Disc-To-Disc Backup Appliance Takes Tape Out Of The Equation

One new appliance is Idealstor&'s FrankeNAS, which is a disk-to-disk storage and backup device that takes backup tape out of the equation. The device uses hard disks both in a RAID array and in a removable disk array, which does away with the need for tape. Disk storage is much faster than tape because it's a random access technology; it&'s also more reliable. Idealstor&'s technology places relatively inexpensive hard drives in special caddies that allow the drives to be popped in and out of the main chassis like tapes so they can be brought off-site for storage.

Not only is tape now relatively expensive compared with disk, it is also quite slow compared with hard disk storage. With hard drives now available in 500-Gbyte capacities, it can take forever to back them up. And with so much data being saved, it can actually be difficult to perform a complete backup within a given nighttime or weekend backup window. Another problem with this slow speed is that the more data you have to back up, the more likely it is that something will go wrong during the backup process.

If there were some way to overcome all the obstacles associated with using hard drives in place of tape, the solution would be one that could outperform any tape drive, and also one that would make it easier to perform a complete backup in a relatively brief backup window. Fortunately for solution providers, a slew of new storage and backup appliances have taken clean-slate approaches to storing data. Solution providers can now specify an appliance that does exactly what a customer needs and nothing more, and it will do it in a cost-effective manner.

Idealstor&'s FrankeNAS appliance uses hard drives for both nearline and removable storage. Half of the unit&'s 4U capacity is used as a RAID 5 storage array, and the other half houses up to four removable drives using Idealstor&'s special drive caddies. Using the very latest (and largest) hard drives, the FrankeNAS can be configured with up to 2.3 Tbytes of RAID 5 storage and up to 2 Tbytes of removable storage. Depending on capacity, the FrankeNAS costs between about $10,000 and $20,000. A sample unit sent to the CRN Test Center contained a 1.10-Tbyte RAID array, two special drive caddies for a removable capacity of 1 Tbyte and a price of $13,495.

The FrankeNAS is basically a 4U server containing dual Xeon processors, fully redundant system drives, redundant power supplies and dual Gigabit NICs to provide fast throughput to the network. It&'s configured as a Windows 2003 Server, so administrators will likely already know how to configure and install it in a network. All a solution provider must do is install the preferred backup software; the FrankeNAS unit acts as a host for backup software.

Since FrankeNAS runs Windows 2003, remote management functionality is provided by the built-in Windows tools; third-party utilities can also be used. The management software allows drives to be formatted, labeled and ejected much like tapes. Backup software is required to run the backups, and FrankeNAS acts as the host for it. Solution providers can use the bundled Ibac Data Protection Software, or they can use any backup software that has the ability to back up to disk. Ibac is a complete backup and restore package that backs up Windows Servers in their native format. Target Folder Encryption allows the removable drives to be encrypted before being sent off-site for storage. Of course, FrankeNAS is compatible with all major backup software such as Veritas Backup Exec, CA BrightStor, BakBone NetVault, Retrospect, Syncsort and others.

FrankeNAS
Price: $13,495 MSRP
Warranty: One year
Primary Distributors: Bell Microproducts
Company: Idealstor
Gaithersburg, Md.
(888) 864-3257
www.idealstor.com