Backup Solutions

Virtual Tape Backup Solutions

Disk-to-Disk (D2D) Backup Solutions

Physical Tape Backup Solutions

Performance

Virtual tape backup systems optimize performance.  SEPATON offers the industry’s fastest performance – up to 9600 MB/sec.

Can theoretically perform at wire speed. However, continuously optimizing for performance is resource intensive.

Performance is improving, but inability to meet backup and restore windows and administrative burdens cause most enterprises to implement disk based backup or virtual tape backup solutions.

Scalability

Leading virtual tape backup systems are built using a grid architecture that maximizes scalability.  A single SEPATON VTL appliance can grow from 7TB to 1.6PB of useable storage.

No limitations to scaling a disk based backup solution. Again growth is often restricted by administration burdens.

Tape libraries can be quite large. However, if you run out of capacity in one, you’re looking at a sizeable investment to add another.

Data Integrity

Many virtual tape backup appliances have top of the line data protection features built in (RAID 6, hot spares, etc.). Hands-free administration is your safest bet.

RAID protection, hot spares and other safety features can get pricey when implemented one by one, but disk based backup is inherently safer than tape.

The nature of human handling is rife with risks including loss, theft and corruption.  Any of these could bring you the 15-minutes of fame you’ll wish you never had.

Implementation

One of the most appealing aspects of virtual tape backup is ease of implementation.  No policy or infrastructure changes. Off an running in as little as 30 minutes.

Implementation requirements vary based with D2D solutions. Any way you slice it though, it’ll be more complex and costly than a virtual tape backup system.

Fairly straightforward given that most environments have an established tape infrastructure supporting by the backup application.

Added Features

Virtual tape backup vendors are the leaders in innovating new backup technologies.

Your options will be limited, but you can add some advanced features to a D2D system.  Just beware of managing additional vendors and integrations with each feature you want access to.

Perhaps the greatest drawback of tape is its static nature.  Want deduplication? Replication? Think virtual tape backup.

Price

Virtual tape backup will tend to have a higher price tag than other backup solutions, because of both software and hardware components.

Disk based backup solutions will require the lowest capital expenditure of the disk options.  However, watch out for burgeoning administration costs and software needs as the environment grows.

Why is tape still considered a viable backup solution?  It’s cheap.  Consider staff time when building a business justification to go to higher-priced disk.

TCO

While procurement costs may exceed other solutions, virtual tape backup systems dramatically reduce administration time and scale easily. Hands-down winner in terms of TCO.

Managing a growing D2D environment will tax staff resources and may result in costs that were unforeseen at the project inception.

Tape’s cheap, but people are not.  And there’s no one that’s ever managed a tape environment that would say it’s efficient.