In and of itself, backup delivers no tangible business value. At the same time business are clamoring for more demanding RTO and RPO capabilities while CEOs are mandating that IT becomes more pay-as-you-go (i.e. IT-as-a-service). New technology enablers such as virtualization and cloud computing combined with continuous data protection are changing the way organizations are thinking about backup and recovery. No longer is the notion of backing up a server the most viable model. Rather we are moving to a model where we are protecting users and services. This vision requires new thinking about data protection as a service where all the associated components of that service (e.g. the server image, database, services, etc.) are protected as a whole.
This was the general message put forth at the November 9th 2010 Wikibon Peer Incite Research Meeting where storage industry executives and practitioners gathered to discuss how virtualization and cloud computing are changing backup and recovery. The Wikibon community was joined by:
- Justin Bell, Network Engineer at Strand Associates,
- Mark Hadfield, CEO of nScaled, Inc. a cloud service provider, and,
- Jim McNiel, CEO of FalconStor Software, a data protection technology company.
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Why is Backup Broken?
According to Falconstor’s Jim McNiel there are four main issues practitioners face that underscore the challenges of backup today:
- Data growth – structured data is growing at 25% per annum and unstructured data well over 60%; IT budgets just can’t keep pace.
- Server virtualization – concentrates a lot of compute and I/O into fewer physical resources that are constrained. This exacerbates the problem of getting data out of the server to a safe place in a timely manner. At the same time, while virtualization ‘breaks’ backup, it affords an opportunity to recover data in new ways.
- CAPEX and OPEX pressures – IT needs to do more with less and yet we have many organizational silos related to data protection – groups that look after high availability, data protection, backup/recovery, archive, disaster recovery, etc., which often need to be rationalized.
- Complexity of storage solutions – SATA, SAS, SSD, public and private clouds, different data protection software models, incompatible forms of deduplication, etc – customers are confused as to how to get to an efficient operating model, especially as many data protection decisions are made by bespoke departments.
In addition, according to McNiel, the backup window is becoming extinct and as organizations move to a 24X7 mandate, the ability to protect data has become more and more difficult.
A Practitioner’s Perspective
Justin Bell is a network engineer at Strand Associates. In a previous Peer Incite meeting, Bell described how Strand, a 380 person architectural firm with several remote offices, was struggling with backup and recovery. The firm was backing up onto tape, and often admins or even architects were responsible for the daily backup and, when required, recovery. Not only was this sapping productivity from the remote offices but the organization was exposed to a catastrophic data loss as 60% of its backups failed, and it had no disaster recovery strategy.
Bell architected a remote office backup solution using an iSCSI SAN in the remote offices with a continuous data protection solution using a Falconstor write splitter. Strand takes hourly snapshots using CDP, which has protected the company’s data and lowered RPO to an hour. Remote sites push the changes nightly to Strand’s Madison headquarters, where 35 days of snapshots are maintained for the remote sites and one year’s worth of data is stored offsite on tape. We asked Bell if he agreed that his backup was previously broken and where it is today. Bell agreed that his backup was broken prior to the new architecture. He likened his backup to an old car moving down the highway with smoke pouring out the back end. The car still moved, but it really wasn’t adequate. Backup today at Strand is much better – “not broken but there’s room for improvement” according to Bell. He cited two areas of potential improvement for his backup, including:
- Automated disaster recovery (i.e. pushbutton DR) to bring up a DR site is lacking,
- Easier use – so that other less trained professionals can do recovery.
From Bell’s standpoint, his backup is not broken, especially since Strand was coming from such an exposed position, but improvement is needed. Bell’s situation is similar to that of many companies – backup and recovery are working well and don’t need to be overhauled. That stated, for those organizations aggressively pursuing virtualization, many opportunities for improvement exist.
The Cloud Service Provider Perspective – Do More With Less
Mark Hadfield, CEO of nScaled, didn’t agree that backup was broken, because many customers are successfully doing backup and recovery today and protecting their businesses. However what people are realizing, according to Hadfield, is that virtualization and cloud computing are allowing organizations to do more with less, and disaster recovery backups and moving data offsite are intrinsically linked. In addition, consolidation through virtualization, while cost effective, also consolidates risk, increasing the importance of DR and offsite backup.
Hadfield also cited Amazon as a highly visible entity that is bringing down the cost of computing. His contention, which is frequently echoed in the Wikibon community, is that many organizations are sick and tired of managing their own data centers and are looking for alternatives that are integrated solutions, less overhead intensive, and more cost effective than managing their own data centers.
Do Clients Need to Rip and Replace?
If backup is indeed broken or in need of a facelift, are customers faced with no alternative other than expensive rip and replace? Wikibon member John Blackman was unable to join the call but provided some excellent perspective from a seasoned IT practitioner.
First, Blackman’s perspective is that if backup is broken, it’s broken at the SLA level. End customers expect no loss of data but they don’t necessarily want to pay for that service level. When they find out how much it will cost to provide zero data loss they say no and then scream when they lose data. Part of this problem is that IT and IT management are not setting the right expectations and clearly defining them for the management team.
Blackman contends that organizations need to educate, communicate, and collaborate and accept that the ‘way it’s been done for years’ isn’t necessarily the best way. This is not a technical issue but one of overcoming cultural tensions, politics, and setting proper business goals.
The Wikibon community generally agrees with Blackman that rip and replace is not a viable option. “Clients need to work within their organizations to clearly define, communicate, and manage the service levels and customer expectations;” says Blackman. “Backup systems are only products, and when you think in terms of service – solution – components – products – vendors” the equation is simplified. Specifically, service drives the solution, solution drives the component, components drive the products and products determine the vendor.
Data Protection as a Service
Increasingly, IT organizations are streamlining processes in an effort to reduce costs and do more with less. A well-defined, menu-based set of data protection services that are communicated clearly throughout the organization is fundamental to delivering more efficient IT and ultimately IT-as-a-service.
Figure 1 shows a model of data protection as a service. It is a modified version of a model put forth by John Blackman to the Wikibon community in 2008. The model shows three dimensions including infrastructure components, data protection levels and performance tiers. The business determines the service level required and the intersection of the three dimensions determines the solution that is offered. Pricing is a function of the cost as determined by the intersection of the three dimensions.
By presenting data protection as services instead of technology as an option to business lines, IT organizations can reduce complexity and build a portfolio of reliable and trusted infrastructure to support applications. This approach can eliminate one-off solutions and minimize data protection stovepipes. The notion of backing up servers in this model is replaced by providing data protection services that align with business objectives.
Action Item: CIOs are increasingly frustrated by infrastructure that lives in silos. Data protection strategies that rely on leading with technologies rather than services are becoming outdated and will increase costs. By 2015, 70% of IT organizations will be delivering some form of IT-as-a-service where self-service, pay-as-you-go transparency and simplified IT are fundamental underpinnings of the technology group. Virtualization and cloud computing offer new opportunities and organizations should begin to architect data-protection-as-a-service, building on the themes of do more with less and overall IT-as-a-service strategies.
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