A seven-step approach to data replication -- Part 2

A seven-step approach to data replication -- Part 2

I read your articles on replication and we have some business critical need for replication. Could you suggest some contemporary products for storage replication such as getting files replicated over LAN/WAN to a remote server? Can you suggest some of the best ones to compare?

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7. And last but not least, your available budget

This is a no-brainer. Many companies, when faced with the real world costs of disaster recovery, tend to get shell-shocked. Consider the costs:

Floor space
Servers for the recovery site
Staff for the recovery site
Storage hardware and licenses
Software licenses
Services to implement the solution
Services to determine what needs to be copied, and why
Network links (this is usually the most expensive part)
Network based SAN extension gear

The costs can add up quick. This sometimes makes the CTAM method look like a wonderful idea. (CTAM= Chevy Truck Access Method or, dump your backup tapes in the back of a truck and drive your data to the remote site).

Most common hardware based data replication solutions:

Synchronous:
EMC SRDF
IBM PPRC
HP DRM
HDS TrueCopy sync

Asynchronous:
HDS TrueCopy async
HP DRM

Adaptive (bulk) copy:
All the hardware vendors

The most common appliance-based data replication:
HP StorageApps
FalconStor

The most common software based solutions:
Host-based mirrorsets over iSCSI
Legato Octopus and RepliStor
Topio SANSafe (this also does ASYNC with write order fidelity)
NSI Doubletake
Veritas VVR and VSR (Veritas VVR does ASYNC with write order fidelity)
Fujistu Softek TDMF
Peer software?s PeerSync
Diasoft File Replication Pro
Insession replication suite
SoftwarePursuits SureSync
XOsoft WANSync
Sunopsis Java replication suite

Outsourcing:
All the data storage companies out there that let you connect to their storage over a fast connection, and let them worry about keeping the data safe.

Chris

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This was first published in January 2003