INTELLIGENT DATACENTRES
Building hybrid availability solutions for remote offices
A suitable mix of backup and virtual machine replication may be best solution for remote offices , argues Rawad Zaki at Veeam Software .
So , how can remote and branch offices achieve excellent levels of availability without facing complexity ?
The modern datacentre has three key attributes :
• Virtualised
• Storage
• Cloud
We have all heard about fantastic new datacentre technologies , but all too often it looks like these technologies only seem to apply to the largest organisations with a wealth of centralised resources . Because data does not just live in the datacentre , we often face daily challenges when data is put to use in the field at remote offices and branch offices .
Business and IT leaders need to recognise the unique needs of remote and branch offices . For instance , teams based in remote offices need constant , reliable and fast access to essential data , without sacrificing data security and integrity . A challenge for IT leaders is how to ensure that data is available , even without a dedicated local IT team to govern and control it .
Industry reports showed that half of the respondents only test backups on a monthly basis , or even less frequently . Long gaps between testing increase the chance of issues being found when data needs to be recovered – at which point it may be too late for these organisations . And out of those who do perform such tests , just 26 % test more than 5 % of their backups . This means that the vast majority of backups are not verified and could fail . The percentage is even higher when it comes to remote and branch office locations .
The good news for remote and branch offices is that it is now easier than ever — with the help of the right solutions — to extend datacentre backup , replication and availability capabilities all the way out to the edges of an entire organisation .
Each of these attributes is critical to a remote and branch office ’ s success . However , because of each remote and branch office ’ s specific needs , there are no real roadmaps for building and implementing architecture for a remote office .
Virtualisation has a huge impact on remote and branch offices . From reduced equipment footprints and lower setup costs , to simpler management workloads and faster deployment of new services , virtualised environments have become the natural choice for remote and branch offices .
Modern storage systems have also made life a lot easier for remote and branch offices . Whether it is a new solution rolled out to serve every branch or a solution that is just deployed on site , new storage solutions are helping remote and branch offices store — and what is more important , backup and replicate — their data more intelligently .
The cloud is now a suitable option to move and store backup and replicated data , unlike the leased private lines that are often a significant performance bottleneck to perform this task . Many organisations struggle to select the best solutions for onsite and off-site backup , because there really is not a one-size-fits-all approach for remote office architecture .
36 Issue 03 INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS