Rectiphy Blog

You take the high road; I’ll take the low road: About backup compression

ccornell — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:49:32 +0000

By Jamey Kirby, CEO Rectiphy

In this BLOG entry I want to talk a little bit about compression. One of the first questions people ask about compression is “why do I care about the type of compression?” In most cases, for backup and disaster recovery, it may not be important. However, there are some situations where controlling the type of compression can have some benefit.

ActiveImage Protector uses two very common compression techniques: 1) Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer (LZO) and 2) ZLIB (DEFLATE). LZO is used because of its speed and ZLIB is used because of its compression ratio. ActiveImage Protector uses highly optimized implementations of these algorithms in order to provide the fasted possible speeds for compression and decompression.

Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer (Standard):

LZO offers moderate compression levels and slightly faster compression speeds over ZLIB. However, LZO decompression speeds are extremely fast. LZO is useful on older computers with fewer cores. LZO uses less CPU cycles for both compression and decompression. Desktop computers, laptop computers, and netbook computers can reduce CPU resource consumption by using LZO. On netbook and laptop computers, this can result in extended battery life as well as better performance for foreground applications during a backup.

Another, more specialized, use for LZO compression is for applications that mount ActiveImage Protector image files for file-level recovery. File-level recovery is not streamed data and thus is not a good candidate for using parallel speedup algorithms for compression and decompression. Because of the extremely fast decompression speeds of LZO, applications that require extensive file-level recovery can greatly benefit from LZO compression.

ZLIB (High):

ZLIB is encapsulations of the late Phil Katz’s data compression algorithm DEFLATE. DEFLATE uses a combination of the LZ77 algorithms and Huffman coding algorithms. ZLIB provides greater compression ratios at the expense of CPU resources. It takes longer to compress a message using ZLIB, but the resulting message is smaller. ZLIB offers some tuning parameters to determine how much work the algorithm will do in order to compress the data. The less work the algorithm does, the less the compression ratio and the faster the compression time. ActiveImage Protector uses a fixed value of seven on a scale of one to nine. We have found that on a typical system volume, anything past seven starts to give diminishing levels of return on speed vs. compression ratio. For backups that are less frequently used, or for backups where the destination free-space is a limited resource, ZLIB is the recommended compression method.

Active Image Protector, utilizing highly optimized compression code written in assembly language, is the fastest image backup and disaster recovery product in the industry.

For the future, Rectiphy is developing new techniques to improve compression when working with known types of data. For example, disks that contain databases tend to have lots of text data. Text data is highly compressible as there are many repeating data patterns; less entropy. Rectiphy is working with block-sorting algorithms and arithmetic compressions algorithms that can have a significant impact for compression ratios on known types of data. Look for some of these new features down the road as we continue to innovate ways to better protect your data.

Resources:

(Wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZO

(Wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEFLATE

(Wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zlib

(Wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_compression

Storage Software Market Continues to Grow

ccornell — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:42:16 +0000

According to IDC‘s Worldwide Storage Software QView, the storage software market has enjoyed year-over-year growth for seven consecutive quarters now. IDC, the premier global provider of market intelligence, says the total market value for storage software was close to $3.4 billion during Q2 of 2011 which is up 11.3% over the same period last year. IDC says that this double-digit growth is thanks in part to increased corporate investments in server and disk storage systems.

Five of the seven functional markets that are covered by IDC’s report grew at double-digits or at least high single-digit rates during the quarter. Storage Infrastructure Software and Storage & Device Management Software experienced the sharpest rise at 22.6% and 17.3% year-over-year growth respectively. Rectiphy and its network of partners will be pleased that Data Protection and Recovery Software accounted for 34.2% of market value for the report period and were the largest contributors to new revenue for the quarter.

Rectiphy Makes CRN’s 2011 List of Emerging Vendors

ccornell — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:01:10 +0000

Rectiphy has made the list of CRN’s Emerging Vendors for 2011. The list, published in the August 2011 issue of the popular channel publication, comprises of companies from every discipline and technology facet. According to CRN’s Andrew R. Hickey, “With new innovations like cloud computing and virtualization speeding up the pace of innovation and technology mainstays like storage and networking branching off into new directions, this list encapsulates a tectonic technology shift where the recently founded are starting to rule the roost and become household names much more quickly than in the past.” The article concluded with, “2011 is the year where emerging turns to emerged and startups and upstarts take hold.”

AIP Enhances Speed by Utilizing AIS-NI Encryption

ccornell — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:30:51 +0000

By Jamey Kirby, CEO Rectiphy

ActiveImage Protector(tm) utilizes the new Intel AES-NI advanced encryption instructions across all Windows and Linux platforms.

All versions of ActiveImage Protector from version 2.7.5 forward utilize AES-NI when using the Intel Core processor family based on the 32nm Intel micro architecture codenamed Westmere. These new instructions allow ActiveImage Protector to encrypt and decrypt the backup stream at blazing fast speed; tests have shown a 10x performance increase over software-only solutions.

