Page 5 of 12
July 2001
Why Choose Native Fibre Channel Backup?
Improved fault tolerance. Multiple data pathways, mirroring
capability, and reduced error rates provide a highly reliable data
transfer system. If a server or data path fails, alternate routes through
the SAN are available.
Improved storage manageability. An administrator can monitor and
control all of the SAN’s storage from a single remote console.
How does a SAN improve backups?
While SANs are deployed primarily to remedy data storage problems,
tremendous benefits also come in the area of data backups. These
benefits parallel those just mentioned.
Quicker backups
With tape libraries attached directly to the SAN, data to be backed up is
sent through the SAN rather than the production network. Backups take
place more quickly because the Fibre Channel SAN moves data much
more quickly than the typical Ethernet-based network. If the SAN
supports serverless backup (described on page 9), backups can take
place even more quickly because server bottlenecks are eliminated.
Better network performance
With data moving across the SAN rather than the production network, the
network no longer bogs down during backups. Backups can take place at
any time without impacting network users.
More efficient use of backup resources
Backup resources are used more efficiently because capacity can be
shared among all the devices on the SAN. Because storage is no longer
tied to specific servers, data can be directed to any backup device on the
SAN that has the appropriate capacity.
Greater accessibility to data for recovery
Because storage devices aren’t tied to particular servers, data recovery
doesn’t have to be tied to a particular server’s backup device. Just as
backups can be sent to any tape drive on the SAN, recovery can take
place from any tape drive. The data is simply directed through the SAN to
the affected storage device. Tapes can be managed at a central location,
and recovery can be controlled from a single console.
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