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Data Migration and Data Consolidation
Data migration and data consolidation are two very different operations which produce different results. In either case however, the process for accomplishing these tasks are somewhat the same. All organizations at one time or another will have to face the issue of migrating or consolidating their data to accomplish various goals. Both of these functions are, at times, a great challenge. Whether the data is being moved across the country or simply moving data off of an older production cluster to a new environment, there is a certain amount of risk. These are the times when problems at any level can cause a production system to fail. Before beginning a project that creates the need to move data, an advanced strategy for not only moving the data but also to protect it at each step is key to success and to reducing risk.
Data migration is the most common activity undertaken by most organizations and is usually related to moving data from an old technology platform to a new platform (ie, old hardware to new hardware) or moving data from an older version of an application to a new version of the same application. (This is not to be confused with data conversion, which converts data from one application to a different application that uses the “same” data, though the basic tenant for this operation is the same.) Data consolidation is usually associated with moving data from remote locations to a central location or combining data due to an acquisition or merger. In either case the first step in the process will always be to backup or protect your data, so that in the event of a problem, you can restore the operation.
DR Scout is perfectly suited to either of these operations. In an environment where DR Scout is implemented, the process of protecting the data is already complete. As well, the ability to perform application failover and provide data availability exists without adding any additional hardware or software to accomplish the migration or consolidation operation. If DR Scout is not installed and running in an environment, implementation is not complex and will, in a very short period of time, provide the data protection required by either of these processes.
How it Works:
DR-Scout provides non-disruptive Continuous Data Protection to allow for instant recovery back to any point in time or any business event. Unlike other host-only-based approaches that severely impact production hosts, DR-Scout offloads retention, encryption and compression functions to an out-of-band server. The diagram below shows a typical implementation.
Unique Features and Benefits:
Uninterrupted Operations: If your organization is undertaking a technology refresh or switching from one storage environment to another, DR Scout can ensure uninterrupted operation using our application failover capability while new hardware is installed and tested. While ensuring the application is constantly available so that there is no lost productivity, the implementation team can ensure the new environment is correctly installed a thoroughly tested.
Assured Recoverability: While many updates and upgrades are performed "in place" and are considered "non-disruptive", unforeseen problem can and many times do occur. Because of this it is still best practice to ensure your data is backed up and protected prior to beginning the operation. DR Scout can ensure your data is protected using our patented CDP technology providing the peace of mind that you can always recover your data to the point-in-time just prior to the failure. As well, using the application failover capability of DR Scout will also alleviate the concern of lost or corrupted data.
Non-Intrusive Operation: Consolidating data from remote sites can be a pain-staking process that can cause disruption to the remote operation. DR Scout can be utilized to remove this disruption by capturing the data in a non-intrusive manner. DR Scout's ability to transmit the data via the WAN in a controlled fashion utilizing our unique bandwidth policy management tools means little impact on the production environment and assured protection of all of the remote data at the central location.
Heterogeneous Support: Today, many organizations are growing through acquisition and mergers. This activity puts a heavy burden on IT organizations because of the disparate operations between the two organizations. Bringing these differing operations together can be an overwhelming task in not properly planned and without proper tools. DR Scout and it's flexible architecture provides superior support for heterogeneous environments. The capability to handle various platforms helps control costs and reduces, if not eliminates the need for multiple software solutions to support the merging of two different organizations.
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