Research Report. Abstract: The Impact of Server Virtualization on Data Protection. September 2010

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1 Research Report Abstract: The Impact of Server Virtualization on Data Protection By Lauren Whitehouse and Bill Lundell With Jennifer Gahm September Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2 Introduction Research Objectives Research Report: The Impact of Server Virtualization on Data Protection In order to assess the current state of data protection in virtualized environments, ESG asked the 304 respondents familiar with their organization s server virtualization strategy about how if at all the technology has impacted their backup processes. In addition to their virtualization knowledge, all respondents were personally responsible for evaluating, purchasing, or managing data protection technologies such as backup and recovery software, data replication software, and disk or tape storage systems used for secondary data storage for their organization. The survey was designed to answer the following questions: How pervasive is the usage of server virtualization technology? Does this vary based on the size of respondent organizations? What are the data protection challenges for organizations using server virtualization? What methods do organizations use to protect virtual machines today? How do they expect to protect them in the future? Does the organization maintain different approaches to protecting its virtual and physical servers? What is the preference for protecting physical versus virtual? What are the roles of disk and tape as storage mediums for virtual server backup and recovery? What are the preferred types of disk storage? How has the adoption of server virtualization impacted data protection processes? Is the implementation of server virtualization a catalyst for changing data protection vendors/solutions? If provided the opportunity to completely re-architect the backup process from scratch, would organizations use the same solution/vendor or switch? What is the relationship between implementing server virtualization and deduplication technology? For virtual server environments, how are data protection solutions and processes being evaluated? What functional groups in the organization are primarily responsible for funding data protection technology purchases in support of the virtual server environment? Survey participants represent a wide range of industries including manufacturing, financial services, communications and media, health care, retail, government, and business services. For more details, please see the Research Methodology and Respondent Demographics sections of this report.

3 Research Methodology To gather data for this report, ESG conducted a comprehensive online survey of IT managers from private- and public-sector organizations in North America (United States and Canada) between January 8, 2010 and January 29, To qualify for this survey, respondents were required to have day-to-day responsibility for evaluating, purchasing, or managing data protection technologies such as backup and recovery software, data replication software, and/or disk or tape systems used for secondary data storage. All respondents were provided an incentive to complete the survey in the form of cash awards and/or cash equivalents. After filtering out unqualified respondents, removing duplicate responses, and screening the remaining completed responses (on a number of criteria) for data integrity, ESG was left with a final total sample of 510 IT managers. Of these, 304 respondents are familiar with their organization s server virtualization strategy and 186 IT managers are currently using server virtualization. Please see the Respondent Demographics section of this report for more information on these respondents. Note: Totals in figures and tables throughout this report may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

4 Respondent Demographics The data presented in this report is based on a survey of 510 qualified respondents. The figures below detail the demographics of the respondent base. Respondents by Role The breakdown of current roles within an organization among survey respondents is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Survey Respondents, by Role Which of the following best describes your current role within your organization? (Percent of respondents, N=510) Other, 5% IT Staff (e.g., Storage Administrator, Systems Administrator, etc.), 49% IT Management (e.g., CIO, VP of IT, Director of IT, etc.), 4 Respondents by Technology Responsibility Survey respondents primary area of technology responsibility is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Survey Respondents, by Primary Area of Technology Responsibility Which of the following would you consider to be your primary area of technology responsibility? (Percent of respondents, N=510) IT Architecture/Planning, 7% Storage / SAN, 5% Other, 1% General IT, 32% Applications/ Database, 9% Servers, 14% IT Operations, 15% Data Protection (e.g., backup/recovery, replication, etc.), 17%

5 Respondents by Number of Employees The number of employees in respondents organizations is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. Survey Respondents, by Number of Employees How many total employees does your organization have worldwide? (Percent of respondents, N=510) 20,000 or more, 12% 100 to 249, 10% 250 to 499, 14% 5,000 to 19,999, 20% 500 to 999, 1 2,500 to 4,999, 12% 1,000 to 2,499, 15% Respondents by Industry Respondents were asked to identify their organization s primary industry. In total, ESG received completed, qualified respondents from individuals in 18 distinct vertical industries, plus an Other category. Respondents were then grouped into the broader categories shown in Figure 4. Figure 4. Survey Respondents, by Industry What is your organization s primary industry? (Percent of respondents, N=510) Other, 18% Manufacturing, 23% Retail/Wholesale, 5% Professional Services, Communications & Media, 8% Health Care, 12% Government (Federal, National, State, Local), 1 Financial (banking, securities, insurance), 13%

6 Respondents by Annual Revenue The annual revenue of survey respondents organizations is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5. Survey Respondents, by Annual Revenue What is your organization s total annual revenue ($US)? (Percent of respondents, N=510) 14% 12% 11% 12% 12% 12% 13% 10% 8% 8% 7% 7% 5% 5% 4% 2% 0% Less than $25 million $50 million $25 million to $49 million to $99 million $100 million to $249 million $250 million to $499 million $500 million to $999 million $1 billion to $5 billion to $10 billion $4.999 billion $9.999 billion to $ billion $20 billion or more Not applicable (e.g., public sector, non-profit) Respondents by Physical Locations Worldwide The number of worldwide physical locations of survey respondents organizations is shown in Figure 6. Figure 6. Survey Respondents, by Physical Locations Worldwide To the best of your knowledge, how many physical locations (offices, plants, branches, etc.) does your organization operate worldwide? (Percent of respondents, N=510) 500 or more, 8% Don t know, 2% 1, 4% 250 to 499, 2 to 5, 21% 100 to 249, 9% 50 to 99, 9% 6 to 10, 15% 26 to 49, 10% 11 to 25, 17%

