Geeks in Paradise | Brian Chee » Updates to SonicWall CDP Article

August 30, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Updates to SonicWall CDP Article

TAGS: Testing notes

Originally published in InfoWorld on August 17, 2006

SonicWall CDP Product Line

This relatively new product line originally from Lasso systems, the CDP provides data protection over a couple different market categories ranging from SMB to the low end of the enterprise market.

What SonicWall is working towards is to provide high reliability data backup with optional offsite storage in an environmentally controlled data center.

The reality is that product features change quickly and sometimes I miss a data point during the fact check with the vendor. Here are a few feedback points brought up by several readers after this article published:

These answers are from the SonicWall CDP product manager and have NOT been personally confirmed.

1.         Does the baremetal restore software actually backup the changes on exchange and SQL live or must the system be stopped and then backed up?

A: Although SonicWALL BMR Server for Windows takes care of hard disk and file system-level consistency via snapshot technology, it could not guarantee application-level consistency. We recommend you to suspend complex servers such as Microsoft SQL, Oracle or Microsoft Exchange before pressing the Proceed button on the last page of the Create Image wizard, or before starting a scheduled task. Once the imaging process starts, you can resume server operations. It is not necessary to suspend the applications for the duration of the imaging process.

If your database is compatible with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), then you can check the Enable VSS support box in Backup Options to ensure completion of all transactions before the backup process starts. Then the database will be ready to access immediately after recovery.

2.         Cost of tossing the old unit to upgrade, there was mention of a future upgrade program that wasn't ready to be put into the story. Is it public yet or still a bit off?

A: First we recommend that a customer should budget 2-3 years for their CDP purchase before needing an upgrade. Key considerations are: data growth based on history of past few years, company growth, employee growth, and other initiatives that would impact data size. We plan to institute a formal upgrade plan in the near future. In addition the next generation of CDP will have expandable capacity, so CDP can grow as the customer grows.

3.         Do you have a cost comparison on offsite storage costs? I know that environmentally controlled storage is pretty expensive, but just how much is it nowdays?

A: You are right in that other competitor’s offsite costs can be expensive, and they do not offer the benefit of instant backup, instant recovery. A customer should not have to recover a 50 Gb SQL database over the wire if there is not a disaster event. Recover it locally in minimal time. The same goes for an end-user recovering a file. CDP is a huge productivity saver, reducing downtime from hours to minutes.

A price comparison chart for “environmentally controlled storage� is below. These companies are primarily Offsite Service providers that have high overhead. They also tend to be server-based, and do not protect laptops or workstations without the purchase of additional products. They are difficult to use (require IT Admin) and will have an additional charge for agents to backup Exchange, SQL, etc. Finally many of them work like a cell phone bill – buy a monthly package but you get charged for overage. CDP sells Gb packages, and sends an Alert to the customer before exceeding the quota. No surprises.

Price comparison for offsite storage from 5 to 100 Gb

SonicWALL MSRP $5.88 to $4.41 per Gb

Competitor 1 MSRP $19 to $15 per Gb

Competitor 2 MSRP $24 to $12 per Gb

I also had several comments on the high price of the offsite storage. SonicWall has informed me that the pricing has dropped radically and can be found by contacting SonicWall or your SonicWall reseller.

To the readers that helped keep me honest, my sincerest gratitude. It is my hope that I can publish articles that interest you and are as technicaly correct as possible. However, being human mistakes creep in. So keep those emails coming, and if you have ideas on what kinds of things you'd like to see covered, drop me an email.

 

/brian chee

Posted by Brian Chee on August 30, 2006 01:24 PM

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