CloudCopy OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW CloudCopy Highly Scalable Agentless Technology No Hardware Centralised Management Common File Elimination Hot Backups of base Retention Rules CALLIGO OVERVIEW 3 CLOUDCOPY OVERVIEW 3 CLOUDCOPY OPTIONS 3 WHAT IS FULLY MANAGED CLOUD BACKUP? 3 ASIGRA CLOUD BACKUP SOFTWARE 3 CLOUDCOPY FEATURES 3 BUSINESS BENEFITS 4 AGENTLESS ADVANTAGE 4 CLOUDCOPY ARCHITECTURE 4 DS-CLIENT 4 DS-SYSTEM 4 TIERED STORAGE 4 CONTINUOUS DATA PROTECTION (CDP) 5 MICROSOFT SQL & EXCHANGE 5 DE-DUPLICATION & ENCRYPTION 5 RETENTION STRATEGIES 5 BARE METAL RESTORE 5 AUTONOMIC HEALING TOOL AND DATA VALIDATION 5 INFORMATION LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT 6 BRANCH OFFICES 6 SPEED, EFFICIENCY AND SECURITY ADVANTAGES 6 WHERE IS THE DATA STORED? 6 DATABARRACKS PARTNERSHIP 7 HOW DOES THE SETUP WORK? 7 HOW IS THE SERVICE SUPPORTED? 8 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 8 PRICING OVERVIEW 8 RETENTION OPTIONS 8 DOCUMENT CONTROL 8 GLOSSARY OF TERMS 9 QMS DOC REF: QMS REC 79, VERSION NUMBER: 1.2, PUBLISH DATE: 14/01/2016. info@
calligo overview Calligo offers the highest levels of data protection and privacy with data residency guarantees. Through its global CalligoCloud Network located locations around the world it is able to offer a range of cloud services, delivered to consistent operational and contractual standards, that are backed by unrivalled levels of data security. Delivering a highly efficient range of cloud services to organisations of any size, empowering our clients whether to take advantage of the benefits cloud-computing offers. Calligo provides an unrivalled level of data privacy with ISO 9001 & 27001 certifications across all cloud services, 100% data encryption and guaranteed data residency within each of the jurisdictions. Calligo is also uniquely able to guarantee performance across all applications and services running within any of our service offerings. Cloud computing based services represents such a paradigm shift in the way business systems will be delivered that many of the skills and disciplines required to correctly plan, design, implement and support such infrastructures are not found within the traditional server-based computing teams. Calligo has established an unrivalled reputation built on delivering successful transformations where real strategic benefits have been delivered throughout the entire organisation. Calligo is partnering with leading global IT service organisations to deliver cloud services across the widest range of global locations including Jersey, Guernsey, Switzerland, Singapore, Cayman and Bermuda. Clients can have the confidence that they will receive a consistent product and service proposition wherever their Calligo cloud services are delivered from. cloudcopy overview Organisations across the globe are turning to remote, managed, off-site backups to protect their data, giving peace of mind that if, and when, the worst happens they will not only survive the disaster, but will be back up and running again within a matter of hours. Calligo offers a completely outsourced cloud backup solution. is backed up automatically to one of our offshore data centres where it is stored on mirrored and redundant storage arrays. The data is then replicated to a second data centre. The entire solution is monitored and supported 24/7/365 by Calligo. CloudCopy complements Calligo s other cloud offerings and is designed to meet the highest legal and regulatory requirements for protecting sensitive data. It is suitable for IT departments with on premise equipment, or businesses that use co-location hosting services or organisations that are already using cloud services. The CloudCopy solution provides the highest levels of security and resilience whilst meeting the most demanding of operational requirements. cloudcopy options CloudCopy is available in two offerings; Premium & Standard. The underlying technology is identical and this document describes CloudCopy Premium. The Standard offering is designed for smaller organisations that are sing Calligo s cloud services. It has a limted set of options. Please refer to the separate datasheet for further information. what is fully managed cloud backup? Calligo will manage the implementation of the service advising on best practice. We will train your staff where necessary and then manage the day to day operation of the service. This includes 24x7 monitoring, proactive reporting on a daily basis, remote operational assistance and advice following any internal system changes that could affect backups.. You can request a data restore by contacting the Helpdesk. asigra cloud backup software Calligo s CloudCopy backup service uses the Asigra software which has been developed over 20 years and is used by some of the largest companies across the globe, including Coca Cola, Toyota, Vodafone and the US Air force. As a pioneer in the field of cloud backup, Asigra has been driving the industry forward with numerous technology firsts. Asigra was the first multi-tenant backup/ recovery platform, the first to offer agentless bare-metal restore and the first to provide Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) -aware backup software to align the value of data with storage costs over time. Asigra combines heterogeneous system support with WAN-optimisation technologies such as compression and de-duplication across multiple sites for an efficient, costeffective and transformational cloud backup and recovery solution. CLOUDCOPY FEATURES Non Hardware specific bare metal server restore Autonomous Self-Healing to ensure data validity info@ 3
