|
Why data protection is imp for biz continuity
In addition to regulatory challenges, data protection challenges extend to meeting recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs); meeting backup window and application impact requirements and managing increasingly complex data protection environments built upon multiple disparate tools. Although many customers focus on their backup window, it’s actually the RTO and RPO that should really drive the design. The next challenge is the mismatch between the speed of tape drives and the other components in the environment. Believe it or not, tape drives are actually too fast for the job. This means that you can’t just solve an RTO challenge by buying more tape drives.
It’s also difficult to meet RPO requirements when backups cannot be completed within specified backup windows. In addition, running backups should not significantly impact the application they are backing up. If they are impacting it, business units may require that the backup window be shortened even farther. Ideally, backups should finish quickly and have as little impact on the application as possible. Accomplishing that with typical data protection systems, however, can be quite a challenge. This coupled with regulatory compulsions make data protection extremely complicated.
A typical reaction to the challenges mentioned above is to purchase multiple point solutions that each address a single challenge; one product for traditional backup and recovery, another for point-in-time recovery, and yet another for archiving. This results in a more complex data protection environment that requires additional resources to manage and maintain. The complex data protection environment can also increase the risk of a human error when recovering data, as individuals attempt to understand which solution should be used to recover the data and maintain the operational support of the various point solutions.
Meeting each of the challenges above while still maintaining a financial competitive advantage is yet another challenge. An organization’s ability to recover data quickly and accurately can set it apart from the competition, but only if it can do so at a lower cost. The value of the data being protected must be appropriately matched to the cost of the product(s) protecting the data. This cost is not just product cost, but also the cost of managing the data protection solution(s). The more complex the solution, the higher the management and operational cost. All information in a company does not have the same value and the value of any given piece of information changes over time. Therefore, an ideal data protection solution should be able to provide different levels of data protection to different pieces of information over time.
Achiving, snapshots, replication, and security
Data protection was earlier equated with only backup and recovery. Now data protection encompasses not only traditional backup and recovery, but also technologies such as archiving, snapshots, replication, and security. The perfect solution to ensure optimum results given the complexities of the enterprise is to combine effective use of tiered disk and tape with global storage policies. Backup and recovery can also be enhanced significantly by using full-text indexing. Local and persistent snapshots ensure even faster recoveries. A unified platform comprising modules for data backup and recovery, migration, archiving, snapshots, and replication---all through a single management console and database can be the perfect solution to the data protection needs of the enterprise to ensure business continuity.
Manish Balooja
Technical Director, Hitachi Data Systems India
Do you think data protection is key to business continuity? Pen your thoughts
|