EMC Data Domain Replicator provides asynchronous replication of backup data for disaster recovery. EMC Data Domain provides native deduplication and compression of all data at rest on disk, and during replication.
However, shared WANs and longer distance connections can undermine Data Domain Replicator performance. High latency, out-of-order packets, or dropped packets may cause replication to perform very slowly, or not at all. That’s where Silver Peak can help.
EMC and Silver Peak
E-Lab Proven
EMC E-Lab and Silver Peak conducted joint testing for Data Domain Replicator and analyzed results from real-world customers. On native WANs, testing revealed that replication performance decreased as network latency increased. Packet loss rates common with IP VPNs further reduced Data Domain’s native throughput and increased replication time.
Accelerating with Silver Peak software helped Data Domain replicate at wire speed, despite packet loss and higher latencies. The example below shows replication between east and west coast sites in the United States using an Internet VPN. The typical network latency was 80ms with a 1% rate of packet loss.
Replication over 45 Mbps WAN— Hopkinton, MA to Santa Clara, CA
- 20 gigabyte (GB) dataset, after Data Domain deduplication and compression, sent over a 45 Mbps network connection
- Latency: 80ms
- Packet loss: 1%
- Data Domain Replicator compression and deduplication were enabled
- Replication before Silver Peak:
- Throughput: 2.16 GB/hour.
- Time to replicate 20 GB: 9 hours,15 minutes
- Replication with Silver Peak software enabled:
- Throughput: 17.3 GB/hour.
- Time to replicate: 1 hour, 9 minutes
- 8X increase in replication throughput
- 8 hours, 6 minute reduction in replication time
Understanding the Silver Peak advantage
By accelerating replication traffic and efficiently using all of the available bandwidth, Silver Peak software helps EMC Data Domain Replicator to:
- Protect even more data and get consistent, high throughput replication even over poor quality networks
- Replicate over longer distances by overcoming latency
- Encrypt and accelerate traffic between Silver Peak instances at wire speed, using an AES-256, IPSec VPN
- Maximize replication performance over shared WANs with real-time packet delivery correction and traffic prioritization
Once deployed, Silver Peak’s storage-specific reporting makes it easy for a storage professional to manage the Silver Peak implementation and get useful information. Silver Peak software uses storage-friendly terms that show the data replicated (in bytes) and replication performance. Reports segment storage traffic by type, such as replication and / or backup traffic, and application. Metrics display per minute, per hour, and per day and include a 10¬-day graph showing changes made over a weekend.
With EMC Data Domain Replicator and Silver Peak Velocity Replication Accelerator (VRX) software, you can protect all of your business-critical data and replicate consistently, regardless of network problems or distance.
Benefits
- Replicate faster. Replicate more data in less time to remote locations
- Replicate over longer distances. Eliminate distance limitations between source/target devices
- Improve business continuity. Maintain redundant data centers in distant geographies for rapid recovery from disasters.
- Lower disaster recovery costs. Eliminate costly dedicated networks for replication; avoid bandwidth upgrades
- Improve performance over shared WANs. Automatically correct packet delivery problems and prioritize traffic over shared WANs to guarantee network resources
Resources
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Silver Peak VRX Replication Acceleration software makes replication acceleration easy and affordable.
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EMC Data Domain deduplication storage systems optimize storage efficiency through the use of deduplication and compression of data at rest. When the deduplicated and compressed data is replicated using Data Domain, it is a common belief that WAN optimization is not required because a smaller amount of data is being sent across the WAN. However, in addition to limited bandwidth, at least two factors can affect the ability for replication to meet customer RPOs over a Wide Area Network (WAN): replication distance (latency) and quality of the WAN itself (packet loss and out of order packets). By solving many of the underlying network problems that plague EMC Data Domain and Silver Peak Integration Guide 5 replicating over distance, Silver Peak VXOA, when combined with EMC Data Domain Replicator, enables customers to move more data, over a longer distance, and in less time. In this paper we will describe the benefits that Silver Peak’s Virtual Acceleration Open Architecture, VXOA, provides for the Data Domain system; provide deployment and configuration examples; detail best practices; and illustrate expected performance improvements based on a customer deployment.
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Healthcare providers know the importance of preserving and protecting their data. Not only are they liable by regulations, but the loss of medical records leads to privacy violations, and worse can lead to a loss of life.