What data does DataDepot protect?
DataDepot protects data on all selected servers, desktops and laptops.
DataDepot has extensive OS support for Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003; Novell NetWare, VMware, Mac OS X, IBM AIX, SUN Solaris, HP-UX, HP-Tru64 UNIX, IBM iSeries OS-400, Red Hat Linux, and Novell Suse Linux.
DataDepot provides extensive database support for Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server & Outlook 2000/2003, Oracle 8 and above, IBM DB2, and MySQL, PostgreSQL.
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How can I estimate how much data I have to backup and vault?
The LAN Storage Discovery Tool helps administrators collect and evaluate file data according to a number of pre-selected parameters and display each ROBO site in an Excel graphical format. This tool helps administrators define different tiers of data and how many versions of that data should be kept online in the DS-System. Some of the report templates include: Share Usage, Largest Files, Largest Duplicates, Ownership, File Type Distribution, Partition Size, Access Report, Dormant Files, Growth and Modified Files, SQL Server Size, and Exchange Server Size.
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How is the first backup done, given that there will be a lot of data?
For large data volumes, the initial backup may be done to a portable unit, backing up at LAN speeds to a large array of disks. When the full backup of your data is complete, the disks are transported back to the Data Center. Future backups, which are purely incremental, will be transmitted online and synchronized with your initial backup data at the Data Center.
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What level of granularity is possible in setting up the backup, i.e. file level/individual database?
A backup set can include a whole server, share/volume, directory or even a single file. The backup set could even include just a registry, should you desire.
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What is Retention?
Retention allows you to implement granularity (specific pattern retention) in your backed up generations. For example: you might want to retain all generations of the previous day, then 1 generation each day for a week, 1 generation each week for a month, 1 generation each month for a year and 1 generation each year for the next 10 years. When you define retention rules, you implement a granularity according to your own retention policy.
Retention Rules are optional. If you do not use the retention feature, your backup data will remain online according to the backup set generation setting (the oldest generation of a file will be overwritten if the maximum number of generations is reached).
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What is Backup Frequency?
Users often want their data to be protected as soon as it is in its final state. This means that scheduling backups weekly (or even daily) may not be sufficient, because data may not be backed up before the machine has a problem. Although hourly backups can provide a more robust backup strategy, they may consume too much system resources because a complete file system scan is required. Word processing or spreadsheet files are some examples of when users would like to have their data protected as soon as it is possible (or after a very small interval of time): once the document is saved to disk, it will be backed up by DS-Client and sent off-site.
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How does DataDepot access data without agents?
The DataDepot software eliminates the requirement for locally installed agents because it leverages the protocols, APIs, methods and functionality that platform, operating system, database, and other application vendors utilize for remotely accessing and managing their own systems. While other backup/restore solutions require a unique backup agent (installed on every target server, workstation, and laptop) for each type of system and application, the DataDepot architecture integrates support for all major platforms and applications into a single, optimized software system comprised of just two major components: the DS-Client (just one installed at each remote site) and the DS-System (installed at the vaulting location).
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What is de-duplication?
De-duplication is one of the sophisticated ways that the DataDepot reduces the raw data from your network servers across all remote offices to a size that can be transmitted over the WAN. It ensures that the same data is never transmitted offsite more than twice, thereby saving the bandwidth to transmit only new, unique data. It achieves this simple elimination by generating a digital signature of each file as it is backed up and comparing it against the known details of all previous files. If the digital signature matches a previously backed up file, it must be a duplicate and only a shortcut need be transmitted up the line. Due to the way this technique is applied, it does not matter if the files are on different servers, at different offices or even have different filenames.
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What is delta blocking? How does it work?
Delta blocking is an advanced logic that divides all files into blocks. When the file is detected to have changed, the digital signature of each block is compared against the last known digital signature for the same block of the same file (stored in the database on the DS-Client. Any blocks that are different are pulled out to be re-transmitted. These delta blocks will also be compressed and encrypted before transmission.
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What happens if a server stops or crashes during backup or if the backup is interrupted for some other reason?
If the backup is stopped, for whatever reason, it will simply continue onto the next backup in its schedule. It will not revisit the failed backup set until the next time it is set to run, e.g. the following night, at which point it will pick up where it left off. If however the problem has been rectified, and backup window allows, the backup can be restarted manually, immediately.
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How many versions of my backed up files are held offsite?
The number of versions is a parameter that the sytems administrator sets during installation. Unlike a tape backup, where the routine is to rotate tapes in a cycle, DataDepot will only back up a new version of a file when it has changed, guaranteeing that the customer is not wasting space backing up exactly the same version more than once. For example, if a file only changes once a month, there will be 7 months worth of that file. The number of versions stored can be configured on an individual backup set basis. Each backup set can be configured down to include just one file if desired, giving you the ability to maximize the efficiency of the storage.
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How does Autonomic Healing ensure successful backups and restores?
Autonomic Healing serves as a network immune system, constantly scanning all backup data for corrupted or otherwise problematic files. This can include files with data corruption or logical inconsistencies caused by third-party technologies (such as faulty RAID controllers, file systems, operating systems, disk subsystems, network packet loss, etc.). As Autonomic Healing checks backup files, it automatically corrects file and directory ID duplications, without the need of human intervention. When Autonomic Healing finds a problematic file that it can’t fix at the offsite location, it automatically triggers the system’s software at the primary site to re-synchronize and resend any corrupted files during the next scheduled backup. Autonomic Healing runs in the background, analyzing, repairing and replacing files as required – if there are any additional needs that it can’t handle, the software quickly notifies the IT backup administrators to take manual action.
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How and to what standard is the data encrypted?
The small files and delta blocks of data are first compressed and then encrypted up to AES 256, which is set by the customer during the installation of the DS-Client. Data remains encrypted in-flight and at-rest. The backup data is only unencrypted by the DS-Client at your site when it has retrieved the encrypted data from your Data Center for a restore.
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What do you mean by compression? What happens?
Compression can be likened to letting the air out of a balloon. Although the air has gone, the structure still exists and it can be re-inflated easily. The advantage is that it takes less room. Files, especially databases, are often full of empty space, which can be removed to make the file smaller for transit, whilst making it very easy to recreate. A conservative compression to expect with DataDepot is 4:1.
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Does all of the remote office/branch office data get transferred every day?
Only new and unique data will get backed up. Duplicate or unchanged files will not be transmitted.
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At what point is the data available for restore?
The data is available for restore immediately after it has been backed up and is held offsite.
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Can an individual file or registry be restored?
Yes, you can restore an individual file or registry and also specify which version you want to restore.
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Can DataDepot perform bare-metal restores?
Assuming that the machine in question has had a full backup of all files and registry, then a full disaster recovery of that machine is very simple.
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Can data be restored to a different machine on our network?
Yes, the restore data can be redirected as desired. You are able to browse the network and provide connection credentials for the redirected restore, just as you do for creating the initial backup set.
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Can we prioritize which data is restored in the event of a disaster?
Yes, you can select easily which files/directories/servers you wish to restore. There is no need to restore non-essential data until a later time if desired.
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How do I recover an entire ROBO site if all data is lost during a disaster?
The restore method depends upon the recovery time objectives (RTO), the amount of data to transmit and the bandwidth of line installed. Often there is too much data to restore via the WAN if the latest backup copy on local storage has been destroyed. If the actual ROBO has been destroyed then the data will be restored to an alternate DR location.
There are three methods in which data can be restored.
- Data is restored across the WAN link
- Restore data is delivered via a portable disk
- A portable DS-System can be delivered to the customer's site or alternative disaster recovery location or hot-site in the event of a major DR effort.
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