In addition to improving performance, the AES-NI instructions provide important security benefits. By running in data-independent time and not using tables, ActiveImage Protector with AES-NI helps eliminate some of the major timing and cache-based attacks that threaten table-based software implementations of AES. ActiveImage Protector with AES-NI also helps with difficult-to-detect side channel leaks that are common in software-only solutions.

Many current backup applications utilize the Windows Cryptographic API which makes AES-NI available only under Windows 7 based systems. ActiveImage Protector does not rely on the Windows Cryptographic API allowing AIP to support AES-NI across all Windows and Linux platforms.

Rectiphy is committed to improving ActiveImage Protector’s data protection capabilities. ActiveImage Protector with AES-NI is just one of many advanced ways we are ensuring your data is protected. It is not only in our name, it is in our blood.

For more information on side-channel leaks and AES-NI, see the following links:

(Wikipedia): http://goo.gl/Wy7x0
(Wikipedia): http://goo.gl/uguBB

* Intel and Intel AES-NI are registered trademarks of the Intel Corporation. Please visit http://www.intel.com for additional information about Intel.

Are NPOs Backing up Today’s Data with Yesterday’s Technology?

ccornell — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:10:17 +0000

As a non-profit organization you probably know a lot about natural disasters and disaster recovery. But are you really prepared if your mission-critical computers, servers or applications suffer from a catastrophe? Gartner says that 60% of organizations will have a major data loss at some point. Your hard drive may crash, a laptop could be lost or stolen, users might delete data by mistake (or on purpose), malware could infect your servers or your office could potentially be damaged by fire or flood. In the event of failure or loss – are you protected?

Would your answers to these questions be acceptable?

- How often do you backup your systems?

- Do you have multiple copies?

- Have you tested your backups?

- How long will it take to restore your system, applications, settings and data?

- Is your entire system backed up or just your data?

There are two broadly defined approaches to backup – file-based backup and image-based backup. File-based backup has been used since PCs were first introduced. You kept backup copies of your files on disks, tapes and other drives. If a hard drive or computer died you would simply re-install and re-configure everything – the operating system, applications, license keys, updates, settings and finally your all important data. This took hours and more often than not – something goes missing.

But today NPOs have begun to adapt image or sector-based backup solutions such as ActiveImage Protector. AIP backs up your entire hard drive including the system. In the event of tragedy you can restore your entire system to the exact state it was at time of the last backup. Plus you can restore this image to a new hard drive or even a different computer if needed. AIP makes sure you have everything from your old system and restores this info in a fraction of the time that reconstructing a computer would take.

In the event that all you need to do is recover a lost file, AIP has you covered there too. ActiveImage Protector lets you “mount” a backup image as a drive for granular access to individual files and folders, even from a backup taken at a previous point-in-time.

Regular backups are vital insurance against a data-loss catastrophe. Research shows that of the organizations who lost their data, over half were out of business within two years. Developing a solid back-up plan requires a small investment of time and funds, but the small cost is far less than the task of trying to recreate lost data or having to find and reinstall all of your applications, the OS, settings, bookmarks, history and more.

Rectiphy has special pricing for educational institutions and non-profits. Let us help you shore up your disaster recovery efforts so you can focus on helping others recover from theirs’.

Creating a Custom Data Backup Process with Backup Scripts

ccornell — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:33:21 +0000

With ActiveImage Protector flexibility and customization are built in. Using AIP’s advanced scripting you can make your data backup routine do things it might not have been originally designed to do. While customizing your backup process with backup scripts takes a bit of extra work – Rectiphy has made it as painless as possible.

Backup administrators can easily create .cmd, .bat and .vbs programs that help them automate tasks.

With AIP you can specify script files (.cmd / .bat / .vbs) at the following three points in backup process. To use a script file, specify the full-path file name in the respective text box.

Pre-snapshot script file – Specify the script file to run before taking the snapshot. For example, executing a pre-snapshot script file stops non-VSS aware applications or databases to place them into a state where backup can be taken.

Post-snapshot script file – Specify the script file to run after taking the snapshot. For example, any databases or applications that were stopped using a pre-snapshot script file are placed back into their full production state with the execution of a post-snapshot script file.

Post-backup image creation script file – Specify the script file to run after creating the backup image. For example, a script file can be executed to copy the created backup image file to an offsite location.

ActiveImage Protector backup software is designed to share resources and automatically send things to the right resource as it becomes available. AIP’s scripts can be used to reduce the overall utilization of resources and take advantage of other tools and resources within your environment.

SMBs – Backup your Data or Risk Going out of Business

ccornell — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:28:35 +0000

According to the Gartner Group, If you are not backup up your small business’s data – you are at risk of going out of business. According the findings, 25% of all PC users suffer from data loss each year and 7 out of 10 small businesses that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year.

Other findings:

15% of all laptops are stolen or suffer hard drive failures which is a much higher percent than desktops.
Companies may back up their servers but over 90% of business workstations are not being backed up – potentially losing valuable data on employee workstations.
The annual cost of data loss is $12 Billion

Rectiphy’s ActiveImage Protector Desktop Edition is just $59 – a small investment for data protection and disaster recovery of your company’s workstations.

