Data Domain White Papers

VMware Data Backup and Recovery Design Best Practices with Data Domain

VMware offers extraordinary benefits, but it can come at the cost of extra storage, backup resources, and administrative challenges. EMC Data Domain deduplication storage addresses this challenge by reducing redundant data across VMware data backups, operating at disk speeds, and providing cost-effective replication for fast disaster recover. This white paper reviews the best practices for architecting a backup, re (DR)covery, and DR approach for VMware using Data Domain systems, regardless of which backup software or scripts are involved. Download

Symantec NetBackup OpenStorage Best Practices with Data Domain Deduplication

Understanding Data Domain OpenStorage Software and the API-based integration with Symantec NetBackup provides a clear view of the business value and technical merits of the solution. Based upon practical knowledge gathered by Data Domain field engineering teams, this paper provides best practice guidelines for successful design and implementation. Download

EMC Data Domain Boost for Symantec NetBackup and NetBackup Storage Unit Group Failover

Service interruptions that result in failed or suspended backups can be detrimental in a backup environment. However, many commercially available backup applications are designed to accommodate service interruptions and can automate failover using policy-based algorithms. This white paper explores how to leverage Storage Unit Group failover to achieve N+1 redundancy when using EMC Data Domain Boost software with Symantec NetBackup OpenStorage. Download

EMC NetWorker Design Best Practices with Data Domain

This paper by GlassHouse Technologies provides an in-depth analysis of how Data Domain deduplication storage offers new storage architecture options for EMC NetWorker customers. The authors conclude: "We see a particularly compelling case for Data Domain to revolutionize the way small, medium, large and remote NetWorker sites manage physical storage resources and replication for disaster recovery." Download

Microsoft SQL Server Best Practices with EMC Data Domain Deduplication Storage

Users are faced with many options and tradeoffs when choosing a backup strategy for Microsoft SQL Server databases. This paper maps out those tradeoffs and examines how Data Domain deduplication storage preserves data integrity, meets stringent RTO/RPO objectives, and integrates easily into a multitude of active SQL or third-party backup environments. Download

F5 ARX Storage Tiering Best Practices with Data Domain

Explosive data growth and constrained budgets are driving organizations to look for solutions that support IT operations without sacrificing performance or cost targets. Data Domain deduplication storage combined with F5 ARX file virtualization meets these challenges directly. This white paper provides an overview of storage tiering with deduplication, its benefits, important decision parameters in creating effective tiering policies and an example architecture to control storage costs while enabling effective backup and disaster recovery. Download

Backup and Recovery for Microsoft Exchange Best Practices with Data Domain

IT administrators must exploit modern disk backup technologies in order to effectively deal with burgeoning data growth, strict retention requirements and demanding recovery service levels. Data Domain provides a powerful backup, archiving and DR solution that can scale with the most demanding data center requirements. This technical brief outlines best practices for backing up Microsoft Exchange data to Data Domain systems and how deduplication provides administrators with a disk-based solution for protecting and archiving email. Download

Microsoft SharePoint Data Protection Best Practices with Data Domain

Data Domain deduplication storage offers a powerful data protection solution by reducing redundant data across backups and providing a cost-effective replication option for simpler disaster recovery. This paper looks into some of the options and strategies for developing a data protection plan for your Microsoft SharePoint environment. Download

CommVault Galaxy Backup and Recovery with Data Domain

This paper demonstrates how Data Domain systems provide a 10-30x compression to CommVault Galaxy backup data. This enables customers to retain months of backup images for less than $.35/GB, a price that is comparable to tape. Data Domain systems also enable network-efficient WAN vaulting for disaster recovery, remote office data protection and tape consolidation - all under the control of CommVault Galaxy. Download

Oracle RMAN Design Best Practices with Data Domain

Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) allows the database administrator (DBA) to easily backup and recover an Oracle database. RMAN handles the coordination required to ensure that transaction integrity is preserved and sufficient information is maintained to recover the database to any appropriate point. This best practices and implementation guide describes how a Data Domain appliance is typically used as a target for backup or archived data. Download

