Data Replication Storage Technologies for DR.pdf

I NFRASTRUCTURE E XECUTIVE C OUNCIL ®

K EY F INDINGS

Data Replication and Storage Technologies

for Disaster Recovery

S EPTEMBER 2008

K EY Q UESTIONS

E XECUTIVE S UMMARY

• How do you evaluate the

importance of company data?

• What are the most common data

replication technologies?

• How do you incorporate a data

replication into a disaster

recovery plan?

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS

Natural disasters such as hurricanes and man-made events

have forced disaster recovery initiatives to the forefront of

IT executives’ strategic projects. Companies require

replication of critical data in order facilitate smooth business

continuity post-disaster. Heavy corporate dependence on

data replication faces three primary challenges:

1. Understanding the value of different company data

2. Clarifying available storage and replication technology

options

3. Managing data replication systems for disaster recovery

plans

Overview

Drivers

After analyzing the types and value of company data,

companies associate data with a range of replication

technologies and consider housing that data in an alternate

data center.

Challenges

Market Overview

Value of Data

Companies clarify the wide variety of storage and

replication technology options by addressing three

considerations:

• Replication methodology (synchronous vs. asynchronous)

• Replication agents (host, array, switch)

• Storage systems (DAS, NAS, SAN, IP Storage Arrays)

Technology Options

Replication Methodology

Replication Agents

Storage Systems

Larger companies find that IP SAN and IP Storage Arrays

are most suitable for complex networks with high volumes

of highly critical data. However, companies are continuing

to deploy hybrid systems which include DAS and NAS

technologies for flexibility and cost effectiveness.

Companies have also implemented Continuous Data

Protection (CDP) solutions for a more comprehensive data

replication strategy.

Case Studies

Disaster Recovery

Considerations

Vendor Profiles

C OMPANIES P ROFILED

The market for data replication is expected to grow at an

annual rate of 9.4 percent through 2008. Replication

providers vary from well-established software companies

like HP or EMC to vendors that specialize in some type of

data replication, such as LeftHand, SANRAD, or

FalconStor.

Catalog No.: CEB159FAZH

D ATA R EPLICATION AND S TORAGE T ECHNOLOGIES FOR D ISASTER R ECOVERY

P AGE 2

O VERVIEW – O CCASION FOR THE R ESEARCH

The following diagram illustrates the challenges concerning data replication in an effort to mitigate business

risks due to disasters.

Drivers for Efficient Data Replication

Need to retain data after

catastrophic events

Regulatory compliance

mandates

Increasing volume

requirements

Primary Challenges

Difficulty understanding

the value of company

data

Storage and replication

technology options are

unclear

Difficulty integrating data

replication into the

business continuity plan

Roadmap for the Brief

Overview

Drivers

Challenges

Market Overview

2-6

Technology Options

Replication

Methodology

Replication Agents

Storage Systems

Direct vs. Network

DAS, SAN, NAS

NAS & SAN

IP SAN & IP Storage

Case Studies

9-21

Disaster Recovery 22-25

Vendor Profiles

26-28

Value of Data 7-8

Hardware

Software

D ATA R EPLICATION AND S TORAGE T ECHNOLOGIES FOR D ISASTER R ECOVERY

P AGE 3

O VERVIEW – D RIVERS FOR EFFICIENT DATA REPLICATION

Recent Disasters Spur Company Interest in Developing Disaster Recovery Plans

Since the recent events of man-made and natural disasters such as hurricanes, companies have become more

aware of the need to back up information continually to multiple sites. Executives want to mirror data among

sites continually and cannot afford hours of system downtime 1 . Even more recently, hurricanes Katrina and

Rita showed that a company’s data centers can be vulnerable across large geographies and that it is very

important to replicate data to an offsite location not susceptible to the same event. In one instance, vacuum

cleaner manufacturer Oreck lost two data centers separated by nearly 100 miles, but was able to replicate and

save critical data onto backup tapes in order to restore operations soon thereafter 2 .

Mandates for Record and Data Retention Indirectly Drives Replication

Regulatory compliance is one of the main drivers of data replication. New regulations mandate that IT

organizations replicate data in order to provide business continuity post-disaster, while ensuring legal and tax

compliance. Regulatory compliance mandates such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability

and Accountability Act), and the Basel Capital Accord imply data replication requirements, despite not

detailing management processes and strategies 3 .

