Posts by MarkGalpin

NetApp duplicates deduplication

It's all about the File System

Chris, your statement about DXi is absolutely correct, this is an appliance designed for Target Based Inline Deduplication. However perhaps you are missing the most important fact.

The file system that sits below every DXi is StorNext. A file system that is absolutely designed for Primary Storage, in fact you could argue that only with StorNext are some high performance environments able to function.

Now I wonder who signed an agreement with Quantum a few weeks ago to sell Stornext?...would that be NetApp?

Quantum's DXi big box boost

Who needs a Boost!

When these impressive backup speeds (6.4TB/hr) can be obtained with a VTL interface, you have to ask why you would look at changing or adopting a preparatory technology like Boost. VTL is open to all backup software, with little or no change to the backup environment.

Data Domain gets Nehalem boost

Nice if you use Symantec

While I have to agree these quoted speeds are impressive you need to remember a number of small facts.

i. In the past DataDomain have only quoted speeds based on the use of NetBackup and OST, I am assuming now these are also dependent on the new OST Boost product.

ii. I assume this speed is dependant on a network with end to end 10 GbE.

iii. Maxing out the injest of the appliance is seldom achieved as usually the limit of concurrent streams is reached first.

So beware if you are anything but a Symantec customer, you might want to do some performance testing first.

Data Domain gives itself DD Boost

There's no free lunch

I can’t speak for all the competition for Data Domain, but the introduction of DD Boost hasn’t caused anyone at Quantum to jump off a bridge. It essentially amounts to a rebranding of support for OST, as an extension of their Global Deduplication Array. Reducing redundancy at the media server as DD Boost requires could reduce the load on the network and the target, but it means that the media server is doing more. So the change is likely to mean customers will actually need a bigger media server – there’s no free lunch. Quantum’s mid-range DXi6500 family sees a 25 to 40% performance increase when we use the OST interface without changing anything on the media server. Do you suppose Quantum might extend that capability to enterprise products in the near future? Watch.

Customers should also consider the complexity of a distributed solution like DD Boost. It can be time-consuming to configure, may require hardware upgrades, and troubleshooting can become extremely cumbersome. The simplicity of DXi, whether with OST or not, provides increased speed and better economic value without the extra complexity of distributed processing.