Does Your Organization Need Continuous Data Protection?

Continuous data protection (CDP) is gaining momentum in today’s highly data-centric industry. Since data is the key component in many business models, it becomes extremely imperative that the data is protected, backed up and secured so as to avoid any risks that come with the loss, theft and tampering of data.

Continuous data protection is a technique that allows data to be modified at the source site and at the same time be replicated at the target site. At the target site, the data will have checkpoints and audit information along with it, which gives the history of modification so that one can go back in time in case the need arises. There are two types of CDP that are available today and various industry debates on which is better. True CDP is when one can recover the data up to an infinite number of points, making it an expensive and intense process. Near CDP is a more efficient version of CDP where-in the recovery can be made only up to those points in time where snapshots have been taken.

Organizations today do opt for CDP as compared to traditional backup process where the entire data is replicated from the source system to the target system, typically as a nightly batch cycle. The difference is that, in CDP, the replication process is happening at the byte level and in sync with the update that is happening at the source site. This leads to greater recovery even up to the last-minute in the event of a disaster. In a traditional backup environment, organizations face the risk of recovering data only 16- 24 hours prior to the disaster, depending on when the back up was last taken.

Mendocino Software Inc, has made a smart move recently to counter the argument between the benefits and cost related to true CDP and near CDP. The solution provided is to have a dual-mode functionality so that organizations can switch between the two modes depending on their requirements.

CDP has surely brought about a revolution in the data back up and replication techniques. Concerned about your business data? Talk to Lifeline Data Centers today to see how we can offer the safest environment for your data.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.