Adaptec Snap EDR User manual

Brand: Adaptec

Model: Snap EDR

Type: User manual

BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

CONTENTS

Abstract ..................................................................................1

Understanding the Challenges of Remote Data.....................1

Key Considerations for Managing Remote Data ....................1

Additional Requirements for Remote Data Backup ...............2

The Case for Archiving............................................................3

The Central Policy/Consolidated Approach to Managing

Remote Data ..........................................................................3

Disk-to-Disk Consolidated Backup ........................................3

Consolidated Archive..............................................................4

Managing Remote Data with Adaptec Snap EDR..................4

Snap EDR Remote Manager.............................................4

Snap EDR Remote Agents................................................5

Snap EDR Remote Data Solutions ...................................5

A Best Practices Guide to Managing Remote Data ...............5

Summary ................................................................................6

Abstract

The increasing risk from unprotected user files and

remote data (data stored outside the data center) is

causing companies to re-e

valuate their current remote

backup processes. Managing remote data poses unique

challenges given the variability of networks, computing

platforms, lack of trained IT staff at remote locations

and other issues. Further, traditional methods of

manag

ing remote data tend to be high cost, unreliable,

manually intensive and often require redundant

equipment and effort.

Advanced remote data management and movement

technology, such as that incorporated into Adaptec

nap EDR no

w makes it possible to cost-effectively

solve the challenges of managing data at remote

ffic

es.

This paper discusses the issues, requirements,

and approaches to effective remote data management,

with specific emphasis on remote data protection and

backup. Also included is a Best Practices Guide to help

assess y

our remote data management requirements.

Under

standing the Challenges of Remote

Data

Protecting remote data and managing the exchange of

data between corporate locations and remote offices is

neither trivial, nor cheap.

IT administrators in companies with remote offices

often spend significant amounts of their time managing

backup, data management, and data transfer

requirements for those offices. Even so, critical processes

such as backups may not be adequately covered. Often,

central IT staff must rely on non-technical staff in

remote locations to change backup tapes, initiate

processes and take other actions they are neither trained

nor compensated to perform. As a result, companies

report as much as 60% of their remote backup

procedures may fail on a nightly basis. This represents

risk that few companies can afford.

When problems do occur, recovery can be tedious and

takes days to recover, assuming the data was adequately

backed up. Central IT personnel may need to have

tapes shipped from the remote site, catalog the volume

and search for the files needed, and then reship the

files for restore.

Online alternatives such as consolidated backup,

disk-based backup and centralized archive can

increase reliability and overall data protection,

improve speed recovery and have proven to improve

reliability, overall data protection and significantly

lower costs. These methods are discussed further in

this pap

er, however there are a number of issues that

must be considered as you evaluate these new

approaches and the technologies to implement them.

Key Considerations for Managing Remote

Data

o effectively managing remote data, you must consider

and a

ddr

ess a n

umb

er of specific functional,

environmental, and technology factors that do not

necessarily come into play in the data center. These

factors include:

Central Policy-Based Control: To efficiently control

data at remote sites, enterprises must have the ability

to set up and implement central policies. That means

ing a r

ule o

e and having that directive

implemented throughout the enterprise, rather than

managing activities individually at different sites with

ultiple separate platform-specific policies and tools.

hile man

y p

roducts claim “central control” capability,

they in fact require administrators to establish a unique

connection to each remote node to set policy. This

Remote Data Management & Backup

with Snap EDR

EST PRACTICES GUIDE

emote Data Management & Backup with Snap EDR

approach eats up hours of administration time, not

only during initial set up, but each time a business

requirement changes. Some technologies, such as

Adaptec Snap EDR, provide a “set it and forget it”

pproach that automates the communication of policy

to the remote node, and have integrated notification if

something does not proceed according to policy.