Compatible with a wide range of systems Centralised management interface for IT team Agentless technology - Easy to include additional servers or applications Common File Elimination and deduplication Real-time backup of file and email servers Hot backups of databases Retention rules to allow for periodic snapshots of data for regulatory compliance BUSINESS BENEFITS Time savings for an internal IT department that has to manage an inhouse backup solution Simple pricing model based on data backed up Guaranteed RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTOs (Recovery Time Objective) backed by contractual SLAs. Expert data restoration specialists available as an extension of your internal IT department Possibility to reduce business continuity insurance costs Reassurance to customers and regulator of sound Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery procedures AGENTLESS ADVANTAGE Asigra s unique agentless data protection doesn t just match the capabilities of agentbased technology it exceeds them. And it does so by no small margin. Like agents, Asigra protects all files (visible and hidden), databases, email systems and mailboxes, all standard Unix (including Mac OS X), Linux, and Windows operating systems. And it does all this by working remotely through the operating systems and applications APIs (Application Programme Interface). Asigra s agentless architecture assures that you experience no operating system and application disruption or downtime for implementation or upgrades; no security risk because of an open agent port that can be hacked; no server cycles being wasted for agent software. While at the same time you can achive flexible RPO, including CDP (Continuous Protection), with incomparably fast and flexible recovery. The Asigra software is capable of automating the entire backup lifecycle management of data and comprises two key components, the DS-Client and DS-System. The DS-Client(s) is the collector of the data from all machines, drives, applications and systems on the LAN. The DS-System is the data aggregator that receives data from all the remote DS-Clients. CLOUDCOPY ARCHITECTURE DS-Client The DS-Client software is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. The DS-Client is designed to accommodate a range of heterogeneous network backup requirements, and transmits data securely to the cloud hosted DS-System via the Internet or a dedicated, private, circuit. The DS-Client is agentless : it does not need to be installed on the machines it backs up. The DS-Client is typically given administrator privileges and will back up data that it is allowed to access. The DS-Client software is not a chargeable item. You may install as many or as few DS- Clients as are needed. The DS-Client software can run on a dedicated DS-Client machine or on an existing machine on the LAN that it needs to backup. Several DS-Clients can work together in a Grid DS-Client configuration to provide backup and restore services for all the protected machines. Two or more DS-Clients can be joined in one Grid DS-Client. Each DS- Client performs its own backup and restore activities, but all have access to a shared DS-Client database. Any node in the grid can provide any backup set with services. All the nodes in a grid must be on the same LAN (subnet). However, more than one Grid DS-Client can be on a single LAN. Grid DS-Client provides the following benefits: Web Server base Server DS-Client Application Servers Print Server Firewall File Server CLIENT NETWORK CALLIGO CLOUD Performance - load balancing across multiple DS-Clients (all the nodes share the communication and processing load of backups from all of the backup sets) Scalability - the ability to easily add more hardware as needed Redundancy - if a DS-Client node fails, the grid will continue to function. The DS-Client(s) can optionally be configured to hold local copies of designated file sets. Industry experts project that in 90% of cases it is the latest generation copy that users need to be recovered so holding that data locally (as well as remotely in Calligo s cloud) means data can be restored very rapidly. Internet or Private Circuit Firewall HIGH LEVEL SCHEMATIC OF A TYPICAL CLOUDCOPY IMPLEMENTATION DS-System Guernsey DS-System Jersey DS-System The DS-System is part of Calligo s infrastructure. The DS-Client(s) transmits data to the DS-System which maintains, manages and validates the online storage repository that holds the backed up data. Tiered Storage The CloudCopy infrastructure consists of tiered storage for Live and Archived storage. Business critical data will reside in CloudCopy s Live tier of storage; this will ensure the fastest possible restoration time. The Live tier resides on very fast disk for fast restores. Calligo recommends the Live tier of storage for the backup of all bare metal and/ or virtual machine images, email, SQL, and latest file data. info@ 4
