| Backup is often complex and laborious work – | | | | Where have all the cycles gone? |
| one of the biggest pains in IT. It is not a | | | | Sprawling servers gum up the works |
| glamorous activity because it does not deliver any | | | | Sleeping virtual servers slip the net |
| improvement to businesses' top lines and is, | | | | Defining backup service levels |
| indeed, an expense that reduces the bottom line. | | | | Recovery time objective |
| Even when it does its job by averting disaster, it | | | | Recovery point objective |
| simply maintains the status quo. However, it is | | | | Continuous data protection |
| essential. | | | | Granularity |
| The basic management considerations for backup | | | | Some backups are worthless |
| are the same in the physical and virtual worlds. | | | | Crash consistency |
| Server virtualisation in itself does not complicate | | | | File consistency |
| backup, but its sizeable benefit of hardware | | | | Application consistency |
| consolidation makes life harder for backup | | | | De-duplication is just as useful in the virtual world |
| administrators. Alongside this, virtual server sprawl | | | | De-duplication and backup are tied at the hip |
| increases backup workload because it creates | | | | Target de-duplication requires no change for |
| many more servers to administer. These two | | | | virtual servers |
| issues exist regardless of the virtualisation | | | | De-dupe at the source |
| platform and, arguably, virtualisation has turned | | | | Sticking with traditional backup architectures |
| back the clock for backup. Vendors are still | | | | Keeping the backup story simple |
| working to put this situation right with architectural | | | | Placing an agent in every virtual server |
| changes to backup systems. | | | | Advantages |
| In 2007, VMware eased backup problems for its | | | | Disadvantages |
| customers by launching its free VMware | | | | Placing an agent in every host |
| Consolidated Backup (VCB) framework. However, | | | | Advantages |
| VCB was not ideal, as it required customers to | | | | Disadvantages |
| install more complicated backup systems for their | | | | Happy snapping in the SAN or NAS pool |
| virtual servers than for their physical servers. | | | | Using the tools in disk arrays |
| This year VMware launched a successor to VCB | | | | Advantages |
| called vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP). | | | | Disadvantages |
| VADP is a major step forward, enthusiastically | | | | VCB – VMware's first helping hand |
| endorsed by third-party suppliers of backup | | | | Offloading the hosts |
| software. It will be a significant competitive | | | | How it works |
| advantage for VMware and benefit the | | | | Advantages |
| company's customers, because it will greatly | | | | Disadvantages |
| simplify backup of their virtual servers. | | | | VCB is updated transparently |
| HTML clipboard | | | | Evolution and a new name |
| Table of Contents : | | | | A slew of good things |
| Executive summary | | | | What changed? |
| Recommendations | | | | Living with a background load |
| Backup issues are common to both sides of the | | | | Backup vendors back VADP quickly |
| virtual looking glass | | | | Don't confuse VADP with the VMware Data |
| Automation is king | | | | Recovery tool |
| Policy-based is the best policy | | | | For more information please visit: |
| Recovery is the better part of backup | | | | PH.NO. |
| Backup issues are unique to the virtual world | | | | |