeable future.

Ironically, re-engineering storage actually requires far fewer infrastructure changes, far less cost, and creates far less network impact than other options currently available and proposed--if the re-engineering effort is based on a pervasive data volume reduction (PDVR) paradigm that dramatically reduces data volumes. Equally critical is that the data reduction is applied at the data source, not downstream, on volumes of aggregated data. After all, destroying a snowball is far easier at the top of a mountain, then it is after it rolls down to the base.

With PDVR at the source, each piece of new data is automatically tagged with an identifier, these tags efficiently indexed, and the data backed up. Then, whenever data with these same tags are seen in the future, the backup system immediately knows not to back this data up. The result: the volume of data that has to be backed up in order to completely protect resources and ensure full recovery and business survivability can be reduced by a factor of 10 to 100.

While some hardware-centric data storage systems already rely on incremental change tracking techniques that reduce data volumes, these systems only work on single files, or file systems, as they change over time--and only if the system itself contains unique knowledge of how those files and file systems were initially constructed. What's different about pervasive data volume reduction is that it is pervasive: the technique can be applied heterogeneously, across all files, file systems, data types, and servers--even across a global enterprise.

Also, because data volumes are cut so dramatically when PDVR is applied at the data source, the technology enables enterprises to put all its backup data on disk; companies can even leverage existing disk resources, adding capacity only when it is needed. At the same time, because the technology is software-based, it can be seamlessly integrated with existing storage infrastructures to protect legacy technologies and investments.

Another benefit of this approach is that storage resources can now be distributed wherever convenient. Access is simple and across the LAN or WAN, just as it is for any other application. As a result, the system offers built-in, no-cost, off-site storage options. Creating backup sets of tapes or disks is no longer required, and gone are the high costs of trucking these media to offsite locations. Easy network accessibility to online disk-based storage from offsite locations also enables companies to respond to any regulatory or legal requirements for historical data with unprecedented speed. With fingertip access to any data, any time, time-consuming and expensive tape retrieval and restore processes from multiple incremental backup tapes are as outdated as eight-track audio tapes.

PDVR also enables enterprises (for the first time) to cost effectively deliver the full features of the robust corporate backup system to widely distributed branch offices, with no implementation costs or hassles, no additional media investments, and no additional management overhead. Corporate data is simply corporate data, wherever it's created, however it's used, and whoever shares it. So why have multiple systems to back it up?

Backups that rely on PDVR are also fast. So fast, in fact, that 1.1 terabytes (the typical amount of data backed up during an average eight-hour backup window) can now be completely backed up in one hour. Smaller servers or datasets can even be backed up during the business day. In other words, backup windows and all the limitations and havoc they wreak, are now a thing of the past. There never was a business reason for backup windows; they were simply an artifice of the way tape works. And now, with PDVR, daily network operations are never impacted by backup operations. As a result, system availability is optimized, enabling many enterprises to defray additional capacity investments.

Not to be overlooked are the sizable cost benefits that PDVR brings in the area of staffing. It is a well-known fact that the number of backup administrators required is directly proportional to the amount of data in storage, with one full-time administrator required for every five terabytes of data stored on tape. By comparison, for disk-based storage the same single administrator can manage more than 15 terabytes of data. The bottom line: PDVR-optimized storage not only cuts the volume of data requiring management by as much as 90%, but it also increases management efficiency by two-thirds, cutting overall lifecycle backup costs by 50% or more.

So, what it comes down to is this: PDVR eliminates tape purchases, the costs of continually upgrading tape libraries and drives, and offsite storage and retrieval costs. At the same time it boosts productivity of backup administrators to unprecedented levels, optimizes network utilization, and facilitates rapid compliance with regulatory requirements while cost-effectively protecting against future legal liabilities. Furthermore, because it requires no proprietary hardware investments, it costs substantially less than any other long-term backup solutions being offered in the marketplace, even while it seamlessly integrates with those and all other existing backup technologies. And finally, the technology is both proven and available. In sum, PDVR is a backup technology whose time has come.

Janae Lee is vice president of marketing at Avamar (Irvine, CA)

www.avamar.com