So many cool products, so little time.
One of the most successful -- and perhaps least widely known -- products in EMC's sprawling portfolio is EMC Data Protection Advisor.
One of the most successful -- and perhaps least widely known -- products in EMC's sprawling portfolio is EMC Data Protection Advisor.
Based on our acquisition of WysDM, we've continually enhanced and extended the product's capabilities where -- today -- most people are seriously surprised as to what it can do, and how well it does what it does.
Frankly speaking, I think it's under-marketed.
And, if your job involves protecting lots of different forms of information with a wide variety of tools, you might be interested in this post.
The Problem
Many people hear "backup and recovery" and think that's usually a pretty straightforward proposition.
Well, most of the time, it's not.
First, the act of performing regularly schedule backups on shared infrastructure that can be confidently used to recover information isn't straightforward in the least.
Left unmanaged and unmonitored, a surprising number of backup jobs routines fail. Not a problem, unless you want to recover :-)
Second, in most cases, there's a wide variety of technology being used to backup data: tape-oriented backups, local and remote replication, backup to disk, CDP (continuous data protection), LAN-oriented backup, and more -- all from multiple vendors.
It's the rare (or very small) organization that just uses one or two methods to back up data.
Third, the people and infrastructure associated with backup and restore are continually stuck between a rock and a hard place. There's always more data, shorter windows and desired for accelerated recover time.
And, of course, there's the continual pressure on costs, people and operational efficiency.
Just ask any IT professional who works in this space, and they'll tell you -- it's not an area that always gets a lot of funding or attention, unless there's a really big problem.
To Make Matters Even More Interesting ...
Underneath all of this, there are some secular trends that make all of this even more challenging than it already is.
One example of these underlying trends is the gradual shift to disk-based protection technologies vs. tape means that most shops will be using a mix of both for a while. More and more of the IT landscape is becoming virtualized, meaning that schemes designed for the physical world are being slowly replaced by approaches designed for the virtual one.
And, just to make things even more interesting, backup and restore is one of the areas where service providers and cloud operators have begun to make headway into enterprises -- simply because data at a distance offers better protection.
What's An IT Professional To Do?
Well, here at EMC, we have lots and lots of protection technology we can show you -- all manner of local/remote replication technology (EMC RecoverPoint as well as array-specific replication), client-side dedupe (Avamar), target-side dedupe (Data Domain), hybridized backup software (NetWorker), and probably a few products I've left out.
Well, all of that's nice, but let's say that your interest is doing better with what you already have, rather than buying a bunch of new protection technology.
And that's where DPA absolutely shines.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Well, at least in this case it is.
If you take a look at this slide that I pilfered from the marketing deck, you'll get a quick understanding of what DPA does.
First, it's extremely broad in the set of data protection technology it understands -- both from EMC and other vendors. Yes, you'll notice a strong emphasis on tight integration with certain EMC technologies (notably Avamar and RecoverPoint), but that's to be expected.
Second, it offers a complete view from the business application all the way down to the physical backup device, and everything in between -- the proverbial "end to end" view.
Third, it provides the comprehensive decision support tools borne out of necessity of overworked backup administrators who have too much data and not enough time or budget.
Interesting note: I am told that WysDM was formed by ex-Goldman Sachs employees, who originally put the tools together to address GS's considerable backup landscape. WysDM enjoyed considerable success as a standalone company, and much more so as part of the EMC portfolio.
The product is built on two key architectural components -- a "data mine" (actually an integrated repository of object, events and relationships), as well as an "analysis engine" that shows gathered information in multiple useful formats.
That means that as you go poking around four or five menus deep, you'll find real reports with real useful data that were plainly built based on real world experience.
In terms of ROI, it usually turns out to be a no-brainer even in modest-sized environments. That is, if you take your backups seriously :-) Relatively easy to implement, works with most everything people own today, and it produces useful and actionable information quickly.
Most people think that EMC sells a bunch of data protection products (which we do), but what we *really* do is re-engineer these environments to be far more efficient than before. And DPA is one of the key tools in our arsenal.
EMC also provides a popular managed service for data protection; DPA is used at virtually every location where we provide this service.
So, What's New?
Well, if you weren't familiar with the product, that's new, isn't it?
But if you've been tracking this product, in the press release you'll notice some of the usual (i.e. improved support for various EMC products), but also something new, e.g. the first wave of "private cloud" support.
By this, I mean:
* can discover and correlate backup activities in virtual machines, or logically grouped virtual machines -- and follow them as they move around.
* support for the newer protection methods associated with virtual machines, i.e. target dedupe, CDP
* underpinnings for using compatible service provider resources (for example, remote targets)
* improved chargeback support for either service providers wishing to offer an enterprise-IT focused service, or perhaps an internal service within the enterprise.