Archiving and Compliance with Data Domain Deduplication Storage

Kahn Consulting evaluates the effectiveness of Data Domain solutions in providing data security, integrity, and processing speed to support stringent archiving requirements. It finds that, with its advanced controls and robust architecture, Data Domain performs well across eight key dimensions of archiving and can provide a strong basis for securing IT data for short- or long-term needs. Download

ESG Field Audit: Data Domain Data Backup and Recovery with Deduplication

ESG Labs recently completed interviews with Data Domain customers utilizing deduplication storage deployed in production environments supporting backup, recovery and disaster recovery for business critical applications as well as remote and branch office data protection. This report documents the successes these Data Domain customers have experienced with a focus on configuration and installation practices that highlight Data Domainís ability to optimize customersí disk backup, archiving and networked disaster recovery. Download

Dedupe-Centric Storage for General Applications

Proliferation and preservation of many versions and copies of data drives much of the tremendous data growth most companies are experiencing. IT administrators are left to deal with the consequences. Because deduplication addresses one of the key elements of data growth, it should be at the heart of any data management strategy. This paper demonstrates how storage systems can be built with a deduplication engine powerful enough to become a platform that general applications can leverage. Download

Deduplication and D2D Backup: Business and Technical Considerations

Enterprise Storage Group (ESG) has written a thorough, easy-to-follow analysis of the technical and business considerations for data deduplication and D2D Backup Systems. This vendor-neutral report will help you understand the cost and operational efficiencies of these solutions compared to using tape, as well as provide you with the questions to ask in order to make the right decision for your enterprise. Download

Deduplication for Modern Mainframe Virtual Tape

Backup, recovery and replication methods in mainframe data centers that rely on physical tape media are becoming impractical. This paper examines the problems imposed by physical tape and how its limitations can be overcome by moving to Luminex Modern Mainframe Virtual Tape with Data Domain deduplication storage, a solution with no reliance on physical tape for backup and remote disaster recovery. Download

Building Proven Data Protection Strategies

Will traditional data protection applications survive the demands for ultra-high availability and the growing requirements for nearly instantaneous recovery? In this paper, data protection expert Fred Moore of Horison Information Strategies explores today's backup and recovery strategy options, comparing traditional methods, such as Backup, Disk Mirroring, Snapshots, CDP, and VTLs. What are the trade-offs associated with each and, more important, how do new data deduplication techniques change storage economics and impact data protection decisions and purchases? Download

Buying Criteria for Disk-to-Disk Solutions

Written by the Taneja Group, this white paper outlines the key attributes of "Operational Simplicity": plug-and-play capability; cost-effective, transparent scalability; and non-disruptive, reliable data protection. The paper goes on to explain how new technologies can help simplify complex environments, allowing businesses to sharply reduce management overhead, attain very strong ROI, and fully protect data integrity. Download

Eliminating Tape and Trucks from the Disaster Recovery Process

Disaster recovery and remote office replication are top-of-mind issues for IT professionals as natural disasters and human errors continue to underscore the fallibility of the tape-based backup strategies. Data Domain disk-based systems dramatically improve the speed and efficiency with which disaster recovery can occur — and eliminate tapes and trucks once and for all. Download

The ROI and TCO Benefits of EMC Data Domain Deduplication Storage and VMware

Improving backup operations and reducing the storage costs involved in server virtualization are key to the successful expansion of virtualization across an organization. This FOCUS White Paper examines and quantifies the costs and benefits of deduplication in VMware environments. The financial analysis of three large organizations in different industries are presented, and demonstrate net savings of more than $3 million and ROI of up to 278%. Download

IDC White Paper: The ROI of Backup Redesign Using Deduplication: An EMC Data Domain User Research Study

