Protecting vital information assets is a concern of every large organization, as information on storage area networks is copied onto backup devices. Proper operation of the SAN is vital to the backup process, to ensure that information is transferred correctly, and at expected rates. Finisar's NetWisdom offerings help you to efficiently diagnose SAN-related backup problems, to anticipate and prevent future problems, and to plan and execute appropriate SAN and backup strategies for future needs.
Backup of information is a vital IT priority for most organizations. It plays a vital role in maintaining operations in the face of natural disasters, equipment failures, power interruptions or malicious attacks. Even in large organizations using real-time remote replication for mission-critical data, there tend to be large amounts of other information for which replication is too costly, and backup remains the primary strategy for protection of information assets.
Information is typically backed up to storage devices that are very different than the devices on which the data was originally stored. This is particularly true with backups to tape, where the tape systems have radically different characteristics in terms of performance, latency and reliability. Even in disk-to-disk backup systems, the backup devices often have unique characteristics, since their selection is optimized by cost more than performance. These differences mean that backup processes do not always work properly, or at expected rates. Malfunctioning or poorly-performing backup can endanger vital information assets or interfere with normal operations.
SAN and backup management tools typically do not provide information or insight into the movement of data within the SAN fabric. This insight is required to understand and characterize the behavior of storage area networks in a large backup system, to troubleshoot and resolve problems, or to optimize performance. When backup problems are not SAN-related, the lack of this insight also makes it difficult to demonstrate that the SAN is not causing the problems.
The NetWisdom family of products and services, from optical networking leader Finisar Corporation, provides this much-needed insight.
NetWisdom products are available in a range of configurations to meet the needs of your environment. A software-only solution can be quickly deployed and can provide valuable new information about your SAN backup processes. NetWisdom fibre TAPs and ProbeFCX probes can be used to instrument your SAN fabric for more in-depth analysis, considerably deepening the utility of NetWisdom software. For the most demanding environments or thorniest backup problems, Finisar’s Xgig network protocol analyzer can be employed. Xgig “traces” are used by your SAN vendors to design and test their own products, and can be invaluable in the face of extreme SAN challenges.
Complementary NetWisdom services include NetWisdom training courses, as well as protocol training and testing services from Finisar’s Medusa Labs subsidiary.
NetWisdom products and services can provide value to your organization as you diagnose existing backup problems, work to prevent future problems, and plan future backup strategies as you advance the use of information in your organization.
Diagnose: NetWisdom offerings allow you to examine your SAN backup system at the link level, analyzing and understanding every conversation between storage systems, switches and backup devices. NetWisdom can spot and help analyze SAN communication errors that can point to backup bottlenecks, excessive “re-tries,” backup system media problems, or failed or failing components. When needed, Xgig analyzers can provide an even deeper look, and generate industry-standard “traces” that can be provided electronically to your SAN vendors to expedite problem resolution, which is especially important when vendor interoperability issues or intermittent failures are the root cause of a problem.
Prevent: NetWisdom can be used to examine SAN backup systems for any unknown or unexpected occurrences, identifying and addressing them before they create problems. It can alert you when backup processes take longer than expected, allowing you to take action before these processes overflow into peak production hours and disrupt your operations. With NetWisdom, you can also take baseline measurements of your SAN under normal backup conditions, and receive alerts whenever your backup process deviates from this baseline.
Advance: NetWisdom offerings can play a vital role in preparing your backup strategy and plans for the future. The insight you gain from NetWisdom will help you to accurately predict backup needs as your environment and business conditions change.
Other SAN solutions from Finisar can help address challenges in application performance, storage consolidation, pre-production testing, remote replication and virtualization.
For more information contact Finisar, representatives will be happy to discuss your backup process, strategy and issues, and explore with you how NetWisdom products and services can help.
Solution Brief: Storage Backup
