HP Gives Enterprise Organizations a Catalyst to Implement Dedupe 2.0
In the last few years deduplication and backup have become almost inseparable. Yet where a large degree of separation still exists is in how deduplication is implemented with different deduplication techniques implemented at various stages in the backup process. Dedupe 2.0 promises to fix this jumbled approach to deduplication but to fix it, there first has to be someone delivering it. HP's new StoreOnce Catalyst release starts to introduce some order in today's backup process by doing more than simply delivering on its Dedupe 2.0 vision. It potentially gives organizations some hours back in their day as well.
Nearly two years ago HP outlined its StoreOnce vision that consisted of a common methodology to deliver data deduplication across a backup environment. StoreOnce's vision entailed using a federated approach to implement the same deduplication technology across a backup environment to include backup software agents, media server and target devices as a means to avoid the need to continually hydrate and then deduplicate data as it was moved. At a high level, this approach is known as "Dedupe 2.0".
As a first step in HP delivering on its StoreOnce vision, last November it released its StoreOnce Backup systems though it was clear to just about everyone that HP had larger plans in mind in terms of where it was going to take its StoreOnce technology. Today its Dedupe 2.0 plans become a reality with the release of its StoreOnce Catalyst that officially extends HP's deduplication reach into backup software.
StoreOnce Catalyst immediately provides organizations with a common means to deduplicate their data at any point in the backup process, be it on the application server , backup server or on the target device. HP Data Protector 7 and Symantec NetBackup users will be the first to realize the benefits of StoreOnce Catalyst.
Of the two, HP Data Protector offers the highest level of StoreOnce Catalyst integration as it gives the the HP Data Protector media server and its backup agents access to the same deduplication technology that already ships on the HP StoreOnce Backup systems. Conversely, integration with Symantec NetBackup and Backup Exec is done through Symantec's OpenStorage API (OST) with support for Backup Exec expected to be formally announced in August 2012.
StoreOnce Catalyst's value is best highlighted by those organizations that have to replicate data from remote and branch offices to a central office or vice versa. Historically when remote and branch offices back up data (if they do backups at all) they use tape as the backup target and assign the task of backup to an individual in the office who may have little or no experience in managing backups.
More progressive organizations have, in the last few years, begun to deploy deduplication appliances as backup targets at these offices. While they help to take individuals out of the backup equation and minimize the amount of data being sent over WAN connections by deduplicating it first, there is still a hardware cost associated with this approach.
Now using backup software that has StoreOnce Catalyst baked into it, putting an appliance at the remote site is no longer a necessity. StoreOnce Catalyst software facilitates consolidated backups, deduplicates and replicates data and enables local backups and recoveries without the need to introduce additional hardware. Further, the backup software's integration with StoreOnce Catalyst facilitates the management of backup jobs and backup data in remote and branch offices from an organization's central data center.
This StoreOnce Catalyst integration with the backup software serves two other important functions as well.
Additionally, using its autonomic failover feature, StoreOnce B6200 enables these backup applications to automatically adapt to unexpected node failures without complex scripting. So in the case of a node failure, backup jobs are then automatically restarted without manual intervention.
A final benefit of StoreOnce Catalyst is its performance. In HP's internal testing of HP StoreOnce B6200 Backup system with StoreOnce Catalyst, it achieved throughputs during backups of up to 100 TBs/hour with restore speeds of up to 40 TBs/hour. While each organization's mileage will vary in regards to actual throughput, HP's performance numbers are currently significantly higher than published benchmarks of other similar solutions using comparable technology.
This is where enterprise organizations can actually get some hours back in their day. By taking advantage of the higher throughput speeds that the StoreOnce Catalyst offers, they can give back up to 5.5 hours per day of operational hours as competitive systems could still be running backups at the same time. Making StoreOnce Catalyst even more attractive to use is the fact that current HP Data Protector 7 and HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup systems have access to it with no additional licensing fee.
Dedupe 2.0 is the next "Gold" standard in data deduplication as it enables enterprises to most efficiently store, manage and move their backup data. However organizations will realize the ideal of Dedupe 2.0 only if (a) such a solution that deduplicates data at all layers of the backup stack exists; and (b) they put that solution in place.
HP StoreOnce Catalyst enables organizations to take a significant step forward in realizing the promise of Dedupe 2.0. By both implementing the same deduplication technology across its entire product line (HP Data Protector and StoreOnce Backup ) and giving other backup software vendors access to the StoreOnce Catalyst SDK, organizations can optimize the storage and movement of their backup data through their use of Dedupe 2.0 even as they add some precious hours back into their working day.
