Home > IT Answers > Storage > Replicating SAN to DR Site
Mpweber
20 pts.
 Replicating SAN to DR Site
Disaster Recovery, SAN, WAN, Disaster recovery planning, Data Replication, DR
We are looking to build a warm DR site across town. How are other companies managing to duplicate their data in a reasonable time to another location? We are looking to copy around 150 GB per day. We don't need up to the minute data, up to the hour or two is acceptable.
ASKED: Nov 24, 2008  4:21 PM GMT
UPDATED: December 1, 2008  4:07:57 PM GMT
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Taylorallis
30 pts.
Answer Wiki:
Some ideas based on what we have done with clients – we’ve found some really good unified gateway appliances that you can hook up to one SAN site. You can take a snap copy of your production data/volume so you don’t disrupt your current environment. Then you do WAN replication to a similar appliance at the warm DR site across town.

Another option is to replicate you SAN data to a local (permanent or temporary) appliance, and mail or drive that appliance to the warm DR site. You can then do a WAN replication sync between the current site and the warm DR site to match the change/delta in data during the period the appliance was in transit.

Sometimes transfering data via truck is faster and cheaper than transferring it over a network line!
Last Wiki Answer Submitted:  Nov 24, 2008  5:39 PM (GMT)  by  Taylorallis   30 pts.
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Your replication method depends on a few factors, business need, cost, in house capability, current technologies in place. There is not a lot of information to work with. However, the type of questions you ask, can lead you to the proper solution. There are a variety of technologies that you can employ to replicate your data. such as host based replication, SAN based replication, database replication, application based replication, etc.
Some questions to consider
1. If you truly need up 1 to 2 hour old data at the alternate site, it sounds like you need to replicate at least once a day? What type of database is employed? Oracle or SQL? What does the app architecture/system look like?

2. What is the real RTO & RPO of the applciation?

3. Is the data on a SAN, NAS, or local disk? If its SAN based, this may be your answer using SAN based replication through existing SAN Mgmt tool.

4. How quickly can the application be brought up at the alternate site?

5. How far is across town? 10 miles, 20, 50. Any bandwidth limitations? Depending on the type of replication used, distance could be a factor in your solution.

6. How much growth and scalability is expected?

These are just some starting points to consider. Good Luck.

Skluba
 10 pts.