White Paper: WAN-Optimized Replication: Built Into FalconStor Solutions

Data replication has become increasingly popular in small and large organizations, primarily for minimizing downtime associated with backup and disaster recovery (DR). Replication also enables organizations to use data in more than one way at a time. For example, if you replicate a database, you can continue using the original data set for production operations while using the copy to load a data warehouse or perform application testing. As a result, you get more value for your investment in information creation and management.

Remote replication can improve the backup process and shrink the backup window to virtually nothing. Many organizations take snapshots of their data, replicate it to a remote location, and complete the backup-to-tape process from the remote site. The primary site can immediately return to normal business functions, reducing downtime and enabling the speedy resumption of production (and revenue-generating) operations. With data replication, backups are no longer a disruptive process. Similarly, remotely replicated data can be used for DR to improve data protection. With data replicated offsite, it is protected from local corruptions and failures. Many organizations count on their replication technologies to deliver the data protection required for corporate and regulatory compliance.

Data replication is also extremely useful for keeping up with maintenance schedules. Some organizations run the risk of ignoring important system maintenance because it is disruptive to take down critical applications such as email. By replicating your email systems, you can bring down your primary system, start up operations on the secondary system, and then install patches, hardware upgrades, and other maintenance tasks on the primary system before bringing it back online. Without replication, these systems would need to be inoperable for long periods of time, interrupting business operations. Data replication is equally helpful for data center moves. You can fail over your systems to a DR site, move your production data center to its new location, and then fail back to the new data center. This type of task is virtually impossible — or at least highly impractical — without replicating over the WAN.