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Can replication replace backup?

Well, since you ask...

Phil Jones

Phil Jones

Chief Technology Officer, Shoden Data Systems

If you want to create a complete IT infrastructure you need both replication and backup because the two are not the same, and nor are they alternatives to each other. Replication is ideal for taking snapshots of data to feed to other applications and test environments, or to re-create an existing environment in the event of a serious failure and, as network bandwidth increases in speed and reduces in costs, replication becomes ever more attractive.

Some replication approaches operate within a single disk subsystem; others work across multiple subsystems, either synchronously or asynchronously. Data integrity is also of paramount importance here as it’s pointless creating copies you can’t trust. What replication won’t give you is any logical data management, the ability to handle retention and expiry policies, to access “last Thursday’s” version of a file (rather than the most current copy), or to build and manage a worthwhile archival policy.

This is what backup does; it allows you to protect your data (to a certain extent only unless coupled with a DR strategy) and to manage this protection.

For some enterprises, backup is their biggest single application. Whether at a physical or logical level, there needs to be certainty, integrity, and repeatability in your backup process. How long should you keep backup copies for, how to manage different versions of the same file, how to correlate any newly-imposed DR requirements with existing backup procedures, and how to meet audit and regulatory demands, all need careful thought when building your backup strategy, and cannot simply be achieved just by implementing some form of replication.

In summary, you really do need both replication and backup if you want to create a complete IT infrastructure; one without the other is incomplete.

Phil Jones is the Chief Technology Officer for Shoden Data Systems UK. He is responsible for devising the Company’s strategy and direction, the product roadmaps, and developing key alliances and partner relationships across EMEA.

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