The following are some examples of regulations that suggest or require better data retention and protection,

and which would affect replication procedures:

• SEC Rule 240.17 a-4 (f) mandates that organizations store business documents for no less than three

years, and keep data in an accessible place for two years.

• HIPAA has a number of guidelines for document retention and security; it requires IT managers to

ensure data protection in the event of a disaster, and to make sure that the backup site can become

operational in a short amount of time.

D ATA R EPLICATION AND S TORAGE T ECHNOLOGIES FOR D ISASTER R ECOVERY

P AGE 4

O VERVIEW – P RIMARY C HALLENGES

Companies Solve their Data Replication Needs by Focusing on Three Key Challenges

As companies accept that there is a need for efficient data replication to facilitate the business’s recovery from

a disaster, three key issues arise. Bringing clarity to the following challenges will help a company identify

business needs and appropriately provision technologies.

U NDERSTANDING THE VALUE OF DIFFERENT COMPANY DATA , AND HOW TO

REPLICATE THAT DATA ACCORDINGLY .

Page 7

and

Page 8

“There are a large number of businesses today that have not progressed beyond the basic data

management (i.e. buying more hardware, treating all data as having the same importance, saving

everything online, and using point backup for complex applications). Today companies adopt tools

and develop policies to better understand business data.”

-Peter Copley, “Understanding Business Data,” cxo.eu.com

“Although customers are very close to their own specific business agendas, they may not be able

to effectively align those business requirements to the plethora of IT storage product offerings

in the market.”

Page 9

through

Page 21

-Tom Clark, “Bringing SANs to the Masses”.

M ANAGING DATA REPLICATION SYSTEMS FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY AND

HOW COMPANIES DEAL REPLICATE DATA TO ALTERNATE DATA CENTERS .

“Thirty-two percent of companies do not test their disaster recovery plans and in 2003, only ten

percent of surveyed companies had instituted a second, remote data center.” Companies

are unprepared to recover data after a disaster and find it difficult to implement a reliable data

replication strategy.

Page 22

through

Page 25

-Imation Corp. survey

Look for the following road map for data replication strategies and considerations throughout the brief.

Market

Overview

Page 5-6

Data Value

Technology Options

Data Replication for

Business Continuity

Page 22-25

Page 7-8

Page 9-21

C LARIFYING THE AVAILABLE STORAGE AND REPLICATION TECHNOLOGY

OPTIONS , AND HOW TO INTEGRATE SYSTEMS INTO A COMPANY NETWORK .

D ATA R EPLICATION AND S TORAGE T ECHNOLOGIES FOR D ISASTER R ECOVERY

P AGE 5

Market

Overview

Data Value

Technology Options

Data Replication for

Business Continuity

O VERVIEW – M ARKET R ESEARCH AND ADOPTION S TRATEGIES

Back-Up, Archiving, and Replication Software Market Expected to Grow Through 2008

Research group IDC predicted that the backup, archiving, and replication market will grow from $4.3 billion

in 2003 to $6.58 billion by 2008, representing 54 percent of storage software expenditures:

Growth of Back-Up, Archiving, and Replication Software Market

(US$ Billions)

The Data Replication Market is Growing at Annual Rate of 9.4 Percent

Compliance requirements will be an important driver of this growth. According to IDC research, the storage

replication market increased by 16.8 percent in 2005, while the backup and archive market grew at a rate of

12.7 percent 4 . Also, IDC analysts believe that the storage replication market will continue to grow through

2010 as companies continue to focus on compliance and disaster recovery 5 .

Companies Turn to Disk-Based Replication Methods to Reduce Recovery Times

Companies find that traditional tape-based storage yields longer recovery times and higher opportunity cost.

Additionally, tape cannot keep up with the growing volume of data that needs to be stored in ever-shrinking

back-up windows 6 . Companies are starting to look at other alternatives including disk-to-disk back-up, virtual

tape libraries, continuous data protection, snapshot schemes, and newer IP storage replication platforms.

According to a March 2005 survey by the Enterprise Strategy Group, 18 percent of respondents indicated

permanently replaced their tape libraries with disk-based alternatives, and another 58 percent are considering

similar projects. In general, companies are choosing different replication technologies for the more critical

company data although tape remains an integral part of most companies’ replication function.

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