Performance key for disk-based backup

Networking Technology Update This newsletter is sponsored by Oracle TCO: Making the Most of Your Information Technology Investments Discover how to use the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) approach and four key strategies to chose the best technologies to benefit your organization and its unique needs and requirements. Networking Technology Update, 05/07/07 Performance key for disk-based backup By Bill Andrews Disk-based backup systems that support compression and data deduplication can be an attractive alternative to tape-based backup, but the architecture and design will greatly affect how these systems perform and scale. VoIP: Lessons from Early Adopters Experts say VoIP isn't a magic wand that will solve all of an organization's communications challenges right out of the box. Learn why VoIP may not produce expected savings and productivity gains, and other lessons from early adopters. Click Here to Watch When reviewing performance, keep in mind that performing compression and data deduplication on the fly will significantly slow the backup process.Some approaches avoid this problem by providing enough disk space to receive the backup job without processing, and simply apply compression and data deduplication after the backup is complete. This ensures jobs run at the speed of disk while gaining the benefit of storage efficiency. Equally important to backup performance is restore performance. It’s important to keep the backup window manageable, but not at the cost of increased file-restore times or the ability to recover quickly in the case of a disaster. Data-reduction algorithms work in different ways. Some approaches break up data into small chunks to identify redundancy; however, with the data in millions of chunks scattered on the disk, it takes a long time to reassemble. For more on this story, please click here.

TODAY'S MOST-READ STORIES: 1. Homeless man disrupts Internet2 service 2. Top 15 all-time 'network-iest' TV characters 3. Top 15 controversial Microsoft quotes 4. The 50 best consumer tech products ever 5. Is MPLS alternative DOA? 6. Google home page bug strikes again 7. Court rejects Vonage request for retrial 8. Slideshow: Cisco's New Catalyst 6500 blade 9. What's a Microsoft-Yahoo merger mean for Google? 10. Provider exec: SLAs are just 'marketing fodder' MOST DOWNLOADED PODCAST: Don't take DNS for granted

Contact the author: Andrews, president and CEO of ExaGrid Systems, can be reached at bandrews @exa grid.com. This newsletter is sponsored by Oracle TCO: Making the Most of Your Information Technology Investments Discover how to use the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) approach and four key strategies to chose the best technologies to benefit your organization and its unique needs and requirements. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007