TiBS Disk Cache vs Disk Library
All Versions of the True incremental Backup System use a disk cache. The disk cache is used as a staging area to synthetically consolidate backups and expedite transfer to the tape library(s) if deployed. Server side disk caching allows backups to run in parallel. The disconnected operations between client backups and the subsequent synthetic consolidation, permits the backup system to run significantly more parallel True incremental network backup operations. TiBS is designed to minimize the impact of backup operations on both networks and client systems.
Tape Backup with TiBS Disk Cache or Library
The TiBS Automated Tape Library Interface (ATLI) is a software module licensed to a specific TiBS backup server for non-proprietary hardware to be used as secondary storage for backup volumes at any level. The ATLI works with either a disk cache or the optional TiBS Disk Library Interface as a Disk to Disk to Tape Solution for most backup operations. The ATLI will also serve SAN or NAS mass storage systems. NAS storage can be either backed up via NDMP or our True incremental process. TiBS can effectively backup SAN application servers in a perpetual True incremental fashion. Learn more about TiBS Automated Tape Library Interface...
TeraMerge Synthetic Backup Consolidation
TiBS provides more options in Synthetic Backup Consolidation than any other solution. With unique multi-level and multi-volume synthetic backup consolidation strategies, you can gain more control over your data and storage costs. Unlike most other firms, our Synthetic Backup Consolidation is not just time based. Intelligent Consolidation algorithms remove data redundancy and can trigger consolidations based on backup volume data change rates.
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Backup Definitions and Terminology
Teradactyl uses a significant variety of backup terms which may be unfamiliar to you or used differently by less knowledgeable vendors. One of the most obvious errors is the common misuse of Incremental and Differential terms. We went to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other reputable sources to confirm the accuracy in our use of the terminology. Teradactyl has compiled a list of backup definitions for reference by anyone interested or involved in the backup storage market. More...
Disk Based Backups in Three TiBS Versions
There are three versions of the True incremental Backup System for enterprise disk based backup systems. The Full Version, Lite Version, and Basic Version of the True incremental Backup System all have disk caching and optional support for disk library systems. The fundamental difference between TiBS versions is the level and capabilities of our patented synthetic consolidation. More advanced versions of TiBS provide tools to further reduce storage requirements in the backup system as you increase in native data size. You can look at an overview of the individual TiBS versions here ...
True incremental Backup System Full Version ...
Enterprise class network backup system software for lower cost, annual fixed percentage rate support plans at lower cost, and non-proprietary hardware saves money. No per seat charges, fixed rate storage modules, processing power bought as needed are all reasons why leading businesses, high performance computing centers, government agencies, and universities are moving to TiBS. Review a more sensible enterprise backup pricing model ...
True incremental Backup System Disk Library Interface Module
The True incremental Backup System (TiBS) Disk Library Interface (DLI) can be configured to store any backup volume on disk in addition to, or instead of, tape. With TiBS, client systems, by default, begin by transferring data to backup server disk caches. The Disk Library Interface is a software module that enables the backup system administrator to maintain all or part of the backup system data on non-proprietary disk for expedient restore times. Your DLI storage is licensed at a fixed cost per backup server regardless of capacity. Heterogeneous enterprise backup to disk can be achieved at far lower cost with Teradactyl and the True incremental Backup System.
Disk Based Backup Made Affordable!
TiBS uses the Disk Library for far more than just storing backups
The True incremental Backup System can, of course, store True incremental, Cumulative Incremental (CI), and Full Backup volumes. TiBS Full Version now supports a new backup technique, the Partial Cumulative Incremental Backup (PCI Backup). Typically much smaller than currently available Cumulative Incremental Backups, PCI Backups extend the patented TeraMerge multiple level synthetic backup consolidation process to include multiple backup volumes at each level of consolidation. These new, disk based PCI Backups allow for increased near line storage of backups, faster synthetic backup consolidation, improved efficiencies in backup hardware, and faster average restore times.
Partial Cumulative Incremental Backup volumes will typically be significantly smaller in size at any backup level than currently available CI Backups. The primary reason for this is that each PCI Backup contains data changes over a smaller, fixed period of time. This “flattens” the size of the backup at each level and allows any number of backups to be taken at each level without ever increasing backup sizes. As the number of backups per each cycle increases, the savings that PCI Backups provides over CI Backups will continue to increase as well. Large sites typically see about a 50% reduction in the size of their highest level daily backups
Midlevel PCI backups offer several advantages over commonly available Midlevel CI Backups. On a TiBS backup server, since both types of backups are produced synthetically, no client or network interaction is required. Thus, the advantages of PCI Backups pertain primarily to the costs and performance issues associated with backup server hardware and related disk and tape storage.
