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Unplanned downtime, whether through storage device/host failure or problems in adding new devices/ hosts to the storage environment, carries a significant business cost. In the always-on e-commerce world, the impact of system downtime in lost transactions and profits is obvious; however, even for more traditional " brick-and-mortar " organizations, downtime can result in delays to order processing, customer contact, and supplier transactions, all of which can impact revenue. Figure 11.15 quantifies the average cost of downtime by some industries. Figure 11.15. Cost of downtime.
The chart in Figure 11.16 describes the categories of risks your operation must overcome , along with the available solutions to manage those risks. Figure 11.16. Downtime risks and available solutions to manage each risk.
Traditional High Availability and Backup Minimize RiskHigh-availability solutions keep systems running in light of hardware or software failures. Point-in-time copies allow for testing of software before production or fast recovery to a known state prior to hardware/system malfunction, human error, or virus attack. Backup solutions provide a final line of defense against all situations; although site disasters account for only 3% of downtime, their losses can be astronomical to the enterprise. The traditional method of disaster recovery is to perform a restore from backup media. Today's high-availability environments cannot tolerate downtime and lost business associated with the time it takes to accurately restore the environment. If sites can be sufficiently separated to reduce the possibility that both sites would be affected by a disaster, HP's disaster recovery technologies can practically eliminate downtime. For more information on disaster-tolerant solutions see the HP Web site at http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/solutions/blueprints.html. Do More Faster ”Keeping Pace with the Growing Data StreamBusinesses need robust data protection solutions for critical business information. Backup and recovery solutions must meet the demands of virtually any storage environment; from the needs of fast-growing companies with expanding storage requirements to established companies looking to update and grow their current infrastructures into a storage area network (SAN). To do this, organizations will want to leverage existing storage investments through storage consolidation and improved management tools, and incorporate new storage, all at existing staffing levels. Organizations need end-to-end data protection solutions for storage environments that focus on both backup and restore. Backup is the problem to Administrators because they deal with it every day, and restore is a primary concern for the CIO. HP offers backup and recovery solutions that provide the foundation to meet the ever- decreasing backup windows required by today's business environment. To accommodate expanding storage and the need for faster backup and recovery solutions, businesses are looking to protect existing investments and build upon their current infrastructure without having to retrain IT staff. HP backup and recovery solutions are certified with leading ISV backup and recovery applications to provide continuity for customers who have already standardized on a third-party backup application. These applications include Computer Associates BrightStor ARCserve, Legato NetWorker, Tivoli Storage Manager, VERITAS Backup Exec, and VERITAS NetBackup. Additional information on supported applications can be found at http://www.hp.com/go/ebs. Redundant Array of Independent Servers (RAIS)RAIS is a new concept. The premise is simple: Put all data, including the boot/system disk on a SAN array, and boot the server from the storage disk. If the server has a hardware failure, you just disconnect it, maybe swap the host bus adapter (HBA) cards if using fiber connections as most SAN solutions do, and boot the new server off of the storage. At this time, this is a fairly new concept at least to Windows because this means the system disk and the page file are on a detached disk. I worked with a customer who had implemented this solution. The customer employed two ProLiant DL580G2 servers as Exchange servers (not clustered), each booting off of separate SAN disks through a fiber switch in a SAN fabric. One server began experiencing intermittent hangs . One Sunday morning, the customer called and said the server was hung again and wanted a new machine. We were prepared already, so the field engineer picked up the new server, swapped the HBA cards from the existing server and put them in the new one, and booted it to the existing SAN disk. There were no internal drives in either server. With redundant paths through the SAN fabric, you can have a fully redundant server, including the system disk. This makes recovering from a failure much easier and faster than using backup media, such as tapes, to restore the server. HP ProLiant and Backup Recovery SolutionsWhether for an environment based on direct attached storage (DAS), network attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN), HP provides certified solutions. At the core of HP solutions are proven technologies, such as LTO Ultrium and SuperDLT. HP backup solutions can scale from a single tape device to autoloaders for workgroup environments to highly available libraries for heterogeneous SAN configurations. And to protect your investment, HP StorageWorks tape libraries can be redeployed from DAS configurations to SAN environments shared by multiple servers. HP not only provides industry-leading technology in its products, HP services engineers provide the know-how to properly plan and integrate HP solutions. For example, solutions like the HP Enterprise Backup Solution (EBS) are accompanied with a full set of services, including detailed diagnostics of existing implementation, capacity planning, architecture design, and onsite installation. In addition to the EBS solution, additional Backup and Recovery Solution Services are available for HP Data Protector, VERITAS NetBackup and Backup Exec, and Legato NetWorker; for more information see http://www.hp.com/hps/storage/ns_backup.html. Example Backup and Recovery Solution Integrated with ProLiantTo illustrate the complete range of components that may be incorporated in HP backup and recovery solutions available for ProLiant servers in DAS, NAS, and SAN storage environments, we'll use an example of HP's EBS. Although an EBS solution can be built from scratch, typical EBS solutions integrate into existing environments and are composed of the full range of backup and recovery products. Existing and new components are scaled and orchestrated by HP engineers to integrate into a robust solution capable of enterprisewide backup and recovery. The following component list illustrates the scalability of HP EBS and the scope of components that can be incorporated to tailor a solution to an existing infrastructure:
For more information on EBS and the full line of HP storage offerings, tape systems, and solutions, visit the HP storage Web sites:
Backup and Recovery Usage ScenariosYou can configure your backup site configuration as shown in Figure 11.17. The following list explains the backup options to be considered for backing up data.
Figure 11.17. Backup usage illustration.
Windows Server 2003 Tape Storage CompatibilityAs a quick reference for anyone updating to Windows Server 2003, Table 11.2 lists current model Windows 2003 Certified Tape Storage. For the latest information visit the HP Web site at http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/compatibility/tapebackup/index.html. Table 11.2. Windows 2003 Certified Tape Storage
HP One-Button Disaster RecoveryHP One-Button Disaster Recovery is the simplest means available for achieving a reliable, complete disaster recovery. Network and desktop server managers have different priorities, depending on their specific roles, the nature of their organization, and the size and configuration of their networks, but when a system disaster happens, they share one common aim: to enable users to get on with their business. Other disaster-recovery solutions rely on you to manually prepare a set of disaster recovery floppy disks and/or CDs. The minute your system changes ”a new piece of software or a new peripheral is added ”these disaster recovery disks are out of date. With HP One-Button Disaster Recovery, you can automatically save your latest configuration every time you make a standard backup tape. Likewise, other solutions require a manual system recovery, which is a process that takes time and extensive technical knowledge. If it isn't done properly, you run the risk of further system failures. With HP One-Button Disaster Recovery, you will never have to perform a manual system recovery, ensuring you and your colleagues can quickly get back to business. Software and Hardware CompatibilityHP One-Button Disaster Recovery is built into HP's entire family of DAT drives, and HP's new Ultrium-format tape drives. HP One-Button Disaster Recovery has growing support from computer manufacturers and backup application vendors . For the latest list of servers, workstations, and software that support this feature, check the tape backup compatibility pages on the HP Web site at http://www.hp.com/go/connect. Additional Backup and Recovery Information and ResourcesHP sells and supports tape storage devices for these standard formats:
For more information, go to HP's Active Answers Web site at http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/71108-0-0-225-121.aspx . |
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