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BackupData center applications(Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, VMware)ArchiveNAS, SAN, DASPrimarystorageFigure 1. Dell/EMC DD Seriesinfrastructure and ecosystemBackup applications(EMC, CommVault,Symantec, Vizioncore, CA,IBM, Hewlett-Packard,Atempo, BakBone)Archive applications(EMC, CommVault,Symantec, F5)NetworkReplicationover WANWANDisaster recoveryDell/EMC DD SeriesapplianceDell/EMC DD Seriesapplianceinformation. IT managers may be forcedto deploy systems piecemeal, requiringadditional management by IT departmentsthat are already stretched, or they mayhave resources for headquarters or centralsites but lack the budget to create acomprehensive plan that encompasses alltypes of servers and applications at local andremote sites.Organizations may also be exposed torisk by doing without essential protectionsuch as off-site disaster recovery. Off-siteprocesses for disaster recovery havehistorically induced latency, promptingmany organizations to simply createlocal copies to speed local recovery—anapproach that exposes the organizationto data loss in the event of accidentaldeletion or site disasters. In addition, thecost of bandwidth to replicate the growingvolume of critical information over a widearea network (WAN) is often prohibitive,especially for remote or branch offices.Complexity in the backup environmentis another factor that can delay storage andbackup improvements. Many organizationshave multiple backup software instancesor heterogeneous environments. Thiscomplexity can increase operational andprocedural errors, leading to unprotected,corrupted, or lost backup data. As a result, ITmanagers may not be able to meet businessneeds for data restoration and recovery.To address these challenges withoutrequiring a costly redesign of backupprocedures, IT managers are exploring waysto remove duplicate data from the backupprocess, reducing data volume to the pointthat they can use fewer hard drives thanthey had been. Finding an approach thatworks with a flexible range of backup andarchive software is also desirable. Dell andEMC are working collaboratively to createstorage and backup systems that includeintegrated deduplication functionality.Examining technical requirementsBuilding a storage system that delivers the fullpotential of deduplication requires a flexibleapproach that addresses variable-lengthduplicates, multiple formats and protocols,and other technical considerations.Variable-length duplicates. Conventionalstorage systems, whether network attachedstorage (NAS) or storage area networks(SANs), store data in fixed-size blocks.Some deduplication systems simply lookfor identical fixed-size data blocks, anapproach that is inadequate for maximizingdeduplication results; to be effective, asystem must be able to identify variablelengthsegments as well. This capabilityis necessary to maximize the amountof redundant data that can be found inincoming data blocks, regardless of smallchanges in those blocks compared withprevious backups.Format parsing. Data comes in manyformats generated by many differentapplications, and the same duplicate data isoften embedded in those different formats. Thesheer number of these formats and the speedat which they change make it impractical fora storage vendor to support them all. Parsingthe formats requires substantial overhead. AReprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2010 Issue 2. Copyright © 2010 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.dell.com/powersolutions | 2010 Issue 02 29