In this example, the client already had a Tape drive that he wanted to use with a fast backup/restore D2D system. Since the Tape drive was relatively slow, we used it as a backup/archiving drive that didn’t effect the backup time window. Here, Tapes are sent once a month to a remote location. This client achieved a high performance D2D backup/restore system with minimum cost investment.

In this example, the customer wanted a D2D solution that also provided a shared file system area (NAS) for his network clients. In addition to the NAS, he required 3 full backup-sets: one for daily backup + snapshots, and the other two to send out to an offsite location on a biweekly rotation. Each set consisted of 7 Hard Drives (hot-swap SATA), configured as RAID 5. Communication between the Backup server and the backup RAID used SCSI Ultra 320, thereby minimizing the backup window time and offloading the network.

In this small business environment, there are 3 servers (SQL, Exchange and a File server) multiple desktops, and mobile laptops connected via an Ethernet network. The customer wanted a combination of backup snapshots, daily and weekly full backup. He also required a full backup set at a remote site, and a Tape for long term archiving. The Exchange and SQL servers are 24x7 business critical resources requiring very fast data restore in case of a problem. The mobile laptops were frequently disconnected from the LAN, and required bare metal Disaster Recovery and quick backup when connected. The combination of D2D at the main site, and D2D2T at the remote site connected via the Internet satisfied the entire customer’s requirements at a surprisingly low price.

In this example, the customer had all his servers connected via a Gigabit LAN switch to a backup server, and a Tape Library connected to the backup servers. He recently added 2 more servers, and the backup window grew to over 16 hours, loading the LAN during critical business hours. The solution here was to add a Fibre-channel switch (SAN), replacing the Backup server with a stronger D2D Fibre-channel backup server, and backing up the data into RAID arrays via Fibre-channel instead of directly onto the Tape. The Tape Library is now connected to the D2D SAN backup server for offsite tape archiving. The old backup server was upgraded with new software to backup, via the LAN, all desktops and laptops -- not backed up beforehand.