WAN Optimization and Data Duplication

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Data Deduplication WAN Optimization

Data deduplication is one of the most significant technologies to impact the data storage industry. By identifying redundant data segments and storing only a single instance of information, this technology dramatically reduces storage space and allows more data to be protected over time.

Data deduplication has also made its ways into the ranks of the networking community. More specifically, it has become an important tool for optimizing application performance across the WAN.  By eliminating the transfer of repetitive IP traffic, deduplication significantly improves WAN utilization and accelerates data transfers between geographically dispersed locations. This saves bandwidth costs and helps to overcome many obstacles when communicating across a WAN.

Because WAN deduplication works on all IP traffic, it plays a key role in a variety of IT initiatives, including server
centralization, virtualization, and application delivery. In addition, it is essential to improving the performance and reliability of data replication, backup, and recovery across the WAN. In this respect, WAN deduplication is actually a nice complement to storage deduplication, resulting in even higher cost savings and better Recovery Point and Time Objectives (RPO/RTOs) across the enterprise.

DUPLICATING THE SUCCESS OF DEDUPLICATION

WAN deduplication (also called “disk based data reduction”) works by deploying acceleration appliances in each enterprise
location (i.e. on both ends of a WAN connection). The WAN acceleration appliances inspect IP traffic in real-time and store a local instance of information in an application independent data store at the appropriate enterprise location. The local instance is transparently populated based on day-to-day usage, containing a subset of the enterprises working data set that is most relevant to each location. Each instance of information is stored only once per location, enabling an appropriately sized WAN acceleration appliance to hold weeks or months worth of data.

WAN acceleration appliances equipped with deduplication technology examine outbound packets to see if a match exists
in the local instance at the destination location. If a match exists, then the repetitive information is not sent across the WAN and instructions are sent to deliver the data locally. If the data has been modified, only the delta is transmitted across the WAN, maximizing bandwidth utilization and application performance.

Data deduplication is one of the most significant technologies to impact the storage community in recent years. By
identifying redundant data segments and storing only a single instance of information, this technology dramatically
reduces storage space and allows more data to be protected over time. But that is just the beginning. In recent years, data deduplication has also made its ways into the ranks of the networking community. More specifically, it has become an important tool for optimizing application performance across the WAN.

By eliminating the transfer of repetitive IP traffic, deduplication significantly improves WAN utilization and accelerates data transfers between geographically disperse locations. This saves bandwidth costs and helps to overcome many obstacles when communicating across a WAN.  Because WAN deduplication works on all IP traffic, it plays a key role in a variety of IT initiatives, including server centralization, virtualization, and application delivery. In addition, it is essential to improving the performance and reliability of data replication, backup, and recovery across the WAN. In this respect, WAN deduplication is actually a nice complement to storage deduplication, resulting in even higher cost savings and better Recovery Point and Time Objectives (RPO/RTOs) across the enterprise.

DUPLICATING THE SUCCESS OF DEDUPLICATION

WAN deduplication (also called “disk based data reduction”) works by deploying acceleration appliances in each enterprise
location (i.e. on both ends of a WAN connection). The WAN acceleration appliances inspect IP traffic in real-time and store a local instance of information in an application independent data store at the appropriate enterprise location. The local instance is transparently populated based on day-to-day usage, containing a subset of the enterprises working data set that is most relevant to each location. Each instance of information is stored only once per location, enabling an appropriately sized WAN acceleration appliance to hold weeks or months worth of data.

WAN acceleration appliances equipped with deduplication technology examine outbound packets to see if a match exists
in the local instance at the destination location. If a match exists, then the repetitive information is not sent across the WAN and instructions are sent to deliver the data locally. If the data has been modified, only the delta is transmitted across the WAN, maximizing bandwidth utilization and application performance.

BENEFITS OF A COMBINED SOLUTION

The most efficient way to save on capacity and improve performance when transferring and storing data is to eliminate
redundant information. When data deduplication is used by a WAN acceleration appliance in conjunction with other
WAN optimization techniques, the following benefits can be achieved:
• Meet and exceed Recovery Time Objectives (RTO)
• Improve Recovery Point Objectives (RPO)
• Increase geographic distances between data centers
• Avoid costly WAN bandwidth upgrades
• Avoid database synchronization issues that arise when backup and replication tasks are not completed
within allocated windows
• Manage WAN capacity to better handle peak loading, emergency contingencies, and business growth
Data deduplication is a proven technique that improves the performance, reliability, and efficiency of data backup and
recovery. By utilizing this technology in both the storage medium and across the WAN, enterprises can improve their
data protection processes even more. In addition, deduplication can be combined with other WAN optimization techniques to enable a variety of other strategic IT initiatives, including server centralization, virtualization, and application delivery.

Deduplication is one of the rare technologies that have had a significant impact on both the networking and storage
communities. While these groups do not always see eye to eye, on this one point they agree — when it comes to backing
up and recovering data, less can actually be more.  Learn more about WAN Optimization and Best Practices for WAN Optimization.

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