“Since implementing the Data Domain Restorer we have retired the six DLT tape drives and the 126 tapes used to back-up our data stores. We now rely on the Restorer for all our back up and restore needs.” — Ned Rendell
MIS Director
Mohler, Nixon & Williams
OuterBay

OuterBay Keeps More of Its Important Data Onsite and Recoverable Using Data Domain’s Capacity Optimized Backup

Situation Analysis

OuterBay — an application data management company whose flagship application improves database performance by relocating inactive transactions to lower cost server/storage options — needed additional storage options to manage its exponential growth rates of +250 percent annually. Not only does the company’s Software Development team produce large amounts of development and test data, their IT department found themselves managing a steadily increasing amount of data for both Microsoft Exchange and user’s home directories. The company performs weekly full backups and nightly incremental backups on nearly 3 terabytes of network attached storage.

In Search of a Cost Effective Backup and Restore Solution

To meet their growing storage requirements, Graham Breeze, who heads the data center at OuterBay, actively sought out more cost-effective and innovative storage and backup solutions to help him achieve his business goals. Breeze turned to disk-based solutions over the addition of another robotic tape silo because he knew his company would be at an advantage if he could avoid the complications of going to tape for restores. Because OuterBay relies on its databases for the development and testing of its software, he also wanted to keep more backups on-site to extend their backup retention periods.

While investigating disk-based storage solutions, he found the Data Domain DD200 Restorer™, an appliance that would not only give him the speed advantage of disk but also the fast and accurate restore capabilities that he needed. And the 20x compression ratio of the DD200 would allow him to keep more backup data on-site, available for quick restores. Impressed with what he read, his next step was to begin a three-week pilot where more specific criteria could be measured. His criteria and the outcome are outlined below.

OuterBay Test Plan
OuterBay Need Test Methodology DD200 Succeeded
Solution that would work with current VERITAS backup software Test full and incremental backups, and then successfully complete a minimum of 3 restores Yes
Solution that allowed backup and restores at 30 MB/second Test throughput performance — backups and restores Yes
Solution that has battery powered backup during power outages, which allows graceful shutdown and no data corruption When system is unplugged, ensure no data loss, and that backups continue and data restores correctly Yes
Solution that is highly available and includes redundant disks Ensure system runs for three weeks and that recovered data is correct and usable Yes

The Data Domain Solution Exceeds Expectations

The Data Domain DD200 Restorer appliance proved to be the most logical and cost-effective solution for OuterBay. The appliance met or exceeded all of the criteria after the rigorous trial program and the company purchased the appliance shortly after the pilot concluded. Additionally, the Data Domain Restorer was the perfect complement to OuterBay’s existing tape library strategy. The company’s most frequently needed data is stored locally on the DD200 and the information can be restored in a matter of minutes, not hours associated with storing tapes at remote, offsite locations.

A Reliable Backup Solution Directly Impacts Business Results

Using the Data Domain DD200, OuterBay now has assurance that its mission-critical data — the lifeblood of its business — is not only backed up quickly and easily, but they now know their data is fully restorable. In addition, the new appliance ensures that their internal users will experience no downtime during backups, and restores will be transparent to the internal users as well. The DD200 gives OuterBay new flexibility in structuring the backup schedule to meet the needs of the business. Now Breeze is considering plans to move from daily incremental backups to daily full backups because the new technology allows him to do so with little change in consumed storage.

Through lower staffing costs, the need to buy fewer tapes, and a reduced need to recover data from offsite storage, Breeze estimates the DD200 will save OuterBay thousands of dollars annually in both hard and soft costs.