Gain valuable insight into enterprise customers' backup practices utilizing EMC Data Domain deduplication storage, demonstrating tangible ROI results from reduced backup costs, increased IT productivity and improved storage management. This IDC White Paper takes a look at the specific and quantitative business value associated with deploying Data Domain systems as part of rapidly evolving backup and data protection strategies. Download

The ROI and TCO Benefits of Data Deduplication for Data Protection in the Enterprise

Industry expert Barb Goldworm, Focus Consulting, interviewed and documented the experiences of three enterprise customers who adopted a Data Domain deduplication storage solution within their data center. ROI, total savings and payback periods were documented. In this paper, Ms. Goldworm demonstrates how Data Domain deduplication storage offers proven cost savings and a strong, persuasive business case across a variety of business and technical scenarios. Download

Data Domain Global Deduplication Array

This white paper introduces the EMC Data Domain Global Deduplication Array (GDA), the industry's highest-performance inline deduplication storage system for enterprise backup applications, and explains how it delivers scalable performance and capacity, enhanced multi-site disaster recovery, and simpler, end-to-end backup administration.Download

Data Domain Replicator Software

Replication of deduplicated, compressed data offers the most economical approach to the process of automating the movement of data copies to a safe site using minimum WAN bandwidth. Data Domain Replicator software offers comprehensive flexibility for a variety of topologies in the distributed enterprise, from remote offices at the edge to large core data centers. Unlike other deduplication methods, Data Domain deduplication is inline, so replication completes as fast as possible to minimize risk and maximize currency of the restore point. Download

Data Domain OpenStorage Primer

The Data Domain OpenStorage solution for Symantec NetBackup advances the ability to use disk as disk by eliminating the need to emulate tape drives, tape cartridges and robots. Customers can store more data on disk with inline deduplication, and the creation of backup copies is simplified using optimized duplication. This technical primer introduces OpenStorage and presents example use cases that address a variety of data protection challenges. Download

Data Domain SISL™ Scaling Architecture

Tape has been losing ground to deduplication in disk systems, which over time can deliver an order of magnitude greater data reduction than traditional compression. In SISL (Stream Informed Segment Layout), Data Domain has developed a proven architecture that uses deduplication to achieve high throughput with economical storage hardware. Over time, this will allow the continued scaling of CPUs to add direct benefit to system scalability in the form of additional throughput. Download

Avoiding the Disk Bottleneck in the Data Domain Deduplication File System

A significant challenge with deduplication technology is to identify and eliminate duplicate data segments on a low-cost system that cannot afford enough RAM to store an index of the stored segments and may be forced to access an on-disk index for every input segment. This highly technical paper describes three techniques employed in the production Data Domain deduplication file system to relieve the disk bottleneck. Download

Deduplication Storage for Nearline Applications

Data Domain has proven that deduplication can be reliable, fast and easy to manage, all while providing massively disruptive economic differentiation for backup deployments seeking greater retention, replication and recovery speed. A consensus is now emerging that for many other non-backup nearline applications, deduplication will bring the same dramatic impact. Read how deduplication can optimize storage for application protection utilities (such as Oracle RMAN), operating system images, online reference data and archiving. Data Domain Retention Lock software also makes these nearline systems useful for IT organizations challenged with compliance to corporate governance policies. Download

Data Invulnerability Architecture: Ensuring Data Integrity and Storage System Recoverability

Data Domain protection storage systems represent a dramatic departure from conventional storage system design thinking and introduce a radical premise: No single mechanism is sufficient to ensure data integrity in a storage system. Data Domain systems have been designed from the ground up to be the storage of last resort, and include Data Domain's Data Invulnerability Architecture, the industry's best defense against data integrity issues. Download

Optimizing File Services with Deduplication and Virtualization

In this report, ESG senior analyst Teri McClure describes their research showing market trends driving up the costs of data protection and how EMC Data Domain deduplication storage and F5 ARX file virtualization can overcome them. She then examines one deployment in detail, Clackamas County, Oregon, and reports on their success deploying this combined solution. Download

