Moderator: Thank you for joining our discussion with Robert Waldron, Director of Business Continuance Practice, at Articulent Inc. You can begin asking questions by entering them in the box at the bottom of the page and hitting 'RETURN' on your keyboard. Thanks for joining us for today's live event!

srb124184944: How has SAN effected the backup environments?

Robert_Waldron: With the roll out of SAN technology there have been many improvements around enterprise backup environments. Several areas that come to mind are:

• Performance-moving data at Fibre speed vs. SCSI
• Ability to share expensive resources like disk and tape
• Central location for all data and storage
• Leverage of existing infrastructure
• Replication of data to tie into Disaster Recovery process
• Flexibility of adding in new servers for individual departments

tdavern872952: Why do I need to do backups?

Robert_Waldron: We do backups for several reasons, all centered around an ability to restore:

• When a server crashes and takes all of it's data with it
• The CEO accidentally deleted a presentation and needs it back right away
• Natural disasters forcing us to restart our business in a different location
• Ability to get archived data back sometime down the line

kfishman267595: What are the leading enterprise solutions in the industry today for back up?

Robert_Waldron: There are four major solutions that offer enterprise backup across multiple locations with heterogeneous environments. They are Legato with Networker, Veritas with Netbackup, and Tivoli with Tivoli Storage Manager and EMC with EDM.

bmitchel452591: Hi, What would you recommend for a SAN solution for a small to medium sized business?

Robert_Waldron: Great question, but it is a very complex answer you're looking for. There are many variables including degree of availability required, performance, etc...Many companies start with a pair of small switches with shared storage array and/or tape.

sjacobs531614: What should a client look for in an enterprise backup solution?

Robert_Waldron: Something to keep in mind is all backup packages move and catalogue data. How they do this and what they do with the data once they get it is what we call peeling back the onion. Understanding whats going on under the covers is the best advise I could give anyone searching for an enterprise solution. There are many great products out there, understanding the nuances of the products will help you better understand if the product really fits into your environment. It avoids the GOTCHAS.

depittman730348: With the need to maintain 24x7 access to DBs, where is the technology going for backing up this type of environment?

Robert_Waldron: It ranges from tools that allow for hot DB backups, to split mirrored volumes, to continuous real time backups that are going on in the background.

bmitchel452591: Are there particular "packages" available on the market for disaster recovery, that include processes, that you think are particularly good?

Robert_Waldron: Yes there are. Amoung the enterprise class solutions available in the market, Tivoli's Storage Manager (TSM) is exceptionally strong in DR. We have also worked with Veritas and others, depending on what the specific client's needs are.

sjacobs531614: What are some of the common mistakes or missing pieces when companies deploy an enterprise backup solution?

Robert_Waldron: Common mistake we see in the market are:

• Not realizing the strategic nature of the project
• Not allocating the appropriate resources to the project
• Not having sponsorship at the highest levels of the organization
• Thinking this is something you pop in, turn on, set some switches and let it rip

rphillips807456: Should DBA's become more familiar with backup procedures or are most solutions a plug and play type setup where anyone can manage it?

Robert_Waldron: Absolutely! There are many products out there like RMAN and SQL-BackTrack that can be used much more effectively if DBA's are familiar with their functionality.

swhitehead56571: My hosting company is proposing that I contract with them to have them manage all of my backups. What issues should I be mindful of?

Robert_Waldron: It all comes down to SLAs and your comfort level with whos managing your data. Id want to have very specific SLAs that give me a high level of comfort of whats being backed up and when, how quickly can you get the data back, what support is available to you and them should problems arise (and they do). You should have a good understanding if they are backing up their other clients with yours to the same server, library and tapes. What security do they offer for your data and are they bonded. Remember...Data is Your Most Valuable Asset.

sstewa22531761: What is your opinion on Computer Associate's Arcserve?

Robert_Waldron: Great product for small departmental environments. If you have a large enterprise, there's probably better alternatives available.

sstewa22531761: Our company is building 100Gb - 200Gb servers and our current solution can not backup during our window. We are looking at SAN solutions, but won't those use proprietary backup methods?

Robert_Waldron: It depends on what you mean by proprietary. All major EBU vendors write their applications based on industry standard for the underlying technology. However, if you're talikng about total inter-changeability of data between software products, we're a long way from that. This should not stop you from considering a solution in the near term.

dkaufman565238: I run a large financial data center and we don't have the knowledge or skill set to implement an enterprise solution to meet our growing needs. How should I proceed?

