VeeamUP Volume # 06 Availability for the Modern Data Center: Business & IT Perspectives Page 1 Maximizing availability at the edge of the network Remote and branch office data protection best practices Enjoy reading, VeeamUP. Your Availability VeeamUP for editorial the Modern team Data Center: Business & IT Perspectives. Volume 06
Introduction
Introduction Page 3 We ve all heard about fantastic new data-center technologies, but all too often it looks like these technologies only seem to apply to the largest organizations with a wealth of centralized resources. Because data doesn t just live in the data center, we often face daily challenges when data is put to use in the field at remote branch offices (ROBOs). Business and IT leaders need to recognize the unique needs of ROBOs. For instance, teams based in remote offices need constant, reliable and fast access to essential data, without sacrificing data security and integrity. A challenge for IT leaders is how to ensure that data is highly available, even without a dedicated local IT team to govern and control it. The Veeam Data Center Availability Report 2014 1 reveals that, each quarter, organizations only test an average of 5.26 percent of their backups. This means that the vast majority of backups are not verified and could fail. It is even more so the case at ROBO locations. The good news for dispersed branch offices ROBOs is that it s now easier than ever with the help of the right solutions to extend data-center backup, replication and availability capabilities all the way out to the edges of an entire organization. In this edition of VeeamUP, we ll explore how remote branch offices can achieve excellent levels of availability without facing complexity. 1 Veeam Data Center Availability Report 2014 http://vee.am/availability2014
01 Page 4 The modern data center extends to ROBOs
The modern data center extends to ROBOs Page 5 The modern data center has three key attributes: 1. It is highly virtualized 2. It uses modern storage solutions 3. It has a cloud strategy in place Each of these attributes is critical to a ROBO s success. However, because of each ROBO s specific needs, there are no real roadmaps for building and implementing architecture for a remote office. Virtualization has had a huge impact on ROBOs. From reduced equipment footprints and lower setup costs, to simpler management workloads and faster deployment of new services, virtualized environments have become the natural choice for remote branch offices. Modern storage systems have also made life a lot easier for remote branch offices. Whether it s a new solution rolled out to serve every branch or a solution that s just deployed onsite, new storage solutions are helping ROBOs store and more important, backup and replicate their data more intelligently. The cloud is now a suitable option to move and store backup and replicated data, despite leased private lines are often a significant performance bottleneck to perform this.
02 Backup best practices for the branch office
Backup best practices for the branch office Page 7 Many organizations struggle to select the best solutions for onsite and offsite availability because there really isn t a one-size-fits-all approach for remote office architecture. Organizations often end up choosing between taking onsite backups, writing backups offsite or doing replicas both onsite and offsite instead of considering how they could utilize them all. There is a long promoted 3-2-1 rule for availability, which states that there should be: 3 copies of important data On 2 different media With 1 offsite The 3-2-1 rule is highly versatile and can address just about any failure scenario imaginable by ensuring that all data is both backed up in multiple locations, and also quickly recoverable. This approach means that companies don t have to worry about getting locked into any particular technology or specific vendor and can stay flexible as their IT environment evolves and expands. Replicas are more suitable than backups in true disaster situations, when the RTO needs to be reduced to a minimum and all production loads need to be moved to another site in the least amount of time possible. Replicated VMs are inventoried and ready-to-run VMs in their own right, so when the worst happens, they can be failed over very quickly on dedicated and similar hardware that s pre-deployed on the DR site. This is why replication needs a higher investment when it comes to storage and computing power at the DR site. Backups don t offer the same speed for RTOs, but are more flexible and portable and require lower storage consumption. Backups can be copied on different support media and are much more manageable when addressing day-to-day recovery scenarios typical in ROBO environments. With a large number of sites and locations, companies need to make a choice about where to do their backups and replication. This can be a challenge because some sites may require replicas, others may need backups as well, and they all need to have their individual specifications and requirements considered. Having backups taken onsite provides some important benefits: Backup times are fast because no information needs to be sent offsite Restore times are fast because all data is very close to the host New replication features open up new options such as creating a backup file and replicating a running VM at the same time
03 Page 8 Balancing budgets and business requirements
Balancing budgets and business requirements Page 9 Unfortunately, the best solutions for a remote office rarely line up to what most companies can afford to implement. It s widely understood and accepted that replication grants the greatest availability benefits for ROBOs because of the fast recovery times, but budgetary constraints often just allow for the use of backups. Generally speaking, setting up backups is a very versatile and cost-effective solution. Setting up replicated virtual machines grants prompt business continuity, but requires a higher infrastructure investment. The real challenge is finding the right solutions for rolling out across diverse remote office environments. No two locations ever look exactly the same; they often are designed and deployed on different dates and include their own individual requirements. This challenge can make it very difficult to roll out global backup and recovery policies across an entire organization. It can also lead to increased inefficiencies and longer restore times. With a cost-effective hybrid solution in place that merges the advantages of onsite backup with the high availability and security offered by offsite replication, IT leaders can take control of this complex environment. They can ensure that everybody plays by the same rules and, regardless of the location, can recover data as quickly as the data center at headquarters.
04 Page 10 Ensure availability with Veeam
Ensure availability with Veeam Page 11 At Veeam, we understand the challenges faced by remote branch offices. We ve worked hard to help ROBOs achieve the same exceptional levels of availability as the main data center. All of our experience has culminated in a comprehensive solution for both backup and replication, which includes tools: to accelerate the transfer of backup and replicated files to a secure offsite location to enable anyone within a ROBO to effectively solve deleted files disaster to give the IT team complete visibility of all backup data stored across the enterprise and manage it from a single dashboard to support for multiple backup media to provide role-based control to enable organizations to deliver the right capabilities and only to the right people on-site and off-site backup and replication support for total confidence and maximum recovery speed Veeam can help you maximize the availability of your remote branch office systems and technology. Visit www.veeam.com to find more helpful information and examples to show you exactly why Veeam is the perfect fit for any remote branch office configuration. You may also want to read the white paper Remote and Branch Offices: Availability made easy with Veeam please, visit http://vee.am/veeamup6 to download the PDF.
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