DAS backup solutions are the most straightforward data protection solutions. However, they provide the least overall storage capacity due to the physical limits of tapes and disks and the one-to-one connection between device and backup. If your business meets one or more of these criteria, you may benefit from a DAS solution:
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Does not need to support online business-critical operations
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Requires daily or weekly backup
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Maintains five or fewer networked servers
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Supports a single operating system
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Wants Plug and Play capability
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Is sensitive to acquisition costs
DAS technologies
DAS backup solutions offer cost-effective data protection for small single- or multi-server environments. Entry-level solutions include standalone tape drives, tape autoloaders and removable disk backup systems. If your data backup requirements increase, you can use tape libraries to extend storage capacity even further.
Note: A high-capacity tape technology currently leading the way is Linear Tape Open (LTO)-4, which offers capacities of up to 1.6 terabytes (TB) per cartridge. With up to eight cartridges in an autoloader, total capacity can reach 12.8 TB per device. LTO media is readily available, durable and cost effective.
In a typical DAS implementation, the tape or removable disk system connects directly to the server or workstation whose data you want to protect. The backup management software also resides on the server to simplify the setup. If you rely on tape backups, even small businesses should choose an autoloader or library to automate the backup process. Autoloaders and libraries bring significant resource savings and reliability improvements:
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Manage backups from a single management console.
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Minimize human errors associated with media handling, management.
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Maintain all of your media in a single device.
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Simplify the entire backup process.
Considerations
As you consider DAS as a solution for your business, keep the following in mind:
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Because tape backup solutions and removable disk backup systems are typically used to back up data less frequently (daily or even weekly), they are less suitable for businesses that need to restore critical data from a point of loss.
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Tape backup solutions can be slower than other options when backing up or restoring data. If you have a significant amount of data to back up, you may require a large backup window or may have to plan to devote some of your network traffic to backup tasks during working hours.
An HP DAS solution
An HP DAS solution involves a direct-attached removable disk system, tape drive or autoloader. Once backup needs scale past the need for DAS, consider switching to a tape library, such as the business-class HP StorageWorks MSL Series, or a virtual tape library.
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