Snapshots are your only option. Your only option.

There, I said it. That’s the answer. Now what’s the question? Well there are a number of questions, and they all go back to speed and efficiency and the limitations of alternate technologies.

We all know data is growing by leaps and bounds, but size and scope vary tremendously across different organizations. You may be doing just fine with your data growth, or it may be crushing you, overwhelming you, keeping you awake at night. Specifically I’m talking about protecting and recovering all that data. For a good number of you out there in Big Data Land, it’s no longer feasible to do things the old fashioned way – moving data from point A to point B. For instance, if a “daily” database backup goes beyond 24 hours, you’re in more than a logical quandary (a 32 hour “daily” backup?); you’re in a business quandary

How do you solve this? You have to protect data without moving data, because there isn’t time to move it. The only technology solution is snapshots. Or to put it in a way that might be more memorable, if someone asks you how to solve a big data protection problem, answer them like Cher in Moonstruck and tell them: “Snap out of it!”

• Can’t back up a large database fast enough? Snap out of it!
• Can’t restore an application fast enough to meet SLAs? Snap out of it!
• Backup creating too much impact on your servers? Snap out of it!

There is no technology available today that captures and recovers point-in-time data with the speed and efficiency of disk array snapshots. When traditional backup reaches its limits, you have to turn to snapshots.

Simple? Well not so simple. Snapshots are great technology, but they aren’t easy to use. You have to integrate them with applications. You have to get disk LUNs to synch with virtual machines. You can’t just randomly snap LUNs and expect it to work. And every disk vendor you have on the floor will operate differently. It’s all a big tangled knot of complex IT challenges.

So what do you do when faced with a giant knot? Well, we can turn to Moonstruck again for advice! Just say what Nicholas Cage says: “Bring me the big knife!”

When it comes to snapshots, the “big knife” is Simpana IntelliSnap. IntelliSnap software cuts right through that complex knot of challenges by doing all the hard work for you. Application integration? Got it. Virtual machine integration? Got it. Easy to use recovery workflows? Got it. A catalog of snapshot data? Got that too.

In fact, with Simpana IntelliSnap you can do all of the following: Protect data, recover data, index data, clone snaps, mount snaps, revert snaps and backup snapshots (note that some functions may not be available on certain disk systems). And the protection administrator doesn’t have to know how the disk systems work because IntelliSnap knows for you. That means you don’t need a storage specialist to manage snapshots, and it means operations are the same for every disk system.

So does IntelliSnap support the disk systems you have? Very likely, as it supports many major vendors, including Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NetApp, Nimble Storage and more (see here for the latest list of supported arrays and applications).

I’ve only scratched the surface of what IntelliSnap can do. In future blogs we’ll take closer looks at specific aspects of snapshot management and the benefits it can bring. Meanwhile, if you’re a Nimble Storage user or considering them, we have a joint webinar on February 27 that I’ll be co-presenting. Would love to have you join me!