A LAN-free backup is a backup of server data to a shared, central storage device without sending the data over the local area network (LAN). It is usually achieved by using a storage area network (SAN).[1]

Note that trivial backup to a dedicated, unshared storage device (such as local tape drive) does not meet the definition.

Technical aspects

The goal of LAN-free backup is to reduce the load on LAN and reduce the time it takes to complete the backup.[1] It offers an alternative way of backup than a simple data copy to network-attached storage (NAS) over LAN.

It comes in different flavours:

  • with backup server:[1] in addition to a shared storage device (usually a traditional tape library), there exists a central server arbitrating access to device (for all the other SAN servers). The central server however, does not handle data stream itself.
  • without backup server:[1] the storage facility (usually a virtual tape library, or VTL) is smart enough to handle multiple data accesses without intermediate component.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Preston, W. Curtis (2007-01-03). Backup & Recovery: Inexpensive Backup Solutions for Open Systems. O'Reilly Media. pp. 210–212. ISBN 978-0-596-55504-7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.