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Current Case Studies
4.0 DESIGN OF ENTERPRISE BACKUP STRATEGY
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Client Requirement:
One of the leading multinational banks had a requirement of reworking their backup procedures and to develop a new backup strategy based on SAN (Storage Area Network). A faster backup solution had to meet the demands of increasing data volumes and a shrinking backup window. A high-end UNIX machine was purchased to consolidate all the mid-range servers that were being used. An EMC Symmetrix storage box was procured to simplify the management of backup operations. The backup software being used was Legato Networker.
One of the leading multinational banks had a requirement of reworking their backup procedures and to develop a new backup strategy based on SAN (Storage Area Network). A faster backup solution had to meet the demands of increasing data volumes and a shrinking backup window. A high-end UNIX machine was purchased to consolidate all the mid-range servers that were being used. An EMC Symmetrix storage box was procured to simplify the management of backup operations. The backup software being used was Legato Networker.
The new backup strategy had to take into account the following constraints:
1. As far as possible, all backups should be server free, i.e., they should not use the resources of the server being backed up and instead use the resources of the backup server.
2. All backup that had to be done from the server hosting the data had to be completed in the off hours, so that any performance deterioration would not be visible to users.
3. All Oracle archive logs had to be backed up to tape at six-hour intervals and had to be backed up to disk at thirty-minute intervals.
4. All backups had to be automatically triggered, without human intervention.
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Our
Solution
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The project's objective was to evolve a strategy that will ensure minimum data loss if system crash occurs at any given point of time. Our team designed the backup strategy and the following steps were implemented.
A tape library, which was connected to the backup server, was configured to be controlled by the Legato Networker software.
All the database files were made to reside on file systems with BCV (Business Continuity Volume). The databases made up the bulk of the data. We simply split the BCV image at a pre-scheduled time and imported these volumes on the backup server. This ensured availability of a consistent copy of the database on disk. The data from these volumes was then backed up to tape.
The archive logs, generated by Oracle, were copied across the network, at thirty-minute intervals, to the backup server. Every six hours, these files were backed up to tape and removed from the backup server and the host machines.
All report files, software binaries and configuration files were completely backed up on Sundays, which was a weekly holiday. On a daily basis, only the files being changed were backed up.
Operating system areas, which contain relatively static files, were backed up once a month on a pre-defined day.
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Client Benefits
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Automation of the entire backup process eliminated the scope for human errors, making the entire disaster recovery more reliable and efficient.
As the bulk of the data were the databases, which were being backed up locally on the backup server with the use of BCV, the time taken to backup all the databases was reduced. This enabled more frequent backups. The databases, which used to be backed up once in two days, could now be backed up on a daily basis. This also helped in reducing the recovery time.
The time taken for restoration of data was significantly reduced, as the latest backup was always available on the tape library. This eliminated the time lost in trying to locate and retrieve the individual tapes with the relevant data.
The number of tape media utilized was reduced as the application related binaries, reports and configuration files were backed up incrementally during the week and not completely. This helped our client in cost-cutting for backup.
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