Rectiphy Announces NEW BUILD for all ActiveImage Protector v3.0 Products

ccornell — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:12:29 +0000

Rectiphy Corporation has posted a new build of ActiveImage Protector ^TM (3.0.3.686) for download. This latest build adds significant backup and restore speed improvements, scheduling improvements and other feature enhancements. Build 686 is available for all Window versions of ActiveImage Protector v3 including, AIP Desktop Edition, AIP Server Edition, AIP for Hyper-V with ReZoom, AIP Virtual Edition and AIP IT Pro Edition. The latest build download is available for free to all customers of ActiveImage Protector v3, customers with current software maintenance, and product evaluators.

ActiveImage Protector v3 was first released in April and included major enhancements to its entire family of live data, sector based, backup and restore solutions for physical machines and virtual environments. AIP 3.0 added features including Disk to Disk Copy, Bad Sector Skipping, the ability to restore image files to new virtual or physical locations and more.

The latest build is available at Rectiphy’s download site. For immediate access to the download files please fill out the form at http://rectiphy.com/try/ For questions or support information please email support@rectiphy.com

Does your Backup Tool Support Next Generation Motherboards?

ccornell — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:21:47 +0000

ActiveImage Protector is the 1st to support uEFI mother boards / GPT (GUID partition tables) system and boot volumes. This means support for huge volumes along with better reliability for backing up data from servers using next generation motherboards.

The GUID Partition Table (GPT) was introduced as a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) initiative. GPT provides a more flexible mechanism for partitioning disks than the older Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioning scheme that has been common to PCs. GPT disks can grow to a very large size. The number of partitions on a GPT disk is not constrained by temporary schemes such as container partitions as defined by the MBR Extended Boot Record (EBR).

What’s a uEFI Mother Board? UEFI which stands for “Unified Extensible Firmware Interface” is set to replace the current BIOS, which has been around from the beginning of desktop computing, beginning in 2011. UEFI motherboards using GPT (GUID partition table) takes advantage of 64 bit addressing, this allows for a staggering 9.4 ZB or Zettabyte is 9,400,000,000 Terrabytes (TB) or 9 trillion 400 million. Current BIOS max out at 2.2 TB. While we certainly don’t need that much storage (yet) this new technology also makes installing hardware easier and increases stability.

Some of the available uEFI Mother Boards include:

Dell PowerEdge T610, R710 Tower and Rack Servers; M610, M710 Blade Servers

HP EliteBook Mobile Workstation, Notebook PC and tablet PCs (e.g., 8530p, 8530w, 8730w, 6930p, 2730p, etc.) HP Compaq NoteBook PCs (e.g., 6735s, 6735b, 6730s, 2230s, etc.

IBM System x3550 M2, Blade Center HS22, iDataPlex dx360 M2, IBM x3450 server, etc.

Intel motherboards DP55WB, DP55WG, DP55Kg, DP55SB, DP43TF, DG43NB, DG41TY, DQ45EK, DQ45CB, DG45ID, DG45FC, DG41RQ, DG22BU, DG22FB

MSI Motherboards (P45D3 Platinum, Efinity (only available in Taiwan)

Panasonic (Class 2) Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1 (Atom UMPC)

Backup Best Practice: The 3-2-1 Rule

ccornell — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:57:49 +0000

Many data centers are over-whelmed by the ever growing volume of their data and the extended retention periods that compliance regulations often require. Organizations need a cost-effective and flexible archive strategy that capably manages their data and optimizes their storage resources.

One best practice solution is to use ActiveImage Protector’s automated and robust backup platform and following the 3-2-1 rule. Endorsed by leading industry experts, the 3-2-1 archiving and data protection rule provides a proven framework that calls for keeping 3 copies of important data. 3-2-1 calls for storing data files on two different media types (such as hard drive and optical media) in order to protect against different types of disasters and one copy should be stored offsite on removable storage.

A 3-2-1 strategy addresses the archive challenges facing organizations today. This multitier archive approach provides system flexibility by storing valuable data on various storage technologies across multiple locations. At the same time, the 3-2-1 model enables data centers to optimize costly storage resources, while retaining archive data in a flexible and cost-effective environment.

ActiveImage Protector’s intuitive wizards can automate the 3-2-1 process by not only scheduling backup routines but also by moving images to different hardware and can even send encrypted images to your offsite storage location. AIPs new Unification and Consolidation options reduce storage requirements by combining Incremental backups with the original full backup for long term data retention.

While 3-2-1 storage is the ideal arrangement, it’s not always possible, particularly for files and data in the early stages of the lifecycle. That is why ActiveImage Protector’s live sector-based backup solution works so well. Normally scheduled incremental backups archive new data as often as every 10 minutes.

Industry best practices suggest three copies and some physical separation between your archival copies. To automate the process, ActiveImage Protector provides backup options and useful wizards that provide multiple benefits including, meeting corporate demands for long term data retention; optimizing existing storage infrastructure; improving archive resilience and providing a establishment for regulatory compliance.