7 Respondents by Data Centers Operated Worldwide The number of data centers operated worldwide by survey respondents organizations is shown in Figure 7. Figure 7. Survey Respondents, by Data Centers Worldwide How many data centers does your organization operate worldwide? (Percent of respondents, N=510) Rely solely on thirdparty outsourced data center facilities, 1% More than 20, 12% Don t know, 1% 1, 15% 11 to 20, 9% 2, 17% 6 to 10, 15% 3 to 5, 30% Respondents by Number of Production Servers The number of production servers in respondents immediate organization is shown in Figure 8. Figure 8. Survey Respondents by Number of Production Servers Approximately how many production servers (whether physical or virtual) are supported worldwide by your IT organization? (Percent of respondents, N=510) More than 5,000, 5% 2,501 to 5,000, 2% Don t know, 2% Less than 25, 17% 1,001 to 2,500, 7% 501 to 1,000, 11% 25 to 49, to 500, 11% 50 to 100, to 250, 13%

8 Respondents by Total Amount of Data The number of production servers in respondents immediate organization is shown in Figure 9. Figure 9. Survey Respondents, by Total Amount of Data What is your immediate organization s approximate total volume of data stored on corporate servers and storage systems? (Percent of respondents, N=510) 14% 12% 10% 8% 11% 12% 13% 10% 10% 9% 8% 5% 10% 4% 2% 0% Less than 1 TB (terabyte) 1 TB 5 TB 6 TB 10 TB 11 TB TB 50 TB TB 51 TB 100 TB 101 TB 250 TB 251 TB 500 TB 500 TB 1 More than PB 1 PB (petabyte) Don t know

9 Contents List of Figures... 3 List of Tables... 3 Executive Summary... 4 Report Conclusions... 4 Introduction... 6 Research Objectives... 6 Research Findings... 7 Market Overview... 7 Server Virtualization Initiatives are Well Underway... 8 Virtual Server Backup is a Top Area of Data Protection Investment... 9 Data Protection Processes among Current Server Virtualization Technology Users Physical versus Virtual System Protection Evaluation and Organizational Issues for Data Protection The Role of Disk and Tape in Virtual Server Backup and Recovery The Impact of Server Virtualization Technology on Data Protection Conclusion Research Methodology Respondent Demographics Respondents by Role Respondents by Technology Responsibility Respondents by Number of Employees Respondents by Industry Respondents by Annual Revenue Respondents by Physical Locations Worldwide Respondents by Data Centers Operated Worldwide Respondents by Number of Production Servers Respondents by Total Amount of Data... 31

10 List of Figures Figure 1. Usage of Server Virtualization... 8 Figure 2. Top Server Virtualization Initiatives for Figure 3. Top Data Protection Spending Priorities for Figure 4. Virtual Machine Backup Methods Figure 5. Data Protection for Virtual and Physical Servers, Current Approach versus Preferred Approach Figure 6. Expected Approach for Protecting Virtual and Physical Servers among Planned Virtualization Adopters 15 Figure 7. How Data Protection Solutions and Processes are Being Evaluated for Virtual Server Environments Figure 8. Expectation of How Data Protection Solutions and Processes Will Be Evaluated for Virtual Server Environments Figure 9. Decision Makers for Server Virtualization Data Protection Figure 10. Decision Makers for Server Virtualization Data Protection Figure 11. Evaluation Processes Used by Decision Makers for Server Virtualization Data Protection Figure 12. On-site Data Backup Processes Figure 13. On-site Data Backup Processes, by Usage of Server Virtualization Figure 14. Type(s) of On-site Disk-Based Storage Systems Being Used as Backup Targets Figure 15. Type(s) of On-site Disk-Based Storage Systems Being Used as Backup Targets in Server Virtualization Environments Figure 16. Impact of Server Virtualization Technology on Data Protection Processes Figure 17. Re-architecting the Backup Process, by Usage of Server Virtualization Technology Figure 18. Usage of Data Deduplication Solutions Figure 19. Use of Deduplication, by Usage of Server Virtualization Technology Figure 20. Survey Respondents, by Role Figure 21. Survey Respondents, by Primary Area of Technology Responsibility Figure 22. Survey Respondents, by Number of Employees Figure 23. Survey Respondents, by Industry Figure 24. Survey Respondents, by Annual Revenue Figure 25. Survey Respondents, by Physical Locations Worldwide Figure 26. Survey Respondents, by Data Centers Worldwide Figure 27. Survey Respondents by Number of Production Servers Figure 28. Survey Respondents, by Total Amount of Data List of Tables Table 1. Current and Planned Usage of Server Virtualization Technology, by Number of Production Servers... 8 Table 2. Backup of Virtual Server Environments as a Data Protection Spending Priority, by Number of Production Servers Table 3. All Methods of Backing Up Virtual Machines Table 4. Primary Method of Backing Up Virtual Machines Table 5. Data Protection for Virtual and Physical Servers, Current Approach versus Preferred Approach, by Number of Production Servers Table 6. Data Protection for Virtual and Physical Servers, Expected Approach, by Number of Production Servers 16 All trademark names are property of their respective companies. Information contained in this publication has been obtained by sources The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) considers to be reliable but is not warranted by ESG. This publication may contain opinions of ESG, which are subject to change from time to time. This publication is copyrighted by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. Any reproduction or redistribution of this publication, in whole or in part, whether in hard-copy format, electronically, or otherwise to persons not authorized to receive it, without the express consent of the Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc., is in violation of U.S. Copyright law and will be subject to an action for civil damages and, if applicable, criminal prosecution. Should you have any questions, please contact ESG Client Relations at (508)

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