Why Is NetApp an Out of a Box Backup Solution

An efficient and robust backup and recovery solution is crucial for any business. Companies across all industries have to deal with high volumes of critical data, which need to be managed effectively and securely.

Traditional backup technologies such as streaming disks and tapes often respond slow and consume a lot of resources. There are many incidences when the technology of data protection streaming has resulted in slowing data retrieval.

Challenges with Traditional Data Backup Solutions

Traditional backup solutions are slow and resource-intensive. Further, there are problems related to shrinking backup windows and the weak integration between different backup technologies.

Additionally, integration of backup technologies is difficult since there is a lack of standard reference architecture to ease backup solutions’ selection and deployment process.

NetApp and Commvault have come together to address these challenges in traditional backup practices with ‘Out of a Box Solutions’. These contemporary backup solutions encompass licenses, hardware for storage, servers, and backup solutions.

NetApp Cloud Backup Overview

NetApp Cloud Backup Service can backup and restore data in its hybrid cloud storage known as Cloud Volumes ONTAP.

ONTAP is the proprietary data management internal operating system that is optimized for storage functions. The cloud ONTAP platform is cloud volumes ONTAP. The other two platforms are FAS/AFF systems and ONTAP select.

So, Cloud Volumes ONTAP offers high-quality data management for file and block workloads. It ensures high data protection, security, compliance, and better application performance.

Related Categories: Data Backup Software | Saas Backup Solution | Endpoint Backup Solution

How Does NetApp Cloud Backup Solution Work?

NetApp backup service aims to protect cloud data and act as a transparent gateway to create the long-term archive to a private or public cloud. Data is deduplicated, compressed, and encrypted for transfer to object storage systems such as Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage.

It provides backup and recovery for enterprise databases such as Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, and SAP Hana. It also ensures the deliver recovery for VMware virtual environments.

NetApp SnapCenter backup management software backs up the primary storage to a secondary target. It has both server and individual applications, databases, and plugins. In addition, there is a centralized management console to recover copies from any point in time.

In-built Snapshot and SnapMirror replication technologies help develop copies at the data layer rapidly without taking large amounts of space.

What is NetApp Out of a Box Backup Solution?

NetApp has partnered with Commvault to co-develop ‘solutions out of a box.’ It contains backup software, servers, licenses, and storage hardware all in one place. As a result, companies do not have to skim and scan different systems and check their compatibility with each other.

NetApp and Commvault’s Out of a Box Backup Solution takes away the pain points of businesses once they buy it off the shelf. The deployment and support processes are simple and seamless. Even if a business is using another solution already, the migration process is fast and easy.

Backup Solution Configuration (Small)

Backup Solution Configuration (Medium)

NetApp & Commvault Together Provide Perfect Backup Solution for SMBs

NetApp is a provider of numerous data management solutions for the cloud, especially for small and medium businesses (SMBs). By partnering with Commvault, which focuses on data protection, NetApp can create a highly resilient solution for mid-market and enterprise customers.

In addition, it addresses the challenge of managing a hybrid multi-cloud environment with different toolsets.

The Out of a Box Backup Solution from NetApp and Commvault specifically targets small and medium businesses with a compact data center. The backend storage capacity size for small configuration is 30 TB, and medium configuration is 50 TB.

For long-term retention, there is an option to expand shelves and drives. In addition, SMBs can use the solution and resources based on the budget, governance, and recovery objectives.

NetApp securely stores the primary data in cloud. The solution stores and protects the snapshots, backups, and workloads or virtual machines (VMs). VM migrations to, from, and between clouds are also possible. Thus, it solves the integration challenges and eases the management and control of data.

Commvault’s complete backup and data recovery solution integrate across all NetApp storage platforms. It allows IT teams to centrally manage and monitor NetApp data protection and recovery operations for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Why Choose NetApp for Backup & Recovery?

