Data protection plan

[davebruce]

In a perfect world I would have two NetApps, SnapVault and SnapMirror...but I don’t.

My environment...

• WMWare
• SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure
• Symantec's NetBackup NDMP Option
• Data Domains (backups and disaster site)

The plan is to...

• create snapshots (SMVI) throughout the day
• move the snapshots to a Data Domain using NetBackup NDMP Option
• replicate the snapshots to a disaster site Data Domain
• retain eight weeks of snapshots on local and remote Data Domains

So the VM’s are protected, clients can reach back eight weeks and recover files. Perhaps they are over protected with the disaster site copy. An alternative may be leaving eight weeks of snapshots on the FAS and only move it to one other media (the on-site Data Domain). At this point I do not know the trade off between FAS storage and faster recovery time vs. time to move the snapshots with NDMP and Data Domain storage.

Comments?

[reinoud7]

Great plan but I would prefer to keep the snapshots on the filer instead of copying to the local data domains.

I don't see any advantage to move them away from the filer. Recovery is much easier and much faster. Also you have 1 copy less.

Reinoud

ps: don't forget to turn on dedup

[mcope]

Hi Dave,

What are your Recovery Points Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO)? 

RPO is how much data are you will to lose during recovery of the affected volume, LUN or database?  This determines how frequently how run SMVI and how frequently you replicate data to another storage device.

RTO is how long can you afford to be down while the recovery process takes place?  If you can only tolerate a few hours at most, then keep most of your backups on your FAS storage.  If you can afford to pull an all-nighter to recovery the data, then move it to the Data Domain systems.   

Another factor to consider is, what kind of disasters do you plan to be able to recover from?  If you're only looking to protect from user errors, software bugs, etc., then keep your backups on the FAS.  If you want to survive damage to your data center then you want your backups on the remote Data Domains. 

Michael