Robert_Waldron: Our experience tells us that if you are backing up mission critical data, your backup environment is now also mission critical. Right behind implementing a new ERP or accounting system, this project will be the most critical project your IT organization will undertake. We have developed a methodology that includes some of the following important steps: 1.)Assessment - The most important step is to have a 100% understanding of the environment you are going to be backing up...the servers, applications, databases, data, etc. 2.)Sizing - Spending the time to accurately understand and size the environment is the best investment a client will make as they go down the path of enterprise backup. 3.) Design - As with sizing, its crucial to design the correct solution to meet your needs. Sizing the backup server ant tape library is very much a science. 4.) Implementation - Get help. Im not just saying that because were in this business. People who professionally do this for a living know the questions to ask and how to set the appropriate policies to get your what you require. 5.)Managed Services - Environments change over time. Checkups are crucial as you continue to grow and adding more data to your backups. Helping manage this change is crucial to your long-term satisfaction with the solution.

mhope288508: How important is a disaster recovery plan and having it tie into a backup solution?

Robert_Waldron: Having a backup package that incorporates as much information about what it will take to get your environment back is a disaster is key. Things to consider are:

• How the package manages and tracks offsite tapes
• Does it tell you what your environment looked like just prior to the disaster...HW, SW, revisions, storage, etc.
• Does it provide a scripted roadmap of how to get the environment back

rphillips807456: Would you suggest contract datawarehousing consultants or permanent datawarehousing consultants in a Fortune 500 company to run a data storage system?

Robert_Waldron: If you're a Fortune 500 and this is a mission critical data store, you need a core group on staff to manage and maintain this animal. However, using consultants in specific areas to address complex issues, like performance, security, etc...is often helpful.

tdavern852740: With the speed of e-business backup windows shrinking or in my case having disappeared, how do you architect a solution to provide me with constant 24x7 availability?

Robert_Waldron: There are a few ways to handle this explosion of data and shrinking backup windows: 1.) Distribute the backup as close to large concentrations of data as possible. Many solutions today support Tape Library Media Servers that do just that. This is especially helpful in large campus environments where it is impractical to move data over long distances where only limited bandwidth is available. 2.) Perpetual Incremental lets you back up only new or changed flat file data forever. This keeps the amount of data being backed up to very small and manageable amounts. The backup server in this scenario is seen as a data management server, where during off hours it is moving data amongst tapes to keep the data on as few tapes as possible. 3.) Perpetual Backup means constantly backing your data. In its simplest form, every time data is written to disk, it is also sent to a backup server. This is being done today at both the block and file levels. 4.) Today, SANs offer us speed and distance and in the future, we should expect to see enhancements like Serverless Backup.

richard.whaley990420: I want to free backup from my LAN. How do I accomplish this?

Robert_Waldron: A few ways to accomplish this: 1. Dedicated Network for backup only, 2. Using shared tape drive/library technology with enterprise products, 3. soon you will be able to do backups over a SAN, moving data from disk direct to tape with little to no server or network intervention.

mhope288508: What type of enterprise backup solutions would you suggest for a small start-up organization that doesn't want to reinvent the wheel?

Robert_Waldron: There are many backup products in the desktop space that do a great job but lack scalability. You can start with one of these and it will most likely take care of your needs for a few years. Something to consider though, if your growing quickly and can afford a solution that will scale with your growth up into the open systems and enterprise space, do it. Migrating from one package to another is not easy. Once you have legacy data being managed under one package, you will keep that package around until you no longer need the data anymore. This means several years and often forever. A conversion of legacy data to the new backup package is non-existent.

dchung886756: What are the range in fees for your services? Can you give me some general ideas.

Robert_Waldron: All of our consulting is project based. It is based on a mutually agreed upon Statement of Work that is priced accordingly.

Pamela.Hughes240390: Please explain "Tape Library Media Servers" and "Serverless Backup".

Robert_Waldron: Generically a Media Server is a backup server with physically attached tape drives, usually in a library, whose responsibility is to back up clients. Serverless Backup eliminates having the data travel through a backup server, going directly from disk to tape over a SAN.

richard.whaley990420: Would you tell me a little more about using a SAN and moving data directly from disk to tape with little to no server or network intervention?

Robert_Waldron: Sure. This is evolving technology that is dependent on a SAN infrastructure being in place. It's dependant on emerging standards for moving data directly between disk and tape using SAN Routers and Switches. These standards are still evolving and not fully in place at this time. Stay Tuned!

ngreen478977: Can you give us an example of a small start-up company that you helped in regards to enterprise back-up solutions? How are they currently operating more efficiently?