Wide Area Netowrk WAN) Network Bandwidth

Utilization: Any solution that addresses remote data

must take into account bandwidth restrictions, as well

as a range of network conditions. Remote locations

frequently have varying bandwidth availability that

needs to be shared among multiple applications and

users at particular times. For this reason, remote data

management and movement solutions should have

features that enable efficient use of available

bandwidth such as byte-level differential data transfer,

bandwidth throttling, multi-streaming, and

compression. The amount of network overhead, or

information that is in addition to the data being

transferred, that a product sends over the network is an

important consideration. Obviously, less is better than

more. Finally, since some remote connections will likely

be impaired during some processes, the ability to restart

at the point of failure is critical as well as the ability to

re-r

oute information flow to alternate networks.

Security and Data Integrity: When moving data over

networks, data security is always a major concern.

Networks are always susceptible to intrusion, but

particularly in remote locations where there are fewer

IT controls. As a result, any remote data solution

should au

the

nticate all sending and receiving nodes

prior to any data transfer, and encrypt data during

transmission. Moreover, they should utilize a single

fir

ewall port and minimize firewall rules. The ability

to ensure that data is received with 100% integrity is

also an important consideration. Where tape is used

for remote backup, one of the biggest points of recovery

fail

ure is that data is corrupted on the tape. With some

disk-to-disk backup technologies, data accuracy can be

100% guar

ant

mot

e Process Automation and Application

cing:

To minimize or eliminate the need for

manual effort at remote locations, the management

solution must be able to automate processes and

int

erface with remote applications to access data. For

example, when backing up applications like Exchange

or SQL Server, it is preferable to use native backup

ines.

ore, the remote data solution must be

able to integrate with the application and invoke the

nat

ve backup package as part of the backup process.

Similarly, for applications such as SAP, data must be

accessed through the application to ensure integrity,

instead of accessing it directly at the database,

filesystem, or disk levels. In addition, other custom or

cript-based processes may also be needed or required

prior, during or after data transmission. The remote

management solution should automate these as part

of the overall remote backup process.

Heterogeneous System Support: It is common that a

company with multiple remote locations will have a

variety of computing platforms and applications at those

locations. It is therefore important to choose a solution

that can work within a heterogeneous environment.

While this seems simplistic, many products today only

work within homogeneous environments.

Point-in-Time vs. Continuous Replication:

Continuous replication products continuously

monitor a filesystem and capture changes as they

happen and either replicate them immediately or

cache the information for bulk transfer at a later time.

While these products are ideal for continuous

replication between a small number of systems for

business continuity purposes, they are not ideal for

periodic processes such as backup and archive. Point-

in-time replication products are more appropriate,

and in general will be far more network efficient for

periodic processes such as backup and archive.

Additional Requirements for Remote Data

Backup

Beyond the basic remote data considerations listed in the

previous section, there are some specific requirements for

remote backup that become important as Consolidated

and Disk-to-Disk Backup methods are considered.

Backup at remote offices requires more than just writing

the data to tape. Backup solutions must address data

integrity and accuracy, automatic operation, offsite

e, and of course, restoration.

n storing user files for backup, it is important that

the int

ity of the original data be preserved; the

most important characteristic of a backup is that it

can be restored with full integrity. A backup must

represent the true data status at the time of the

backup. While tape backup software often has the

capability to handle files left in an open state at the

ime o

kup

it is important that your disk-backup

mechanism have options (skip, open file transfer, or

eate error log) for handling open files.

Backup processes for remote offices ideally should

equire little or no local manual intervention, but

instead be a completely automated, “lights out”

EST PRACTICES GUIDE

emote Data Management & Backup with Snap EDR

operation. At the same time, since offsite data storage

is a must, a local backup to tape process at remote sites

must involve some manual intervention to remove the

backup media to the offsite storage. Online backup,

hich can transmit data to another location to be

backed up either to disk or to tape, can eliminate the

need for any redundant manual effort at the remote

sites.

The Case for Archiving

An often-overlooked, but critical component of

remote data management and protection is archiving.

Lets face it, few of us have the time or interest to clean

out our electronic files. Emails building up in Outlook

inboxes and other files building up in private and

shared directories are contributing to the huge volume

of data growing on remote storage. In a recent survey

by Storage Magazine, users indicated the single biggest

reason for backup failure was the quantity of data was

too large to be backed up within the backup window.