IDC White Paper: Backup and Recovery — Accelerating Efficiency and Driving Down IT Costs Using Data Deduplication

IDC explains how deduplication is dramatically improving IT economics by minimizing storage footprint requirements, backups windows, and network bandwidth consumption. This white paper also explores the various approaches to deduplication for backup data and outlines considerations for selecting a solution. Download

IDC Workbook: Assess the Value of Deduplication for your Storage Consolidation Initiatives

Enterprises today are faced with a two-sided challenge: to store and manage increasing amounts of data and to simultaneously reduce system footprint — and in a way that enables enterprises to meet recovery requirements. Deduplication is a technique that can dramatically improve storage system performance, minimize capacity requirements, and speed up data recovery. This workbook helps you assess current needs and usage and determine where deduplication can positively affect your IT consolidation initiatives, help reduce costs, and create a more "green" environment. Download

Optimizing Storage Utilization with Data Domain and F5 ARX

As IT infrastructures expand and user data grows, efficient management of that data across storage tiers becomes imperative. By using EMC Data Domain deduplication storage with F5 ARX file virtualization, IT administrators can allocate data to the optimal storage tier while simplifying administration, reducing costs, and improving performance. Download

The Clipper Group: EMC NetWorker and Avamar — An Integrated Pair for Traditional and Deduplication Backup

Read how NetWorker offers an evolutionary approach to adopting data deduplication through integration with EMC Avamar. NetWorker enables you to address a wide range of data protection requirements including the unique challenges of virtual environments and remote offices. Download

Deduplication and D2D Backup: Business and Technical Considerations

Enterprise Storage Group (ESG) has written a thorough, easy-to-follow analysis of the technical and business considerations for data deduplication and D2D Backup Systems. This vendor-neutral report will help you understand the cost and operational efficiencies of these solutions compared to using tape, as well as provide you with the questions to ask in order to make the right decision for your enterprise. Download

Why CIOs Should Look to Data Deduplication

Authors: Lauren Whitehouse & Brian Babineau, Enterprise Strategy Group
IT executives barely have time to keep track of the technology in their own environments; finding the hours in the day to stay abreast of all the new technology solutions in the marketplace is next to impossible.  Data deduplication is one of a few standout technologies where the CIO can make an investment which is easy to rationalize and brings a fast payback. This paper explains why data deduplication should be on every CIO’s project short list in 2009. Download

What Data Domain is Doing to Storage

Author: Steve Duplessie, Founder and Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group
This paper describes the role of deduplication in the evolving data lifecycle, along with its historical significance. Industry expert Steve Duplessie explains how Data Domain has changed the status quo when it comes to data protection by reducing the number of products needed for operational and disaster recovery. How did Data Domain do it? And how does Data Domain maintain its leadership? Duplessie outlines key success factors with historical references to market makers such as Cisco, Symantec, EMC and NetApp. Download

ESG Field Audit: Data Domain Data Backup and Recovery with Deduplication

ESG Labs recently completed interviews with Data Domain customers utilizing deduplication storage deployed in production environments supporting backup, recovery and disaster recovery for business critical applications as well as remote and branch office data protection. This report documents the successes these Data Domain customers have experienced with a focus on configuration and installation practices that highlight Data Domainís ability to optimize customersí disk backup, archiving and networked disaster recovery. Download

ESG Lab Report: Data Domain Replication

ESG Labs tested Data Domain deduplication storage systems with Data Domain Replicator software and validated that they are easy to use, implement and manage, and that they integrate easily into existing data protection environments where they can leverage leading backup applications and LAN/WAN infrastructures. ESG concludes: "When it comes to backup and disaster recovery, organizations are always looking for better, cheaper and more efficient ways to protect their data. By combining flexible replication with powerful data deduplication and compression technology (which reduce both capacity and bandwidth requirements), Data Domain is taking key steps to ensure that it covers all bases." Download