Robert_Waldron: The goal of enterprise backup is to get people out of the business of managing tapes. Efficienies come in by not having to deal with many different servers with individual tape drives. Not only does it save time and effort, but it gives better control over their data. Small companies typically are resourse constrained. This allows them to maximize their resources.

mhope774796: In your experience, how much money do large companies lose when they don't have a good backup/recovery plan and something goes wrong?

Robert_Waldron: It depends on the industry, but it is not uncommon for an e-commerce company to lose millions in lost revenue. More important...what happens to their customer base, reputation and market cap while down?

Pamela.Hughes240390: Serverless Backup - Where and How does the tape management system track the tapes if there is no server on which to reside?

Robert_Waldron: Let's clarify...There is always a backup server to track the data and where it is on what tape. The term serverless refers to the flow of data directly from disk to tape.

mhope774796: What are the common things most businesses forget when it comes to developing backup or recovery strategies?

Robert_Waldron: Common problem is to focus on how long it takes to do backups and forget what it takes to recover. Sizing the backup server and tape library are the two most common sizing problems we see.

mhope774796: What are the top three benefits to developing a good enterprise backup/recovery plan?

Robert_Waldron: It comes down to ability to recover your environment. We believe there are a few key elements to recovery...What did my HW and SW environement look like just prior to the disaster...you can't recover it unless you know what it looked like...and another is where's my data, what tape is it on, what do I need to do to get it off the tape and back on disk. Good DR should give you step by step procedures, leaving NOTHING to chance.

sstewa22531761: Would you be able to use a disaster recovery option to restore a server using the disk to tape technology? Or, is it for data file restore only?

Robert_Waldron: Remember, Serverless Backup is emerging technology, however if a EBU SW vendor gives you the ability to backup, they will give you the ability to restore using the same medium (at a minimum).

Pamela.Hughes240390: SAN backup direct to tape - what restore speed is attained? Is the same SAN environment required to recover?

Robert_Waldron: Yes the SAN would be your preferred medium to do the restore. However there are products that allow you to restore via other methods. Restore speed is very much an environment specific variable.

Vkaplo8976: Do to the heterogeneous nature of most NAS devices, do they not provide a simpler means to enterprise backup, and especially recovery, when compared to serverless SAN type solutions?

Robert_Waldron: Most NAS servers use an NDMP as a backup protocol. Currently NDMP has functional limitations (no shared tape drives) that is available in SANs. With the emergence of Gigabit Ethernet, NAS is becoming a popular storage medium. Backup over this large pipe will be comparable to a SAN's throughput. Ultimately, we believe there's a place for both SAN and NAS in the market and both must be addressed by the common EBU vendors and their products. I don't want to speculate as to one being simpler than the other when there isn't a Serverless SAN product doing it yet (in the enterprise space). We'll have to wait and see what the big three EBU software companies come out with for functionality.

mhope774796: Protecting business-critical information is more than just the technology piece parts. What can you share that outlines an approach to providing the business value of backup-- hopefully in terms of financial impact, operational impact and strategic impact?

Robert_Waldron: Business Value of Backup - First let me say that any business that is not doing backup is playing with a disaster of their overall company, i.e.. lost revenue, loss of customers, loss of market cap and ultimately loss of their business. That's the first value (financial) of backup. From an perational impact, a centralized backup approach offers many benefits, including, reduced staff and best practice consistency across all platforms. Large clients are begging for consistency as they continue to grow. Strategic impact comes down to data is our most valuable asset (right behind people). It is quickly becoming that backup is a subset of data management. With data growing as it is across the enterprise, doing backups won't just suffice. Whatever EBU SW package a company uses, it better be able to help them get their arms around this explosion of data. Companies need help managing the data. Example, A company has 5 TB of data across 100 heterogeneous platforms. We know we need to back it up. As part of backup we need to have ONE Enterprise View of all the data through one common interface. What better place to do that than through the EBU application. IT can no longer go to 100 different servers to try and figure out what data is being used, what is not and what should we do with it to get it off these machines, still making it accessible for long periods of time.

mhope774796: Does the physical nature of serverless backups create issues when trying to do ad-hoc file restores as opposed to a complete disk or system recovery?

Robert_Waldron: Not that I'm aware of, but remember, no one has a serverless backup product yet. All good EBU products are granular to the file level. Their goal will be ease of use.Restoring an individual file will have to be easy across all the major EBU software vendors or they will not have an industry acceptable product to market.

Moderator: This completes today's Real Time Vendor Connection with Robert Waldron of Articulent Inc. Thanks so much for your active participation. A complete transcript will soon be available on SearchStorage.com for free download.