VMware is a classic case of being at the right place at the right time with the right technology and the right value proposition. By virtualizing server environments, organizations can reduce IT costs significantly, ease physical server-associated management challenges and improve overall service levels-including backup-and-recovery-related RTOs and RPOs. They can also greatly reduce the number of backup software licenses they need to purchase and maintain, which has clear management and cost-saving benefits. Fewer backup agents mean fewer points of management/upgrade and less cost.
This white paper introduces you to two such organizations whose enterprises were challenged with protecting their VMware environments and the post-VTL solutions that ultimately met those challenges. Kindred Healthcare was an early adopter of VMware, deploying it about five years ago. Sterling Testing went "virtual" about two years ago. Both companies have sizeable VMware deployments today. But while their two environments differ significantly in scale, both companies agree backing up their virtual server environments became increasingly difficult as their VMware environments grew.
VTL technology gave both companies the benefits of disk, including improved backup and recovery performance, easier management and improved resource utilization. It also allows them to re-purpose their existing tape resources for DR purposes. Additionally, because VTL emulates tape, both companies were able to easily switch to disk (from tape) without making any significant changes to their existing backup policies or procedures. The dynamic allocation of performance and capacity of the VTL matches the dynamic nature of the VMware server environment.
The bottom line is ESG Research and feedback from companies like Kindred Healthcare and Sterling Testing shows server virtualization is impacting backup processes, and is prompting organizations to implement disk-based systems to ensure these environments are protected. Kindred Healthcare and Sterling Testing are just two real-world examples of how deploying VTL in a VMware environment and consolidating the backup of virtual servers using VCB are synergistic and can help organizations significantly improve data protection SLAs with minimal to no disruption.