CloudCopy s Archive tier of storage provides the most cost efficient storage environment. This tier of data resides on SATA disk which provides a slower restore time and with a lower priority than the data residing in the Live tier. Normally data is moved over time from the Live tier to the Archive tier which holds older generations of data. Static and archive file data can be moved immediately to the Archive tier. You can set rules / policies to move data automatically from the Live tier to the Archive tier. These rules will be based on different requests, data older than a certain period of time, data removed from source machines, expired and older generations of data for regulations and point in time snapshots. During implementation, and as part of the ongoing managed service, Calligo will advise on configuring these archive rules. Storing data on the Archive tier has a lower cost than data stored in the Live tier. Continuous Protection (CDP) CloudCopy provides CDP, a no cost option that allows the recovery of data back to any point in time in case of a crash. Some businesses will want their data to be protected as soon as it is in its final state. Continuous Protection (CDP) refers to data that is automatically protected whenever a change is made to that data (asynchronous backup). Therefore, CDP enables data copies almost in real-time capturing every version of the data whenever the organisation saves it. It allows data to be restored to any point in time. The CDP feature allows unlimited granularity it means that data can be recovered from an almost infinite number of recovery points. CDP protected files are protected whenever they are saved to disk by users in their source computers. CDP also continuously monitors the changes on the specified target files and backs up the changes as soon as they are detected. CloudCopy CDP is implemented as a no-cost backup option and can be applied to file systems and email backup sets to improve the recovery objectives of critical data. CDP has many customer benefits; it provides peace of mind that the latest version of critical data has been backed up and is available to be recovered. Flexible RPOs. Traditional backups can only restore data to the point at which the backup was taken. With CDP, there are no backup schedules. When protected data is saved to disk, it is also asynchronously written to Calligo s storage repository. CDP keeps not only the latest saved version of protected data but also keeps track of the previous versions allowing data recovery from a wider point in time range. Immediate protection of critical data. Once protected data is saved to disk, it is backed up locally (if local storage is available on the DS-Client) and simultaneously is encrypted and sent and stored offsite in Calligo s cloud. Backup window and recovery time objectives (RTOs) are reduced to zero. Flat-file and email data can be backed up using Continuous Protection (CDP) and hot-backups of databases to protect continuously, 24 hours a day. Microsoft SQL & Exchange CloudCopy uses the API of these products which means no scheduled downtime is required to protect these key systems and running any backup in parallel to a dump file is avoided. VSS (Volume Shadow Services) ensures that open, or locked files, are also captured and successfully backed up. Message Level Recovery (MLR) can also be setup to provide fast recovery of individual mailboxes and calendars. Message Level Recovery allows for predetermined levels of email backups and restores. This capability ensures that users can rapidly recover needed messages, Including a single email, without waiting for the restoration of an entire Microsoft Exchange network. De-duplication & Encryption All backup data is de-duplicated and compressed prior to being stored. The DS- Client processes the data to ensure both efficient data storage and minimal data transfer. The DS-Client identifies duplicate data by looking for the same data queued for backup more than once. All data is compared based on its content, so it does not matter if the files are on different servers or have different names. Common data is stored to the appropriate repository and a pointer/stub is used to point from the data s original location to the library location. This is a continuous process, as common data can appear at any time. The DS-Client also encrypts all data which ensures it is completely secure in-flight and at-rest. Asigra were one of the early pioneers of encrypted data and over the years has improved the different types of encryption used for data backup. Today the DS-Client uses a FIPS 140-2 (a US government security standard) certified encryption module. This encrypts the data at source using the highly secure AES 256 bit algorithm which ensures that only encrypted data is sent to, or stored in, the CloudCopy backup repositories. Retention strategies Customers have the ability to mirror or improve on their current retention strategy. CloudCopy can be configured to provide weekly, monthly and yearly snapshots that enable efficient and effective long-term retention of data for regulatory purposes. The DS-Client also provides automatic retention policy enforcement, an essential feature for regulated businesses, and allows the management of backup data through each tier of storage. Separate retention configurations can be established on a granular level in line with your RPOs and RTOs. Bare Metal Restore CloudCopy provides multiple technologies that accelerate recovery. Asigra s Bare Metal Restore technology, the industry s first agentless solution, allows the rapid recovery of lost, damaged or corrupted data to any bare metal system, without having to manually reinstall operating systems or configure hardware. Local data, user profiles, registry/ system state, service pack files and encrypted files the complete system can be rapidly restored on new hardware. Autonomic Healing Tool and Validation To ensure data integrity, the Asigra software includes an Autonomic Healing Tool and a Validation module. In medium or large data processing, file corruptions are almost inevitable. They may happen due to hardware failures, software applications, file system problems, connectivity problems, or insufficient resources. They may also result from unpredicted operations, methods, or behaviours. Autonomic healing means that a computer system repairs itself without human intervention. The Autonomic Healing module addresses the problems of file corruption and increases the integrity of the CloudCopy service. It continually monitors the CloudCopy storage for data corruption. If corrupt data is found, it corrects it, removes it, or reports that a correction is needed. Some corrupted files can be detected by processes, such as System Admin, that check the headers/links of files. However, such processes check only physical consistency (valid file headers and links). The Autonomic Healing module goes further, checking info@ 5
