Backup and Recovery: New Strategies Drive Disk-Based Solutions

Transcription

1 I D C E X E C U T I V E B R I E F Backup and Recovery: New Strategies Drive Disk-Based Solutions Global Headquarters: 5 Speen Street Framingham, MA USA P F December 2010 Adapted from IDC Survey: Adoption Patterns of Disk-Based Backup by Robert Amatruda, Steven Scully, and Jindrich Amaldas, IDC # Sponsored by EMC Introduction Many firms have made significant investments in their tape-based backup and recovery infrastructure with tape drives, removable media, automation, software licenses, and support. In addition, they have invested in people and processes. These investments have made it difficult for firms to change their approach to backup and recovery. However, unabated data growth and the inability to costeffectively manage backup and recovery functions now are forcing many firms to reevaluate or abandon their tape investments altogether. Forgoing tape in favor of newer backup technologies such as data deduplication can result in significant cost savings. In a study conducted by IDC among enterprises with an average of 10,000, participating organizations saved on average nearly $230,000 annually by eliminating upgrades to tape libraries and drives. Organizations that abandoned tape also realized annual savings of more than $71,000 in transportation costs and more than $77,000 in costs associated with a decreased reliance on contractors. The worldwide tape automation market is projected to decline by over 9% from 2009 to 2013 (see Figure 1). IDC expects the tape automation market will continue to be adversely impacted by hardware-based disk backup solutions with data reduction capabilities such as deduplication, tighter integration of virtual tape libraries and application software, and the trend away from directattached tape solutions. Taken together, these new capabilities will enhance customer data protection strategies and provide viable alternatives to tape-based recovery. IDC_1054

2 Figure 1 Worldwide Tape Automation Market Revenue, ($B) Source: IDC, 2010 IDC has interviewed a broad sample of firms looking to deploy diskbased backup solutions to alleviate the pain points associated with using physical tape. During the course of this process, IDC has discovered that many firms have a consistent pattern of issues associated with backup and recovery to and from tape. In many instances, tape-based storage solutions are woefully inadequate in terms of restore time and have become very costly to scale out to accommodate the explosive growth of many firms' application needs. Also, many firms are looking to mitigate the risks associated with the loss and security of their data on physical tape cartridges once it leaves their premises. IDC is witnessing a sea change in customer behavior with regard to backup and recovery strategies. Tape-based storage solutions will remain installed in many customer environments primarily for long-term archive; however, tape will be deemphasized as a primary means for backup and recovery. Our research has discovered the top five reasons firms abandon their tape-based backup and recovery solutions: 1. Subpar backup performance Tape systems are having difficulty meeting shrinking backup windows. Daily and weekly incremental backups have been exceeding the allotted time windows. Recovery from physical tape is cumbersome and timeconsuming IDC

3 2. Lengthy recovery time It is all about recovery in user environments. Recovery of business-critical data and applications from tape takes many hours, if not days. Ironically, the "best practice" of using offsite tape repositories adds to recovery time. 3. Spiraling operational and capital costs Tape deployments are costly and cumbersome to maintain long term. Adding capacity to existing tape libraries and upgrading tape drive technology to noncompatible, higher-capacity media can be a costly endeavor. Ongoing service, support, and warranty can be high, especially for aging tape systems. 4. Mitigate risks from lost or misplaced tapes Shipping tape cartridges to offsite repositories exposes firms to risk due to loss. Companies must invest in tape encryption and key management systems to alleviate security risks, which adds cost and complexity. The "human element" involved when handling tape can add to risk of loss (could be operational cost as well). 5. Lack of storage efficiency Tape-based compression is typically only 2:1. In many cases, customers must move to another media type to gain additional capacity not always read or write compatible. There has been an explosion in the growth of redundant data using tape backup. A number of factors are driving organizations to move away from tape. The accelerated growth and adoption of virtual servers and desktops is causing IT organizations to review and modernize their backup and recovery architectures and processes with disk-based storage solutions. We have also found that remote site data protection requirements are another factor driving customers away from tape-based infrastructure IDC 3

4 A New Backup and Recovery Paradigm The use of disk in the backup and recovery process relieves many of the bottlenecks associated with using traditional tape methodologies. Customers are demanding faster backups to meet their shrinking backup windows. As a result, many customers are augmenting existing investments or forgoing further investments in physical tape infrastructure in favor of backup and recovery secondary disk systems utilizing technologies such as data deduplication and replication. In particular, data deduplication is dramatically improving IT economics by minimizing storage footprint requirements, backup windows, recovery times, and network bandwidth consumption. In customer environments, data deduplication is accelerating backup and recovery efficiency and provides measurable cost reductions, especially when compared with legacy processes. The demand for data deduplication in both midsize and enterprise environments is escalating as firms look for ways to keep pace with the near doubling of storage growth annually. This growth is fueled by new applications, the proliferation of virtualization, the creation of electronic document stores and document sharing, the use of Web 2.0 technologies, and the retention or preservation of digital records. The deduplication ratio obtained will vary based on a myriad of factors, including data type, rate of data change, retention periods, backup policies, and the like. According to IDC, organizations can expect total disk storage deduplication ratios of between 8:1 and 22:1. IT organizations worldwide are turning to virtualized environments to improve datacenter flexibility and scalability. This, in turn, drives implementation of networked storage solutions, which can create new pressures on storage performance. There are also implications to organizations' backup and recovery processes and architectures to ensure that every virtual server is protected and that the storage has the same flexibility and resiliency as the virtualized server environment. In one recent study, IDC found that more than 56% of respondents are already using either software-based or hardware-based data deduplication for remote branch offices; another 18% of respondents said they are considering data deduplication within the next 12 months. IDC research indicates that a majority of companies are still using some tape; however, they are reducing their reliance on it in favor of using optimized disk-based backup solutions that have data deduplication capability. We have discovered that over 60% of large firms with more than 1,000 and very large firms with more than 5,000 are still using tape but have reduced their reliance on it for backup. IDC has found that tape use in large organizations continues to remain prevalent due to legacy practices and investments. Nevertheless, their reliance on tape as a primary recovery tool has diminished significantly with the advent of disk IDC

