Almost any deduplicating backup appliance can act as a backup target for any backup software. The ExaGrid EX Series also performs this function. However ExaGrid’s deduplicating backup appliances set themselves apart in three specific ways.
Comprehensive Backup Software Support
The ExaGrid EX Series sets itself apart by recognizing the data inside the backup streams
from any of 21 commonly used backup software solutions. This high level of recognition serves a three-fold purpose.
- It ensures that organizations achieve the highest deduplication ratios possible as the ExaGrid appliances can first understand the data inside of the backup stream before it is deduplicated.
- Its recognition of so many backup streams of multiple products minimizes or removes the need for organizations to standardize on one backup software product.
- ExaGrid may concurrently serve as a target for multiple backup software products. Since it does post-process deduplication (deduplicates data after it is backed up,) it can analyze the data across all different backup jobs to achieve the highest deduplication ratios possible.
ExaGrid’s support for backup software even extends to hosting backup software on its EX Series appliances. Some organizations may be looking to make a wholesale change in backup as part of implementing a next generation IT infrastructure. By using the ExaGrid EX Series to host any of twelve (12) popular backup software solutions, organizations minimize or eliminate the need to buy and configure third party backup software themselves while expediting the deployment of a new backup solution for their updated IT infrastructure.
Flexible Hardware Configurations
The scale-out architecture found on all of the ExaGrid EX Series appliances is what more than any other feature contributes to ExaGrid meeting next generation IT infrastructure priorities while satisfying established requirements of affordability, simplicity and high levels of performance. All of the ExaGrid EX Series of deduplicating backup appliances offer a scale-out architecture so organizations may start with a configuration as small as 3.5TBs of raw capacity and two 1GbE ports (EX1000) and then scale-out to as much as 320TBs of raw capacity and 60 10GbE ports (EX13000E).
The ExaGrid EX Series scale-out hardware configurations give organizations the flexibility to start with only as much storage and networking capacity as they initially need and then non-disruptively scale-out more nodes as needed. All of the nodes in each ExaGrid EX Series model function as one logical deduplicating backup appliance which minimizes the need for organizations to manage multiple different devices.
This architecture particularly comes into play as backup workloads increase. It makes the task of balancing and distributing backup datastores and workloads across all of the nodes much easier than having to manually do so across separate, distinct deduplicating backup appliances.
Robust Implementation of Deduplication
96% of all deduplicating backup appliances license the deduplication technology as part of the appliance purchase. The ExaGrid EX Series of appliances are again included in that group. Yet organizations need to take care not to assume that all appliances implement deduplication in the same way.
The ExaGrid EX Series of deduplicating backup appliances stands apart in this way. For instance, they globally deduplicate data across all of the nodes that are part of a specific model’s logical configuration. Implemented this way, organizations can start with just one node in a model and potentially scale it out to ten (10) nodes. As each model scales out, it leverages previously deduplicated data in order to optimize the deduplication of new backup data and achieve higher deduplication ratios.
The ExaGrid EX Series also does post-process deduplication of data which is important in three ways.
- Backup jobs complete unencumbered with the overhead of deduplication
- More economical to scale the ExaGrid EX Series over time since they do not need higher capacity processors to handle larger backup jobs
- Recoveries of recent backup jobs should occur quickly since no need to rehydrate deduplicated data
ExaGrid also acknowledges that not all backup data deduplicates equally well. To accommodate these scenarios, its appliances may be configured to NOT deduplicate certain data (an option found on only 53% of appliances.) This saves on both appliance overhead and time when it comes to deduplicating data.
ExaGrid EX Series of Deduplicating Backup Appliances: Winners in All the Ways that Matter
Almost every organization at some level has a desire to be at the forefront of technology. They just do not want to sacrifice other priorities they value such as affordability, ease of management and simplicity to get there. Using the ExaGrid EX Series of deduplicating backup appliances, they can achieve this fine balance of getting the IT infrastructure of tomorrow that they want while satisfying established organizational requirements.
The ExaGrid EX Series of appliances excels at balancing these demands. By providing scalability and flexibility in its solutions and interweaving into them affordability, ease of management and simplicity, organizations get the solution that transcends today’s requirements and tomorrow’s priorities. The end result is a set of solutions that are winners in all the ways that matter and which the DCIG 2013 Midrange Deduplicating Backup Appliance Under $100K and Under 50K Buyer’s Guides rightly recognize as such.
In part 1 of this 2-part blog series, I examined why the ExaGrid EX Series defines the modern midrange deduplicating backup appliance.