the logical validity of data (invalid names, name duplication, ID duplication, potential reconstruction failure, consistency, etc.). Autonomic Healing can be configured to run all the time, so anomalies can be found and fixed faster (either manually or automatically). Unlike other processes that can only identify problems Autonomic Healing solves problems, and maintains a complete log of its activities so the problems it cannot solve can be investigated further. VALUE Autonomic Healing runs in the Calligo cloud scanning the entire storage to ensure data integrity. Since the data in the CloudCopy Automated based on predefined storage system is encrypted, retention rules the Autonomic Healing process checks links between the data blocks and compares digital signatures between different components Business Retention Cloud (Long term storage) Continuity Backup for inconsistencies. When corrupted data is uncovered, it is marked and a notification is sent 1 to 2the DS-Client 3 4to resend the portion of that data that was marked corrupted. This Onsite In the Cloud ensures that the CloudCopy data is always recoverable in case of a disaster. Local-only SLA Critical Local-only Copy Retention Policy Important Pre-classify Young Online Creation DS-System Cloud Copy Cloud Copy Archive Tier TIME Old Live Tier INFORMATION LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT Compliance Acrhive Tier Certified Destruction INFORMATION LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT CloudCopy recognizes that there are multiple tiers of backup of active data. Operationally critical data requires more frequent backups on higher performance devices. Less critical backups are relegated to less expensive, lower performance devices. Older versions of backup files are moved to slower devices to save costs. CloudCopy lets you align the value of your information with the cost of protecting it. Years ago, all data was treated as being equal. All data originated on one type of storage and stayed there until it was deleted. It is now understood that not all data is created equal. Some types of data are more important than others, or accessed more frequently than others. Lifecycle Management (DLM), a component of Information Lifecycle Management (ILM), defines the concept of data being created on one storage system, then migrated through progressively less expensive storage systems as it ages. For example: VALUE Local-only Backup 1 SLA Retention Policy Critical Important Business Continuity that is 2 minutes old is highly valued. that is 2 months old may be of interest but is not as highly valued. 2 3 4 Creation DS-System Cloud Copy Cloud Copy Archive Tier TIME Onsite In the Cloud Retention Automated based on predefined retention rules Cloud (Long term storage) DATA LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT - OR THE TIME VALUE OF DATA Certified Destruction that is 2 years old may be needed for records but it is not critical to the daily functioning of the company. BRANCH OFFICES With agentless technology designed to maximize data recoverability, CloudCopy provides a highly effective solution for remote site backup and recovery. Using this technology, IT departments can costeffectively manage and improve RPOs and RTOs for remote sites. While many backup/ recovery solutions require implementation of expensive, high-speed pipes to remote offices, the Asigra software leverages techniques such as common file elimination across sites and delta block technology (for transmission of only new or changed blocks) to enable the effective use of existing links such as DSL. After the initial backup the subsequent backups are block level, incrementals, with only the changed data copied to the data centre. This is particularly powerful for remote and branch offices that often have limited bandwidth. For example, if a single slide changes in a 5MB PowerPoint presentation, CloudCopy will only backup the block of data for the new slide rather than pushing the entire 5MB file back over the network to the data centre. In the event of a major data loss at the remote site, CloudCopy enables data to be recovered to a portable disk device that can be shipped to the designated recovery site. SPEED, EFFICIENCY AND SECURITY ADVANTAGES In every recovery scenario, CloudCopy offers major advantages over competing solutions. Your IT team, or Calligo as part of a managed service, can centrally manage data backup/recovery for a wide variety of remote site operating environments and devices, including the industry s most popular servers, desktops, and laptops. The simplicity and policy-customization functionality of CloudCopy facilitates unattended and automatic processes to ensure consistent fulfilment of internal SLAs and other RPO/RTO targets. CloudCopy leverages the inherent advantages of disk-to-disk (D2D) technology for faster recovery of more data supporting simultaneous recovery of multiple files, databases, etc. And, because the Asigra software utilizes multiple data reduction and minimization techniques, there is less data to move, and time-to-recovery is faster. where is the data stored? Calligo use hosting facilities from selected commercial data centre providers. We guarantee the location of your data and will never move data to another jurisdiction without your explicit agreement. info@ 6