Storing data on the cloud does not mean that there are no risks of data loss, corruption, or cyberattacks. NetApp provides an easy-to-use solution that enables users to securely back up and recovers data stored on NetApp’s hybrid enterprise cloud storage (Cloud Volumes ONTAP).

The backup service is an add-on feature to cloud storage that creates a long-term archive of cloud data. Independent copies of user’s data volumes are made and used for recovery in a situation where data is compromised.

The backup copies are saved in the user’s object storage and restored to its source or a different cloud storage instance.

Easy to use and cost-effective
You do not need to have extensive training to use the NetApp cloud backup service. The backup of data in object storage is available at an affordable cost. Users pay for only what they use. Once the initial backup is done, users only pay for changes made in data blocks.
Fast and improved performance
NetApp offers built-in replication based on Snapshot technology which makes it fast enough for critical applications. In addition, unlike traditional backup software that uses streaming backup, there is no burden on the application server, which improves performance.
Data protection
NetApp complies with data protection requirements. Backups present in cloud object storage are separate from primary volumes of data.
Security
NetApp cloud backup has strong built-in security. It uses 256-bit AES encryption at rest and Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2) HTTPS connections in flight mode.
Easy Recovery
It is possible to retrieve data volumes from any point in time easily.

Challenges That You Can Overcome with NetApp Backup Solutions

As an organization expands, the applications also grow, and it becomes difficult to manage the diverse types of data. Most existing solutions consume a lot of time and resources to perform the task of storing and retrieving large volumes of data at once.

NetApp’s backup solution overcomes this challenge by managing backups across separate categories of applications and their deployment infrastructure at a large scale.

Protection of critical business data

While the purpose of backup is to secure data, many backup options can put the data at risk. NetApp’s SnapCenter can form application-consistent Snapshot copies so that data does not get corrupted in the event of a failure. There are state-consistent backups at all levels and a single interface for popular and custom applications and databases.

The management console enables monitoring, event notification, dashboard reporting, scheduling, and policy management, and more for various applications and plug-ins. This way, the team has full control of their data.

Performance and recovery

You can back up the data frequently without worrying about the impact on the application’s performance. NetApp uses Snapshot technology with in-built replication. Snapshot copies enable the rapid recovery of large volumes of data.

Workload of IT specialists

It reduces the work of IT operations administrators, application and database administrators, virtualization administrators, application owners, and developers. The solution offers self-service capabilities and role-based access control.

With SnapMirror replication, business owners can put the secondary site to active business use and reduce the overall TCO by up to 60%. The data copies on secondary or tertiary storage can be used for development and testing without affecting the entire production system. This saves the time spent in development and testing.

Benefits of NetApp Out of a Box Backup & Recovery Solution

The key benefits of NetApp Out of a Box Backup and recovery solution are:

Elimination of tape completely
You can backup and restore any workload in the hybrid environment, be it on a cloud, on-premise, or collocated (present together). There is no separate procedure for different data types- applications (enterprise or in-house) or simple unstructured data.
Better scalability
Commvault media servers (deduplication) make it easy to scale applications on the front-end or customer-facing side. Out of a Box solution also provides back-end scalability with the ability to increase the raw capacity of ESeries arrays whenever required.
Better data management and storage
The data management platform can reduce complexity by mirroring the backup data. In addition, archiving and stubbing data reduces the need for higher storage capacity.
Support from NetApp and Commvault
As the solution has been co-developed by NetApp and Commvault, they provide joint presales, delivery, and support to businesses. This makes the process easy and efficient for companies, especially for small businesses and medium businesses with small data centers.
Higher efficiency
It can provide fast backups for primary data ranging from several terabytes to petabytes. Replication or copy for disk-to-disk backups are done while ensuring that there are no redundant records. This makes it highly efficient to recover backed-up data in the event of a disaster.

Suggested Read: What are the Types of Backups in Commvault

Wrapping Up

Forget about conventional data backup solutions! NetApp’s Out of a Box Solution is all you need to protect your critical data with confidence.