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So, What Is A Backup?: Page 2 of 2

Last week EMC blogger Chuck Hollis started a bit of a firestorm when he questioned the marketing position some vendors are taking that local snapshots make traditional backups unnecessary. As we could expect, a series of EMC haters, employees of other vendors and industry analysts jumped in to add fuel to the fire. I think Hollis did ask a valid question: As technologies advance, what is a backup?
Howard Marks
February 15, 2011

Local snapshots meet the separation criteria and are a great way to get users their original copies back fast. Snapshot systems that integrate with the Windows Volume Copy for Shared Folders and allow users to restore their own files through the Explorer previous version tab or have a Web interface for self-service restores are even better.

Snapshots are great at single-file restores when you know what you're looking for. When a user calls and asks for BigDeal4453.pptx restored from his or her home directory's SALES folder because that file--and not the intended  DeadDeal4453.pptx--was deleted, restoring is easy with a snapshot. Dealing with the call that says, "I had an Excel spreadsheet called 'smithsomthing' or 'somthingsmith' somewhere in the Finance folder structure that we used in June or July and I need it back now," is a bit harder.

When it comes to satisfying users restore requests, snapshots make the most frequent requests easier. However, because each snapshot is a separate point-in-time view of your data store, if you  don't know exactly what you're looking for, or when it last existed, you can spend a lot of time mounting snapshots and scanning them to find the data your users so desperately need.

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