The fact is that most user files and email data are

seldom re-opened after the first three days of

creation/receipt. Statistics show that if a file hasn’t

been accessed in 90 days, there’s a 90%+ probability

that it will never be accessed again. Meanwhile, it

consumes valuable storage resources. The problem is

that since we can’t predict what 10% we will need, we

hold on to all of it. The cost-effective solution is to

move unused data to lower cost secondary storage

(archive), with reasonably easy retrieval capabilities,

for long-term retention.

A second key factor driving the need for archiving is

the federal document regulations, such as SEC Rule

17a-4, that require many companies to retain all

communication and documentation for specific time

periods. For a distributed enterprise with many

remote offices, ensuring compliance to these

gulat

ns can be a challenge.

, cost and legal requirements are compelling

mpanies t

o e

nsure that employee messages are

archived or at the very least, moved to lower-cost,

longer-term media. Similar to remote backup, data

integrity is essential to any archival solution.

Consolidated archival, in which older or unused data

is automatically moved from remote disks to a central

ository, often consisting of lower cost ATA disks,

hile lea

ing t

ansparent access capability for the

remote user, is rapidly gaining acceptance as the most

viable approach to archive for remote data.

The Central Policy/Consolidated

Approach to Managing Remote Data

Rather than relying on individual backups and

separate point processes and staffing required for each

remote site and the staffing required for each, a more

ffective enterprise approach is to allow central IT staff

to control remote data management and backup. This

requires understanding the changing properties and

characteristics of remote data. Solutions should be

able to set policies pertaining to the data, automate

processes to execute those policies on remote servers,

and be able to move data between remote or “edge”

servers and central or “core” systems.

In this model, individual remote backup and archiving

processes at the remote sites are replaced with a

consolidated process that moves remote data to a hub

site for backup or archive. This requires moving the

pertinent data over the available networks in an

efficient, secure, timely fashion and therefore requires

technology that can deal with the many issues

associated with controlling and moving data among

many sites and network connections. These issues are

identified in more detail in the next section.

Centrally controlled, automated processes have been

shown to decrease backup costs by as much as 75%

due to the elimination of tapes, tape drives, offsite tape

storage, and the redundant staffing efforts at each

location.

Disk-to-Disk Consolidated Backup

Disk-to-disk backup is gaining popularity due to

ctors including the rapidly falling cost of disk

the e

limination of the physical limits, and

relative unreliability of manual tape storage programs, as

well as the need for more ready access to data for restore.

Implemented in a best practices model, disk-to-disk

backup for remote data involves moving the data to be

backed up over a network to a different location. The

reason for this is that disk-to-disk backup, if performed

at the same sit

es not p

ide the protection need-

ed to recover from a site disaster event (fire, flood, etc.).

or any business with multiple remote locations,

nsolidat

ing disk-to-disk backup brings operational

and cost efficiencies and enhanced data security.

There are two primary consolidated backup

architectures:

• Moving differential data to a central disk

• Consolidating backup images

Both offer central control and automation and the

liminat

n o

indi

ual tap

es, tape drives, and offsite

tape storage processes at each site.

EST PRACTICES GUIDE

emote Data Management & Backup with Snap EDR

In the first, more common, approach to consolidated

backup, data at remote sites is periodically analyzed to

determine differential data (i.e. data that has changed)

since the last backup process. A copy of this differential

ata is then moved to a central site, where it is stored

on disk. Some technologies have the ability to discern

just the byte-level modifications of files to minimize

the amount of data needing to be transferred. Data

can be stored as incremental packets of data or re-

constructed on the central site to provide full, up-

to-date copies of remote files. This latter alternative

provides the advantage of offering instant access to

individual files in the case that a remote file is

accidentally deleted.

In the second approach, backups are run on remote

servers with the output stored to the local disk. The

resulting backup image is then transferred to disk at

the remote site. This works well for applications that

have native backup or snapshot features that can be

utilized in the consolidated backup process.

These approaches can also be used together. For

example, backing up user files may be best performed

with differential data transfer, while backing up

Exchange data may be best performed using the

consolidated backup image approach.

In both approaches, the backup data on disk at the

core location can be further sent to tape if desired.

Companies often choose to keep one or two days of

backup data on disk for

instantaneous access, with older

data written to tape.

