Over the last 20 years deduplication appliances have become integral components in the backup strategies of many organizations. However, as more organizations implement hybrid clouds, they need to re-examine the role that deduplication appliances play in them. While these appliances work well on-premises, they possess specific weaknesses that become more apparent when performing cloud recoveries
Every now and then a phrase shows up in the tech industry that may hurt more than it helps. ‘Instant restore’ represents one of those terms. In my mind, the word ‘instant’ implies ‘occurs in a moment.’ In practical terms, from a technical perspective, that translates into a few seconds or perhaps up to a minute or two. However, too many deduplication appliance providers use the phrase ‘instant restore’ to describe a feature of their product. Unfortunately, the use of this term may leave organizations with the impression these products instantly restore more swiftly and robustly than they do.
Every company periodically reviews the backup solution it uses to protect and recover its data. However, as companies review which backup solution they want, it also behooves them to consider new, modern ways in which to procure and deploy it.
Scalable data protection appliances have arguably emerged as one of the hottest backup trends in quite some time, possibly since the introduction of deduplication into the backup process. These appliances offer backup software, cloud connectivity, replication, and scalable storage in a single, logical converged or hyperconverged infrastructure platform offering that simplify backup while positioning a company to seamlessly implement the appliance as part of its disaster recovery strategy or even create a DR solution for the first time.
Companies of all sizes pay more attention to their backup and recovery infrastructure than perhaps ever before. While they still rightfully prioritize their production infrastructure over their backup one, companies seem to recognize and understand that can use backups as more than just insurance policies to recover their production data. This is resulting in cutting edge innovations such as analytics, microservices, and scalable storage finding their way into backup solutions in general and backup appliances specifically.
Companies are always on the lookout for simpler, most cost-effective methods to manage their infrastructure. This explains, in part, the emergence of scale-out architectures over the last few years as a preferred means for implementing backup appliances. It is as scale-out architectures gain momentum that it behooves companies taking a closer look at the benefits and drawbacks of both scale-out and scale-up architectures to make the best choice for their environment.
One of the more perplexing challenges that Nutanix administrators face is how to protect the data in their Nutanix deployments. Granted, Nutanix natively offers its own data protection utilities. However, these utilities leave gaps that enterprises are unlikely to find palatable when protecting their production applications. This is where Comtrade Software’s HYCU and ExaGrid come into play as their combined solutions provide a more affordable and elegant approach to protecting Nutanix environments.
The phrase “Cloud Data Protection Appliance” is included in the name of DCIG’s forthcoming Buyer’s Guide but the end game of each appliance covered in that Guide is squarely on recovery. While successful recoveries have theoretically always been the objective of backup appliances, vendors too often only paid lip service to that ideal as most of their new product features centered on providing better means for doing backups. Recent technology advancements have flipped this premise on its head.
Organizations have come to the realization that using disk as a backup storage target does more than simply solve backup problems. It creates entirely new possibilities for recovery. But as they recognize these new opportunities, they also see the need for backup solutions that offer them new options for application availability and recoverability backed by ease of management. The latest DataPlaform 4.0 release from Cohesity moves organizations closer to this ideal.
DCIG is pleased to announce the availability of the DCIG 2016-17 Small/Midsize Enterprise Integrated Backup Appliance Buyer’s Guide developed from DCIG’s backup appliance body of research. The DCIG 2016-17 Small/Midsize Enterprise Integrated Backup Appliance Buyer’s Guide weights, scores and ranks more than 100 features of twenty-nine (29) products from seven (7) different providers. Using ranking categories of Recommended, Excellent and Good, this Buyer’s Guide offers much of the information an organization should need to make a highly informed decision as to which integrated backup appliance will suit their needs.
The information, product recommendations, and opinions made by DCIG, LLC., are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG, LLC., believes to be accurate and reliable. However since market conditions change, the information and recommendations are made without warranty of any kind. All product names used and mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
DCIG, LLC., assumes no responsibility or liability for any damages whatsoever (including incidental, consequential or otherwise) caused by one’s use or reliance of this information or the recommendations presented or for any inadvertent errors which this document may contain. Any questions please call DCIG, LLC., toll free at 1.844.324.4552 (844.DCIGLLC).
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