White Papers

Symantec Corporation World Headquarters
20330 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014 USA
[phone] / [phone]
www.symantec.com
© 2008 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
TheSolution:PowerVaultDLBackup‐to‐DiskAppliancewithSymantec™BackupExecContinuous
ProtectionServer

ThePowerVaultDLBackup‐to‐DiskApplianceincludesBackupExecContinuousP r otection Server(CPS),a
complementtoBackupExecforWindowsServersspecificallydesignedfordisk.BackupExecCPSrevolutionizes
backupsbyeliminati ngbackupwindows,improvingbackupreliability,andfeaturingtheindustry’sfirstWeb‐based
end‐userfileretrieval.It
integrateswithBackupExecforWindowsServerstodeliveracompletedisk‐to‐disk‐to‐tape
solution.Thissolutionimprovesdataprotectionandreducestheadministrativecomplexityassociatedwith
traditionaldataprotectionpractices.Continuousdataprotectioneliminatestheneedforfull,incremental,or
differentialbackupsbyprotectingdataimmediate ly andthen
continuouslybackingituptodisk.Italsodecreases
thecomplexityofcurrentmethodologiesaswellashelpingreducethecostofthemediaused.

BecauseWindowsfileserverdataiscontinuouslyprotectedondisk,itcanberecoveredquicklyandenduserscan
restoretheirownfileswithoutcontacting
ITwhichimprovesservicelevelswithoutincreasedITheadcountor
administrativecost.

UnderstandingTraditionalandContinuousDataProtection

Asyouconsiderasuitabledataprotectionstrategyforyourorganization,itisimportanttounderstandthe
differencesbetweentraditionaltape‐based,traditionaldisk‐based,andcontinuousdisk‐baseddataprotection
offerings.

TraditionalTapeBackups

KeyBenefits

Traditionally,tapebackupshaveproventobeaneffectiveandinexpensivemeansfordataprotectionandrecovery.
Thekeybenefitsoftraditionaltapebackupsinclude:
• Inexpensivemediumtostoredata
• Portableformatthatcaneasilybemovedoffsite
• Familiartoadministrators,who knowandunderstand
tapebackups

KeyDrawbacks

Asusefulastapebackupsare,therearethreekeychallengeswithtape.Firstisreliability.InaByteandSwitch
survey
(1)
,aboutonequarter(25.6percent)ofsurveyrespondentssaidtheirbackupsfailatleasttwiceaweek
becauseofthefailureofthetapecartrid ges (52.9percent)andthetapedrives(45percent).Thesecondchallengeis
complexity.Tapelackstheflexibilityandsimplicitythatmanyorganizationsneedtodayin
adataprotection
solution.Lastisspeed.Asdatavolumesincrease,tapebackupsaretakinglonger.Afewnotabledrawbackstotape
backupsinclude:
• Highimpactonproductionserver(backupsmustoccurduringoff‐peakhours)
• Onlyalimitednumberofserversbackedupatonetime
(1) http://storagemagazine.techtarget.com/magPrintFriendly/0,293813,sid35_gci1052905,00.html