Many companies struggle to protect their data efficiently in a geographically dispersed environment. Backup and restore is more complex for remote locations due to a lack of local skilled IT personnel and limited network bandwidth between remote and central offices. The end result is that critical data can be left unprotected.
The ideal solution for remote office backups is mirroring all of your relevant data to a NAS file server in your central office. Data from multiple remote sites can be replicated over the IP network to the central NAS server, which in turn can back up all data to a D2D, virtual tape library system or direct-attached autoloader at full speed. And because data is constantly replicated to the NAS system, you can recover it almost immediately in the event of a system failure or disaster.
HP StorageWorks NAS servers with HP Data Protector Software use automated backup and recovery that scales with you and works at your pace. You can configure replication to use only a percentage of the available bandwidth or to run only at off-peak times. This enables large amounts of data to be synchronized over slow links while retaining the faster connection for day-to-day business activities.
Remote office considerations
As you consider a remote backup solution for your business, keep the following in mind:
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Carefully plan for capacity to be sure all changed data can be replicated in a timely manner over your remote link.
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Cluster multiple NAS servers in your central office to provide higher availability.
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The speed of the link between the central office and the remote site is a key factor in your solution.
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The capacity of your D2D system, tape autoloader or tape library should match your backup requirements.
An HP remote office backup solution
An HP remote office backup solution includes a combination of these hardware components (exact products may differ within product families):
HP servers at remote offices
HP ProLiant ML100/ML110 or ML300/ML350 servers
HP NAS storage systems at central office
HP StorageWorks NAS x1000*
HP StorageWorks NAS x3000*
Scalable NAS
HP D2D backup systems, autoloaders and tape libraries
HP StorageWorks D2D Backup Systems
HP StorageWorks Tape Autoloaders
HP StorageWorks MSL Series Tape Libraries
Backup for mobile users
While servers are often well protected, desktop and notebook PCs often are not. Users are left to back up data on their own, which frequently means backups do not occur at all. Mobile users who spend less time connected to the network are especially vulnerable, which makes a full backup of data difficult at best. The best strategy is to synchronize data directories automatically when a user connects to the network. Because only modified data is synchronized, the data transfer volume is minimal.
In this solution, data is sent to a central NAS system optimized for serving files and that can handle synchronization for hundreds of mobile users. Some NAS servers also offer snapshot technology that enables users to keep several copies of each file during the day. With Microsoft® Windows 7, Vista or XP, users can restore files themselves without help from the IT department, significantly reducing costs.
Once data reaches the NAS server, it can be backed up to tape or a virtual tape library. HP StorageWorks NAS servers are the ideal consolidation platform. They offer inexpensive disk capacity for backup staging purposes and act as the backup server at the same time. You can also integrate virus scanning to keep your backup data clean.
An HP backup solution for mobile users
HP's backup solution for mobile users includes a combination of these technologies (exact products may differ within product families):
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