server virtualization

Data Protection Q&A with Evaluator Group’s Randy Kerns

February 3, 2012

Peter Eicher

Post by

Senior Product Specialist, Data Protection

This week, the Syncsort team from around the world has gathered in Newport Beach, CA for our 2012 Global Sales Kickoff. It has been a great event to say the least with presentations from NSB customers, channel partners, NetApp executives, and our own solution experts. In conjunction with the event, we were also able to recognize great NSB partners like SwishData, Zumasys and Voyant Strategies as part of our Partner of the Year Awards program.

One of the presentations that delivered a lot of value to the Syncsort data protection team was from Evaluator Group’s Randy Kerns. Randy has had relationships with members of the Syncsort executive team for many years, and it was great to have him on hand to share his views on the data protection market and the benefits that NSB can deliver to customers. We had the chance to catch up with Randy following his presentation and wanted to share an excerpt from that. Enjoy!

Q. What demands do you see server virtualization placing on data protection today?

RK: Virtualization creates both a storage bottleneck and a great deal more systems to be backed up.  A new approach is needed.  New approaches may need a better backup software solution that can handle the virtualized environment.

Q. What do you hear from organizations in terms of the impact of Big Data on data protection?

RK: Right now, it is mostly a case of fear of dealing with the projected amount of machine to machine data they are going to have to deal with.  They are looking for approaches and tools to deal with this now.

Q. What are you observing from companies regarding business continuity and disaster recovery planning, as well as hearing about the priorities in those areas?

RK: Many companies have put BC/DR plans on hold the last few years and are now starting to catch up with what is needed.  BC/DR has many facets but the basis for all of it is data availability.  These companies are starting to execute on their delayed plans.

Q. Having spent time with the Syncsort team this week, are there any key takeaways on the NSB solution and its value to customers?

RK: I think one thing that struck me is the wealth of capabilities there are in the virtualization area.  There are some great opportunities there for improving the administration and operations.

{ 0 comments }

Vote for NSB as ‘Best Backup and Recovery’ Solution!

August 23, 2011

Peter Eicher

Post by

Senior Product Specialist, Data Protection

Those of you that are frequent visitors of the Syncsort Data Protection Blog have no doubt grown accustomed to my rants over the last year about the NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup (NSB) solution and how it is helping customers rethink their data protection and recovery strategies in the face of game changing industry trends like ‘Big Data’ and server virtualization.

As we approach the one year anniversary of the launch of the solution (Happy Birthday, NSB!), I am truly amazed by the tremendous progress we’ve made in a short amount of time with our friends at NetApp, distribution partners like Arrow and Avnet, as well as the 100+ resellers that we’ve signed up and are enabling. We have a really unique opportunity with our partners around NSB and I can’t wait to see what year two of our journey has in store.

Some of the best moments are those in which it becomes clear that the industry is really starting to take note of NSB. I had one such moment recently when I learned that NSB is a finalist for ‘Best Backup and Recovery Product’ as part of Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine’s annual “Community Choice Awards.” Very cool!

Since I know that we have a great ecosystem of NSB customers and partners that follow this blog, I wanted to publish the easy steps needed to support NSB in this awards process and hopefully make the solution a winner! The voting period is open until September 7, 2011, and we’ll need everyone’s support since a name and email address are required when voting (no stuffing the ballot box!).

While I didn’t call it out explicitly in the instructions, there is also a cool part of the voting that allows folks to provide a “killer quote” about the solution. Think your “killer quote” is the best? Paste it into the comments section of this post and I’ll give a special prize to our favorite.

Thanks in advance for your support. Let’s make NSB a winner!

Vote for NSB in Windows IT Pro

1. Please follow the link here
2. Scroll down to #4 ‘Best Backup and Recovery Software Product’
3. Click on the drop down menu and scroll down to choose ‘NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup (NSB)’
4. Click on next at the bottom of page 1 and then scroll down to the bottom of page 2
5. Type in your name and email address and click ‘done’

Vote for NSB in SQL Server Magazine

1. Please follow the link here
2. Scroll down to #1 ‘Best Backup and Recovery Product’
3. Click on the drop down menu and scroll down to choose ‘NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup’
4. Scroll down to the bottom of page 2 to type in your name and email address and click ‘done’

{ 0 comments }

It’s a Virtual World After All

August 25, 2010

Peter Eicher

Post by

Senior Product Specialist, Data Protection

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably involved in some way with server virtualization. It is without question the biggest IT trend and adoption numbers are pushing 100%. And with good reason: virtualization works. It saves money, and plenty of it (virtualizing a few hundred servers can actually save millions over time). It gives you much greater IT agility (need a new server? click, click, done!).  And it makes data protection so much easier.

Hah, fooled you on that last one.  

Many users are finding that the fly in the ointment of virtualization is data protection. Most people simply take their current backup solution and drop it onto virtual machines. Then they watch it collapse under its own weight.

The fact is that traditional, file-based backups don’t work well in the virtual world.  They have always relied on dedicated hardware and  unused system resources (the typical physical server runs at about 15% of capacity most of the time). But in virtualization, everything is shared: CPU, memory, network bandwidth, disk I/O.  Every virtual machine competes for resources, and very little is left for backup processing. If your backup agent assumes it can grab all the compute cycles it needs, things can get ugly.  

Fortunately, the situation isn’t  hopeless – provided you re-think how you do your backups in the new, virtual world.  We’ve published some of our thoughts on this subject in Business Computing World. You can read them here:  “The Five Imperatives for Extreme Data Protection in Virtualized Environments.”

What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts, plus any interesting stories about life in the trenches with VM data protection.

{ 0 comments }