Consolidated Archive

onsolidated archive involves

identifying remote data that meets

corporate archival policy and then

moving that data from remote

systems and archiving it to a central

disk.

rchival policy determines

hat data should b

e ar

hived and

when, and parameters often include:

last date accessed, type of file,

content, location, ownership, size of

file, among others. A consolidated

archival process has many benefits

h as:

• Reducing the amount of data to be backed up

(reducing the backup window required)

•

imizing use o

mot

e disk for better

erformance and cost

• Ensuring compliance to data retention policies and

regulations

An essential part of consolidated archive is some

mechanism by which data can be retrieved from the

archive by end users, preferably without the

involvement of IT.

Central policy-based consolidated processes, such as

consolidated backup and archive, provide an approach

to managing data at remote offices that can significantly

lower costs, eliminate risk, improve data consistency,

and also ensure better compliance to corporate backup

and retention policies. It is an approach that all

businesses with remote offices should actively consider.

Managing Remote Data with Adaptec

Snap EDR

Adaptec Snap EDR is an enterprise-class solution that

enables organizations to centrally control and securely

move data among remote and core locations. Highly

scalable, Snap EDR can handle up to thousands of

locations across heterogeneous Snap Server, Windows,

UNIX, and Linux systems. The Snap EDR technology

provides critical remote data capabilities such as policy-

based central control, remote process automation,

transport and data-level security, guaranteed data

integrity, and the ability to deal effectively with many

types of networks, including high-latency networks.

Snap EDR technology is in use by leading companies

worldwide to manage, contro,l and move remote data.

Snap EDR Manager

The Snap EDR Manager is the central control center

for enterprise-wide remote data processes. Remote

data processes are easily set up, scheduled, deployed.

and mo

nit

ored through the Manager’s graphical user

interface.

EST PRACTICES GUIDE

emote Data Management & Backup with Snap EDR

Snap EDR Agents

Snap EDR Agents are installed on all Snap Server,

Windows, UNIX, Linux or other systems involved in

the remote data processes. They are remotely installed

through the Snap EDR Manager and execute processes

and data transfer based on instructions and rules sent

from the Manager. They handle multiple tasks, such as

data consolidation, distribution, or synchronization

tasks.

Snap EDR Remote Data Solutions

To make it easier for companies to apply Snap EDR

technology to solve specific remote data problems,

daptec has developed a number of solution packages

for the most prevalent remote data problems. These

solutions include:

•

Remote Data Discovery: To properly manage

remote data, a good understanding of data at

remote sites is essential. The Remote Data

Inventory solution automatically collects and

reports on data characteristics at remote locations

such as file types and sizes, ownership, file

create/modified/access dates, file system size,

utilization, and much more.

•

Consolidated Archive: This solution provides for

rules-based archiving of remote data to central

systems while providing easy retrieval of the

archived file. Snap EDR will automatically archive

files based on flexible policies, such as file type, size

or access date. A unique file marker technology

allows users to retrieve archive files simply by

clicking on them.

•

Consolidated Backup: This solution efficiently

consolidates data from multiple locations for a

unified backup process. Snap EDR identifies

hang

es made to remote files since the last backup

and on a scheduled or event-driven basis moves

only the bytes of those files that have changed to

the c

entral site.

A Best Practices Guide to Managing

Remote Data

Best practices for managing and protecting remote

data in

e b

oth und

standing and implementing

technology that supports the remote automated

rocesses. There are five primary steps toward

imple

ing an e

nterprise-wide remote data

management solution:

ify and understand remote data and the

network environment

2. Select a remote data management solution

eat

e p

olicy f

r how remote data should be

managed

4. Deploy centrally controlled automated processes to

implement the policy

5. Monitor and adjust as business conditions change

The questions below are designed as a guideline

towards implementing the first two steps of the

five-step remote data management process.

Assess the current system:

• Which types of applications are you using for data

transfers? (e.g. FTP, xcopy, robocopy, tftp, DFS/FRS,

public folder replication)

• How much manual intervention is currently

required?

• What are the failure rates for these systems? How

much does it cost when they fail?

• How easy is it to adjust to new business

requirements?

