EMC will formally announce updates to their BRS (Backup Recovery Solutions) today at 11AM during a "Backup to the Future" Mega Launch webinar - register at the link below:
https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-24965
The major announcements surround the staple BRS product lines: Data Domain, Avamar, Networker, and DPS (Data Protection Suite).
Data Domain:
EMC will release a new line of mid-range DD appliances - DD2500, DD4200, DD4500, and DD7200 that will replace the current mid-range offerings, DD640, DD670, DD680, and DD890, respectively. EMC have both mid-range lines available for order for the next quarter and after EOL is announced for the previous generation, EMC will continue to support the product line for the next 5 years.
The new mid-range line features the use of Intel's SandyBridge chipset and processors and the addition of 3TB drives for increased capacity - up to 1.7PB useable with an ingestion rate of up to 26TB/hr. Add to this an increase of streams by 3X, TCO of the new line compared to the existing line is lower by close to 40%.
EMC is also going to allow DIP (data in place) migration from the existing to the new DD mid-range line. This means that customers do not have to worry about migrating any data and upgrade to the new DD appliances with a simple head swap but leaving the DAEs intact.
In addition to the product speeds/feeds improvement, Data Domain has also provided enhanced integration with applications as well as increased enhancements to DD Boost. Some additional application integration points include the following:
Archiving applications:
DD announced support for Opentext, Dell Archive Manager, and IBM Content Manager, as well as 20+ other supported archiving applications.
Direct SAP HANA Backup:
DD is the first to be fully supported to work with SAP HANA Studio (via NFS) for managing SAP HANA backups/restores.
DD Boost updates:
Oracle RMAN direct integration now formally supports both SAP (assumes Oracle DB and use of brbackup) and Oracle Exadata.
Avamar:
Avamar 7 product updates are primarily around enhanced Data Domain integration (via DD Boost), NDMP enhancements (for NFS support - including Isilon), and application integration (Microsoft apps and virtualization - VMWare and HyperV).
Data Domain Integration:
Avamar and DD Boost has been enhanced to include NDMP and Filesystem data to utilize DD as the main respository for the dedupe catalog. This now leaves desktop/laptop and ROBO as the primary targets for continued Avamar dedupe catalog use.
NDMP Enchancements:
Avamar 7 provides NDMP backup functionality for EMC Isilon via the NDMP Accelerator node.
Application Integration:
Avamar 7 provides full support for microsoft applications like Server 2013, Sharepoint 2013, Exchange 2013, and MS SQL Server Studio to provide currency following the Microsoft release schedule. Additionally, Avamar provides enhanced hypervisor support for MS HyperV 2012 utilizing CSV - Cluster Shared Volumes. This now provides better performance and scalability of Avamar in MS environments.
Avamar 7 also provides enhanced VMWare integration. This new integration allows users, in a role-access manner, to run Avamar from the vcenter web client. Support for backup policy inheritance makes it easier for the VMware admins to assign backup jobs to newly created VMs without having to involve the backup admin. Avamar 7 also introduces VM Instant Access, a new VM image recovery feature that lets an admin start a VM backup image from Data Domain.
Networker:
Most of the enhancements for Networker 8.1 are around application integration and storage management.
Enhanced Snapshot Management:
Networker 8.1 now manages snapshots from VMAX, VNX, and RecoverPoint, including auto-discovery of storage pools via a wizard-driven menu. This enhancement also includes the ability to manage all snapshot retention policies from Networker.
DD Boost Enhancements:
Networker 8.1 now provides enhanced client-side dedupe via "DD Boost over FC". Networker 8.1 also supports DD VSF, which allows for less full backups by utilizing more incrementals.
VMware Integration:
Network 8.1 features "Vmware Backup and Recovery Powered by Avamar". This new feature provide management of networker via the vcenter web client, utilizing the Avamar code built-into ESX.
Networker DB integration:
Networker 8.1 provides tighter integration of Oracle tolls like RMAN so that Oracle DBAs can manage the backups - this includes automatic discovery of FRA (Flash Recovery Area) for tiering Oracle Backup Storage.
Data Protection Suite:
Data Protection Suite provides bundling of Avamar 7, Networker 8.1, and DPA (Data Protection Advisor). More information on what the bundling includes can be provided.
I can provide more detail on any of these topics, so please feel free to reach out.
Labels: Avamar, BRS, Data Domain, DPS, EMC, Networker