There's more, but you get the idea -- information protection is one of the core disciplines that EMC intends to bring to the private cloud.
Want To Learn More?
That's great if you do ... plenty of online resources, including a subset of functionality being demonstrated here.
Trust me, if you live in this part of the IT world, you'll find DPA very interesting.
Many people hear "backup and recovery" and think that's usually a pretty straightforward proposition.
Well, most of the time, it's not.
First, the act of performing regularly schedule backups on shared infrastructure that can be confidently used to recover information isn't straightforward in the least.
Left unmanaged and unmonitored, a surprising number of backup jobs routines fail. Not a problem, unless you want to recover :-)
Second, in most cases, there's a wide variety of technology being used to backup data: tape-oriented backups, local and remote replication, backup to disk, CDP (continuous data protection), LAN-oriented backup, and more -- all from multiple vendors.
It's the rare (or very small) organization that just uses one or two methods to back up data.
Third, the people and infrastructure associated with backup and restore are continually stuck between a rock and a hard place. There's always more data, shorter windows and desired for accelerated recover time.
And, of course, there's the continual pressure on costs, people and operational efficiency.
Just ask any IT professional who works in this space, and they'll tell you -- it's not an area that always gets a lot of funding or attention, unless there's a really big problem.
To Make Matters Even More Interesting ...
Underneath all of this, there are some secular trends that make all of this even more challenging than it already is.
One example of these underlying trends is the gradual shift to disk-based protection technologies vs. tape means that most shops will be using a mix of both for a while. More and more of the IT landscape is becoming virtualized, meaning that schemes designed for the physical world are being slowly replaced by approaches designed for the virtual one.
And, just to make things even more interesting, backup and restore is one of the areas where service providers and cloud operators have begun to make headway into enterprises -- simply because data at a distance offers better protection.
What's An IT Professional To Do?
Well, here at EMC, we have lots and lots of protection technology we can show you -- all manner of local/remote replication technology (EMC RecoverPoint as well as array-specific replication), client-side dedupe (Avamar), target-side dedupe (Data Domain), hybridized backup software (NetWorker), and probably a few products I've left out.
Well, all of that's nice, but let's say that your interest is doing better with what you already have, rather than buying a bunch of new protection technology.
And that's where DPA absolutely shines.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Well, at least in this case it is.
If you take a look at this slide that I pilfered from the marketing deck, you'll get a quick understanding of what DPA does.
Second, it offers a complete view from the business application all the way down to the physical backup device, and everything in between -- the proverbial "end to end" view.
Third, it provides the comprehensive decision support tools borne out of necessity of overworked backup administrators who have too much data and not enough time or budget.
Interesting note: I am told that WysDM was formed by ex-Goldman Sachs employees, who originally put the tools together to address GS's considerable backup landscape. WysDM enjoyed considerable success as a standalone company, and much more so as part of the EMC portfolio.
The product is built on two key architectural components -- a "data mine" (actually an integrated repository of object, events and relationships), as well as an "analysis engine" that shows gathered information in multiple useful formats.
That means that as you go poking around four or five menus deep, you'll find real reports with real useful data that were plainly built based on real world experience.
In terms of ROI, it usually turns out to be a no-brainer even in modest-sized environments. That is, if you take your backups seriously :-) Relatively easy to implement, works with most everything people own today, and it produces useful and actionable information quickly.
Most people think that EMC sells a bunch of data protection products (which we do), but what we *really* do is re-engineer these environments to be far more efficient than before. And DPA is one of the key tools in our arsenal.
EMC also provides a popular managed service for data protection; DPA is used at virtually every location where we provide this service.
So, What's New?
Well, if you weren't familiar with the product, that's new, isn't it?
But if you've been tracking this product, in the press release you'll notice some of the usual (i.e. improved support for various EMC products), but also something new, e.g. the first wave of "private cloud" support.
By this, I mean:
* can discover and correlate backup activities in virtual machines, or logically grouped virtual machines -- and follow them as they move around.
* support for the newer protection methods associated with virtual machines, i.e. target dedupe, CDP
* underpinnings for using compatible service provider resources (for example, remote targets)
* improved chargeback support for either service providers wishing to offer an enterprise-IT focused service, or perhaps an internal service within the enterprise.
There's more, but you get the idea -- information protection is one of the core disciplines that EMC intends to bring to the private cloud.
Want To Learn More?
That's great if you do ... plenty of online resources, including a subset of functionality being demonstrated here.
Trust me, if you live in this part of the IT world, you'll find DPA very interesting.
Yeah I agree its a hidden gem. The report builder with its flowchart style interface is unbelievably powerful.
Posted by: Jason | December 22, 2009 at 05:51 PM