Remove File Redundancy: By segmenting the backup time at each backup level, PCI Backups store only one copy of each file version at any given backup level. CI Backups may contain many copies of the same file version at any given level. The relative size of PCI Backups compared with CI Backups varies depending on many factors including rate of live data change, number of backups at each level per cycle (e.g. 4 weekly backups in a 28 day full cycle), and the percentage of new data versus the percentage of changed data in each backup. Over a range of sites that have implemented this new type of backup, PCI Backups have been measured to be 2 to 5 times smaller than their previously implemented CI Backup counterparts.
Increase Reliance on Disk: As disk storage costs continue to decline relative to tape, the demand for disk storage for backup and recovery continues to increase. Teradactyl maintains that a combination of disk and tape storage provides the advantages of each technology, while mitigating the risks associated with the use of only one. Since PCI backups are smaller than CI Backups, a larger window of data can be kept in near line disk storage. Disk not only accelerates backup and restore performance, it can actually reduce storage costs over the use of tape alone. PCI Backups provide a safe transition to a higher dependence and use of disk storage while maintaining the advantages and additional protections that tape still provides over the use of disk alone.
Better Use of Backup Hardware: PCI backups flatten the workload over traditional CI Backups. The reduced copying of files and increased reliance on disk accelerates backup processing. PCI Backups require less processing time, consume less storage space (both disk and tape), reduce wear and tear on expensive tape devices and require fewer tape library slots and tape mount requests than CI Backups. Multiple level synthetic backup is the cornerstone of TiBS ability to scale with data growth while controlling the cost of backup and recovery. PCI Backups provide additional efficiencies across the board for continued scale and reduced costs of this critical IT function.
Learn more about Partial Cumulative Incremental Backup Volumes ...
Non-proprietary disk guidelines in enterprise network backup systems
The dedicated backup server disk library storage can be partitioned into a configurable number of available RAID LUNS to meet your storage requirements. These can be further combined to create a desired size and number of disk library partitions with LVM, ZFS, etc. TiBS has the ability to maintain individual storage pools for a variety of reasons including; security, divergent backup strategies, variant retention policies, etc. Additional space can be reserved for hot space and expansion of disk libraries as required. Sufficient reserved space should be dedicated mirror storage for TiBS configuration, online lookup database and other TiBS functionality.
Teradactyl suggests RAID 6 because it is ideally suited for mission critical applications. RAID 6 allows for additional fault tolerance by using a second independent distributed parity approach. Block level striping of data across all sets of drives is augmented by a second set of calculated parity also written across all the drives. This approach protects against multiple bad block failures while non-degraded and against single block failures when operating in a degraded mode. RAID 6 can also endure multiple drive failures. It should be noted that controller overhead to calculate parity addresses is extremely high. Most of the top tier OEM's now use ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) technology vs software RAID to deliver the additional reliability without sacrificing throughput and I/O.
Standard RAID systems may not be ideally optimized for backup performance. Backup systems are an intensive I/O Bound task and the hardware should be designed to handle the throughput in both read and write operations. It should be taken into account that the True incremental Backup System processes client systems in parallel. (You can buy processes as needed to control the time it takes for the network component of backup processing to complete.) Therefore, you may want to consider higher RPM SAS drives if you are running a high number of processes.
The advantages of disk as backup and restore media are numerous but assuming there will be no media or hardware failures is naive. High quality components, stable conditioned uninterruptible power, a redundant controllers are all vital to mission critical storage. Most large installations will also maintain tape, typically LTO, for disaster recovery and long-term storage. If you plan to include tape in your strategy, be sure that the disk storage is capable of driving the type of tape drive technology and number of drives you plan to deploy. Miscalculations can result in poor compression and tape drive "shoe-shinning." Teradactyl is happy to provide new and existing customers free configuration recommendations and suggest providers with both suitable hardware and good recommendations from our existing customer base.
Deduplication appliances not recommended as a TiBS Disk Library System
Use of Data deduplication (also referred to as intelligent compression or single-instance storage) devices implemented as a TiBS Disk Library will not yield the expected results! The first reason is that TiBS doesn't need to perform periodic full network backups. TiBS intelligent consolidation even eliminates the need for time-based Synthetic Full Backups. Since the bulk of the market still performs rotating Full & Incremental cycles, the benefits of this deduplication technology can be significant. However, with continuous daily True incremental backup cycles, backup volumes will generally contain highly unique single-instance data. This will significantly limit the compression these devices can perform.
Another critical benefit of Teradactyl's patented multi-level synthetic backup consolidation technology is that Partial Cumulative Incremental backup volumes store only one copy of each file version at any given backup level. Thus, TiBS already deploys our own patented form of intelligent compression. With our technology and your non-proprietary storage, licensed per TiBS backup server regardless of capacity, Teradactyl brings our clients disk based storage made affordable.