5 systems using capabilities such as data deduplication and replication. Many firms are still using tape for long-term archive but rely on it less for rapid, operational recovery of their data. Increasingly, firms are abandoning tape altogether. We have found that 16.1% of respondents in large firms and 12.5% of respondents in very large firms are no longer using tape for backup (see Figure 2). The use and deployment of backup software that utilizes disk as a target varies by firm size. Companies that have are more likely to use backup software and disk for data protection than tape. Nearly 70% of respondents in firms with use backup software that writes their data to disk. Additionally, nearly 53% of firms with more than 5,000 make use of backup software that writes data to disk. Figure 2 Disk-Based Backup's Impact on Tape Environment by Company Size Q. What is the impact of disk-based backups on the use of tape in your environment? (% of respondents) Worldwide < ,000 4,999 >5,000 Still using tape, but reducing our reliance on it No longer using tape Still using tape the same, no plans to change Never used tape Source: IDC's Disk-Based Data Protection Quick Poll Survey, February 2010 Considerations Increasingly, many organizations are deploying disk-based systems into their data protection environments to achieve significant improvements in backup and recovery times, as well as to lower operational and capital expenses. Many organizations are also deploying disk-based backup solutions specifically to reduce or even eliminate their use of tape. Tape infrastructure is very well 2010 IDC 5

6 entrenched in firms of all sizes and has significant legacy in data protection operations. While IDC expects that tape infrastructure will remain deployed in environments to address the need for low-cost archive, disk-based backup solutions with deduplication will continue to inhibit future growth in new tape deployments. Tape is still commonly used within backup and recovery environments. For many organizations, tape infrastructure is part of their legacy operations, and it may be challenging for these organizations to initially make the transition to disk-based technology for backup and recovery. A more comprehensive understanding of the value proposition and potential benefits of using more deduplication storage solutions could help these organizations make the switch away from tape much more quickly especially when operational and application recovery is vitally important to remain competitive in today's 24 x 7 business environment. Customers will experience measurable benefits from using disk-based storage solutions in place of tape, especially when using data deduplication to alleviate the pain associated with explosive data growth and increased capital expenditures. We would advise customers to embrace disk-based data protection solutions with data deduplication if they are experiencing unabated data growth, a lack of recovery performance, increased costs associated with physical tape, and an inability to meet backup windows. Conclusion Despite the tightened IT budgets of the past few years, disaster recovery, business continuity, and data protection have emerged as top storage spending priorities for IDC's recent study on IT budgets and spending patterns has discovered a renewed emphasis on data protection solutions that address evolving data storage requirements of organizations in the coming years. Organizations that are intent on improving key backup and recovery metrics are also moving away from tape and instead are ramping up their investments in disk-based technologies. The ROI on making this transition can be significant; a study by IDC concludes that organizations have saved more than $370,000 annually by moving away from tape. As a result, the disk-based data protection, continuity, and recovery market is at the confluence of a number of industry trends that will continue to make it a dynamic market segment for years to come. The ever-growing amount of data, especially unstructured data, is propelling the disk-based data protection solution market. Influenced by the benefits of disk-based storage technologies, many organizations are seeking alternatives to tape for their backup and recovery needs. Improved backup and recovery and lower costs are among the top reasons for discontinuing the use of tape. Furthermore, increasing availability requirements, including rapid recovery and shorter backup windows, will drive demand for increased use of various replication technologies as part of an overall disk-based data protection strategy IDC

7 However, the biggest challenge for customers will be managing the sea of data. Therefore, technologies that reduce the amount of data stored in the first place will grow as well. IDC foresees greater adoption of data deduplication, which removes large amounts of static data from the regular data protection process, including the replicas that are generated. COPYRIGHT NOTICE The analyst opinion, analysis, and research results presented in this IDC Executive Brief are drawn directly from the more detailed studies published in IDC Continuous Intelligence Services. Any IDC information that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. Contact IDC Go-to-Market Services at or the GMS information line at to request permission to quote or source IDC or for more information on IDC Executive Briefs. Visit to learn more about IDC subscription and consulting services or to learn more about IDC Go-to-Market Services. Copyright 2010 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized IDC 7