Nearly two years ago HP outlined its StoreOnce vision that consisted of a common methodology to deliver data deduplication across a backup environment. StoreOnce's vision entailed using a federated approach to implement the same deduplication technology across a backup environment to include backup software agents, media server and target devices as a means to avoid the need to continually hydrate and then deduplicate data as it was moved. At a high level, this approach is known as "Dedupe 2.0".
As a first step in HP delivering on its StoreOnce vision, last November it released its StoreOnce Backup systems though it was clear to just about everyone that HP had larger plans in mind in terms of where it was going to take its StoreOnce technology. Today its Dedupe 2.0 plans become a reality with the release of its StoreOnce Catalyst that officially extends HP's deduplication reach into backup software.
StoreOnce Catalyst immediately provides organizations with a common means to deduplicate their data at any point in the backup process, be it on the application server , backup server or on the target device. HP Data Protector 7 and Symantec NetBackup users will be the first to realize the benefits of StoreOnce Catalyst.
Of the two, HP Data Protector offers the highest level of StoreOnce Catalyst integration as it gives the the HP Data Protector media server and its backup agents access to the same deduplication technology that already ships on the HP StoreOnce Backup systems. Conversely, integration with Symantec NetBackup and Backup Exec is done through Symantec's OpenStorage API (OST) with support for Backup Exec expected to be formally announced in August 2012.
StoreOnce Catalyst's value is best highlighted by those organizations that have to replicate data from remote and branch offices to a central office or vice versa. Historically when remote and branch offices back up data (if they do backups at all) they use tape as the backup target and assign the task of backup to an individual in the office who may have little or no experience in managing backups.
More progressive organizations have, in the last few years, begun to deploy deduplication appliances as backup targets at these offices. While they help to take individuals out of the backup equation and minimize the amount of data being sent over WAN connections by deduplicating it first, there is still a hardware cost associated with this approach.
Now using backup software that has StoreOnce Catalyst baked into it, putting an appliance at the remote site is no longer a necessity. StoreOnce Catalyst software facilitates consolidated backups, deduplicates and replicates data and enables local backups and recoveries without the need to introduce additional hardware. Further, the backup software's integration with StoreOnce Catalyst facilitates the management of backup jobs and backup data in remote and branch offices from an organization's central data center.
This StoreOnce Catalyst integration with the backup software serves two other important functions as well.
- First, the backup software agent or the media server may communicate with the HP StoreOnce Backup appliance and establish which of the blocks it possesses differ from what is already on the appliance. Once the differences are established, the backup software agent or media server only needs to send those changed blocks so both backup and restores times are shortened.
- Second, there is no need to rehydrate the data before replicating it. The HP StoreOnce appliance recognizes that the data was deduplicated using the StoreOnce Catalyst technology so only changed blocks need to be sent minimizing WAN bandwidth consumption. Further, eliminating the need to rehydrate data also serves to expedite recoveries and alleviates concerns about the need to manage multiple silos of deduplicated data.
Additionally, using its autonomic failover feature, StoreOnce B6200 enables these backup applications to automatically adapt to unexpected node failures without complex scripting. So in the case of a node failure, backup jobs are then automatically restarted without manual intervention.
A final benefit of StoreOnce Catalyst is its performance. In HP's internal testing of HP StoreOnce B6200 Backup system with StoreOnce Catalyst, it achieved throughputs during backups of up to 100 TBs/hour with restore speeds of up to 40 TBs/hour. While each organization's mileage will vary in regards to actual throughput, HP's performance numbers are currently significantly higher than published benchmarks of other similar solutions using comparable technology.
This is where enterprise organizations can actually get some hours back in their day. By taking advantage of the higher throughput speeds that the StoreOnce Catalyst offers, they can give back up to 5.5 hours per day of operational hours as competitive systems could still be running backups at the same time. Making StoreOnce Catalyst even more attractive to use is the fact that current HP Data Protector 7 and HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup systems have access to it with no additional licensing fee.
Dedupe 2.0 is the next "Gold" standard in data deduplication as it enables enterprises to most efficiently store, manage and move their backup data. However organizations will realize the ideal of Dedupe 2.0 only if (a) such a solution that deduplicates data at all layers of the backup stack exists; and (b) they put that solution in place.
HP StoreOnce Catalyst enables organizations to take a significant step forward in realizing the promise of Dedupe 2.0. By both implementing the same deduplication technology across its entire product line (HP Data Protector and StoreOnce Backup ) and giving other backup software vendors access to the StoreOnce Catalyst SDK, organizations can optimize the storage and movement of their backup data through their use of Dedupe 2.0 even as they add some precious hours back into their working day.
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