Continuous Data Protection

The integrated event-based Continuous Data Protection component provides continuous 24/7 data production with support for Recovery Point Objectives as granular as 1 second. CDP is designed for remote backup operations with automatic WAN optimization tuning built-in and support for automatic re-connection and resumption in the event of a connection failure.

CDP provides a more efficient backup option based on its virtually unlimited granularity to remove the data loss vulnerabilities between regularly scheduled backups by optimizing Recovery Point Objectives (RPO). Customers can now restore data from an infinite number of RPOs, while the backup window and recovery time objectives are effectively reduced to zero. Data Storage Corporation delivers these benefits without the need for excessive backend data accumulation to support the CDP functionality, minimizing capacity requirements resulting in additional customer cost savings.

CDP is deployed as a no-charge integrated feature which is installed at the remote sites. When CDP is enabled, the DS-Client monitors the specified data source and whenever changes are detected, data is automatically backed up off-site. The DS-Client maintains an agent-less architecture even when CDP is being performed. Agent-less CDP is enabled for Windows and UNIX file systems, and for Microsoft Exchange using the Message Level Restore functionality.

CDP operations are not impacted by occasional small data recovery and file restoration operations. The DS-Client allows these actions while CDP backup is still active, ensuring that no data is put at risk during a recovery. Restores can be performed from the local copy or from the offsite vault.

The DS-Client also provides automatic retention policies enforcement without manual intervention once the initial retention rules are set. Retention enforcement is enabled for both regular and CDP backup, and separate retention configurations can be established for both local and offsite data storage.

To minimize the bandwidth demands for remote backup, including CDP, our service incorporates a series of WAN optimization techniques, including de-duplication, data compression, block-level incremental backup and incremental forever backup. Additionally, backup data sent over a WAN from a remote site to Data Storage's backup facility is protected by encryption up to AES 256 in flight and at rest.

CDP is also an architected solution to mitigate anticipated WAN latency issues. If the WAN speed cannot keep up with the CDP data load, CDP dynamically and automatically adjusts the RPO granularity based on the available WAN capacity. The objective is to do the best possible job with the available infrastructure, instead of not doing anything. For example, an administrator may want to capture 10GB of changed data per second. If his DSL connection is not robust enough to transmit that changed data successfully, he may be able to transmit changes every five or 10 minutes. Bandwidth-throttling is also integrated into the solution.