Backup Storage:
Storage solutions to meet all your requirements
When it comes to back-up storage, we make a distinction between disk-based systems, object storage and deduplication hardware. The choice of the back-up storage system depends, among other things, on what backup software is used and the requirements and wishes with regard to the recovery point objective (How often do I want to make backups?), recovery time objective (How fast do I want to restore the backup?) and the desired retention. We often use a combination of different storage solutions to meet all your requirements.
Deduplication
Deduplication of backup data offers major benefits, including significant cost savings. It reduces the volume of your backup. Thanks to this technique, only unique blocks of data are stored on the backup storage system. This is often used in combination with a compression method. It also makes replicating backup data to a second (external) location much more efficient. If deduplication is not already part of your backup software, then it’s possible to provide deduplication using a hardware device.
Object storage
Object storage offers a scalable and price-efficient solution. The object storage platform stores data in the so-called buckets. The data in a bucket can be addressed with a unique ID, and not with a drive letter or path. If you know the ID, you can access the data. Object storage systems allow the storage of large quantities of data for a long period and without any limits. This makes it perfectly suitable for long-term retention, digital image archives or as storage behind a document management system.
Almost every backup application supports Object storage. The most widely used protocol for Object storage is the S3 protocol/API, which was developed by Amazon.