We use best in class data centres with multiple, redundant, power supplies, cooling systems, fire suppression systems, all operated to the highest standards and monitored by 24x7x365 network operations centres. CloudCopy is offered across pairs of sites, e.g. Jersey & Guernsey or Zurich & Geneva, that are linked by dedicated circuits to provide fast, highly available connectivity. The CloudCopy service is hosted on equipment dedicated for this purpose. The servers and storage are not shared with other Calligo services. The CloudCopy disk system contains two levels of storage. These are known as Live and Archive. The former is held on fast, accessible disks and is readily retrievable. The latter is data that has been moved to a storage system using slower, cheaper, disks. Movement of data between the systems is managed automatically by the CloudCopy software using customer defined policies. These policies allow backup data to be managed in the most cost effective manner whilst meeting the organisation s business recovery objectives. databarracks partnership The CloudCopy service is provided in partnership with barracks Limited. barracks was one of the UK s first providers of Managed Backup and Disaster Recovery services. They have grown rapidly to become one of the most technologically advanced innovators in managed backup, and cloud services, delivering effective Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity solutions to companies of all sizes and complexities. Calligo partnered with barracks for a number of reasons. Their experience of understanding and complying with today s strict data storage regulations as well as their background of protecting and managing the ever growing volume of information generated daily. Today barracks protect several Petabytes of data for over a thousand clients worldwide. In addition barracks has developed processes and management software that enhance the standard backup software. A client portal allows for simple management of backup tasks and provides a clear overview of the state of backups. Also, in conjunction with barracks, Calligo has developed an Escrow / Safe Custody service that ensures that the CloudCopy backups are always available to a Calligo client. barracks own the equipment that provides the CloudCopy tertiary copies service and in the event that Calligo are unable to continue to provide the service they have contractual step in obligations that will ensure continuity of service. Calligo believe this to be an unique service for off-shore cloud service providers and addresses the legitimate concerns of clients who require the highest levels of protection for their data. barracks are never able to view or access backup data (including compressed data) and never have access to the encryption keys. how does the setup work? Calligo will install and configure the necessary DS-Client(s), and these will collect the data from the protected servers. Because of Asigra s agentless architecture, there is no need for software to be installed on each and every physical or virtual machine that is being protected. This makes implementation straight forward, conflicts between software versions are avoided and the overall solution is easily scalable as the customer s environment changes. The agentless architecture ensures no operating system, application disruption or downtime during implementation or upgrades. This is in contrast to backup solutions that require software to be installed on each server. Upgrades to the backup software, to the operating system, to database software or to the business application can all cause conflicts that stop the backup service from working. A MS Windows version of the DS-Client is needed to protect Windows servers, databases and Exchange systems. The DS-Client is configured to provide granular backup for individual files and email messages. The same DS-Client can also perform bare-metal restores at block/ image level, file/generation level and email message/calendar level, thus providing the most comprehensive set of options from one solution. Backups of virtual servers can also be performed at the host level allowing for restoration of the image files directly back to the Hypervisor. The workload will be spread across all the DS-Clients installed and configured to automatically run the backups across the entire server environment. The volume of data collected initially will probably require that it is physically couriered to the Calligo data centre, unless CloudCopy is being used to backup a Calligo hosted service, to ensure an effective and fast upload of data. After the initial full backup the CloudCopy software uses deltablock technology to ensure that only the incremental changes in data are backed up. As part of the managed service the Calligo engineer will work with you to design and create the backup sets, advise on scheduling, exclusions, data management and how to conduct restores. Training will also be provided on the reporting and activity log sections of the software. Throughout the set up and on-going provision of the solution, you will have unlimited access to Calligo s technical support free of charge. info@ 7
how is the service supported? CloudCopy is a fully managed service. Once the implementation is complete, Calligo will provide full administration and management of the daily backup operations. Calligo will fully manage all aspects of the software and hardware on a 24/7/365 basis for the entire contract length and will provide all the necessary CloudCopy training to your staff. Full support includes the proactive daily reporting of backup activity electronically with error notifications and resolutions notified through the Calligo Helpdesk with email notification. Escalation of any issue is then made over the telephone with Helpdesk documentation. Calligo will liaise closely with the customer s IT personnel to ensure that the reporting lines are tailored to suit their requirements. Calligo will work in conjunction with the customer s IT team to perform data restorations. The Calligo managed service is designed to reduce or remove the involvement of customer staff in the backup or restoration process. Calligo s support service is all encompassing and will provide maintenance and day-to-day support of the entire backup infrastructure. This will include: Day to Day administration and monitoring of all customer backup sets Proactive reporting on a daily basis SLA driven recovery of data Free phone technical support during business hours Hands on support during business hours with 24*7 support available as an option Remote assistance during business hours with 24*7 support available as an option Management and ensuring of system uptime and availability Consultancy and recommendations to modify setup following any internal IT changes implementation plan As part of the implementation phase, Calligo will consult with you to plan the most appropriate configuration of the backup operations and to assess the data sizing to ensure the most effective and seamless initial collection of data. Retention and archive polices and decisions on which options, such as whether CDP is implemented will be agreed. Larger projects can include a proof of concept for the backup service with a set of test recoveries undertaken. pricing overview The CloudCopy pricing model is simply based on the amount of compressed data stored in both the Live and Archive tiers. This gives you the flexibility to scale up and down your data requirements in-line with the demands of the business and keep complete control of both your data usage and the monthly fee. As part of the managed service customers are not charged for technical support or restoration of data, regardless of the frequency. Customers can expect to see a reduction in costly management time and maintenance costs compared to traditional backup and restore operations, through using Calligo fully managed service. CloudCopy Premium includes the following:: All software licensing: Included Technical support: Included during business hours Training to staff: Included All restorations of data: Included during business hours Annual data review: Included retention options CloudCopy Premium allows complete flexibility over your retention policies. You can define multiple policies to reflect your data retention standards and any applicable regulatory regime. CloudCopy Standard offers two options; a 31 day rolling or long term retention designed to meet the needs of most regulatory bodies. document control For details visit: www./smallprint Copyright 2016 Calligo Limited. Not to be reproduced without permission. info@ 8
glossary of terms Term Recovery Time Objective or RTO Recovery Point Objective or RPO Definition Target time set for resumption of product, service or activity delivery after an incident. (Source: British Standard BS25999-1:2006). In simple terms the RTO describes how quickly services must be restored after a disruptive event. Is the point in time to which systems and data must be recovered after a disaster has occurred. For example, this could be to the start of day. Information Lifecycle Management or ILM. Continuous Protection or CDP Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS Message Level Restore or MLR Application Program Interface or API In simple terms the RPO is the point in time from which a known and valid data set can be recovered. ILM is an approach to data and storage management that recognizes that the value of information changes over time and that it must be managed accordingly. ILM seeks to classify data according to its business value and establish policies to migrate and store data on the appropriate storage tier and, ultimately, remove it altogether. (Source: Gartner.) CDP, also called continuous backup or real-time backup, refers to backup of computer data by automatically saving a copy of every change made to that data. CDP is different from traditional backup in that you don t have to specify the point in time to recover from until ready to restore. Traditional backups only restore data from the time the backup was made. Continuous data protection has no backup schedules. When data is written to disk, it is also asynchronously written to a second location, usually another computer over the network. (Source: Wikipedia) VSS is a Windows service for capturing and creating snapshots called shadow copies. VSS, which operates at the block level of the file system, provides a backup infrastructure for Microsoft operating systems. This describes the ability to restore an individual message within Microsoft Exchange. This provides dramatically quicker restores than recovering whole mailboxes. A language and message format used by a software program to communicate with another software program including operating systems, database software, etc. The Asigra backup software uses API calls to backup data held on Microsoft servers including SQL databases and Exchange email servers. info@