Can you give the pros and cons re: NetApps products when being utilized to provide BCV over IP utilizing their Snapshot and Snapmirror technology. Is this really an effective DR solution and deliverable?

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John,

You are using terminology that doesn't quite fit with the solution. BCVs are really an EMC designation for their mirror copies. With Network Appliance, you would take a point-in-time copy of a file system (which roughly equates to a LUN in their structure) and then make a copy of that over another interface. Since they implement a log-structure file system called WAFL (write anywhere file layout) only modified data consumes space so the idea of reserving an entire volume isn't really applicable for the copy.

Yes, this does work and has been deployed. Don't confuse the ability to make a remote copy with a DR solution. The remote copy is just one thing that is needed. The application recovery/restart mechanics that encompass many other requirements must be considered for disaster recovery.

Randy Kerns
Evaluator Group, Inc.

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This was first published in March 2002

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