Determine your data movement goals:

Knowing your goals for data movement will assist in

developing the cost-recovery models to justify any

purchases needed. Example goals include:

• Reduce backup failure rates/increasing data

protection

• Reduce meantime to restore for remote office

• Ensure regulatory compliance for data archiving

• Automate data transfers to and from remote sites

Determine the types of data that need to be moved:

How much data is at the remote locations and what

are the characteristics of the data? (size, file types, disk

utilization, etc.)

•

hic

h c

har

acteristics need to be maintained:

i. Ownership preservation?

ii.

File sy

stem attributes?

iii.

ysical disk layout?

What applications are running in the remote

cat

ions?

•

oes my data transfer system need to integrate with

particular vendor applications in ‘real time’?

What data are users currently not backing up? (What

is m

y cur

nt e

osure?)

hat t

es of data need to be sent to the remote

office?

• How compressible is this data?

mine the data movement volume:

Neither the time available nor the network is infinite.

’l

l need to crunch the numbers and come up with:

BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.

Information supplied by Adaptec Inc., is believed to be accurate and reliable at the time of printing, but Adaptec Inc., assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document.

Adaptec, Inc., reserves the right, without notice, to make changes in product design or specifications. Information is subject to change without notice.

P/N: 666730-012 Printed in USA 2/05 3704_1.3

emote Data Management & Backup -- Best Practices

• What is the rate of change of the data on a day-to-

day basis?

• How many sites need to be supported?

Assess your current network:

• What is the available bandwidth to each remote

location?

• What other applications are currently using this

bandwidth? How much bandwidth do these

applications require?

e.g. Active Directory replication, electronic mail,

terminal services

• Can traffic be segregated using quality of service

(QoS) applications? (i.e. Will you be able to

dedicate bandwidth to certain applications?)

• Is the network traffic prone to bursts?

• How secure is the network? (e.g. Are encrypted

VPNs in place to support confidential data

transfers?)

Choose your solution:

• Evaluate potential vendors based against required

remote data capabilities:

• Can the vendor’s solution solve multiple remote

data problems, such as backup, and archive and

distribution?

•

oes the vendor have expertise with remote data

application and integration?

i. Will the vendor assist in assessing your

requirements?

ii. Will the vendor provide the tools to assess your

data change and growth rates?

Summary

Many companies are re-evaluating their current

backup processes, not only to ensure the proper

backup of critical data, but also with the goal of

lowering overall IT costs, and safeguarding themselves

from the penalties of regulatory non-compliance.

anaging remote data effectively requires that you

deal with networks variability, dissimilar computing

platforms, security needs, and data integrity, and

implement process automation to overcome the lack

of trained IT staff at remote locations.

The good news is that all this does not have to be hard

or complex. Advanced remote data management and

movement technology such as Adaptec Snap EDR™

now makes it possible to cost-effectively solve the

challenges of managing data at remote offices with a

single unified approach. Understanding the issues,

requirements, and approaches to effective data

protection for remote data, with specific emphasis on

remote data backup, is the first step to helping your

company assess its remote data requirements.

For a 3-minute tour of Snap EDR, go to

http://www.adaptec.com/go/edr_flash/index.html or

for more information on Adaptec Snap EDR, visit

www.adaptec.com or call us at 1-800-442-7274.

Capability Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor 3

Yes No Yes No Yes No

Central Policy-Based

Control

Network Efficiency

Remote Process

Automation

Security

Support for

Heterogeneous

Environments

oint-in-T

ime

Replication

Adaptec, Inc.

691 South Milpitas Boulevard

Milpitas, California 95035

Tel: (408) 945-8600

Fax: (408) 262-2533

Literature Requests:

US and Canada: 1 (800) 442-7274 or (408) 957-7274

ld Wide W

eb: http://www.adaptec.com

Pre-Sales Support: US and Canada: 1 (800) 442-7274 or (408) 957-7274

Pre-Sales Support: Europe: Tel: (32) 2-352-34-11 or Fax: (32) 2-352-34-00

Adaptec Snap EDR User manual

Adaptec Snap EDR User manual

Adaptec Snap EDR User manual

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