Asynchronous Replication: Implies that the source platform continues to service I/O at normal speed, regardless of the status of the redundant data set. Because the production platform does not need to ensure that a second platform is current, it ensures minimal delays on the production copy of the data. It also implies that the target server will usually be slightly behind during continuous data flow. However, by ensuring the same write order to the target platform, data integrity is maintained. See also Synchronous Replication.
Enhanced Backup: Using replication technology to provide an alternate copy of production data so the workload can secure one instance of the data while the other is still in use. Architecturally, this negates the “backup window” since there is no concern about CPU, network or I/O stability.
Business Continuity: The entire scope of efforts related to resuming business critical operations of a corporation to a functional level in the event of a disaster. This includes high availability and disaster recovery projects as well as any attempt to make a productivity resource fault tolerant.
Centralized Backup: An IT infrastructure backup process using data replication technology to backup multiple remote branch facilities to a central data center. Centralized backup removes the backup responsibility from branch offices to a primary data center for centralized management.
Cluster-able: The ability of an application to exist in a clustered environment. This is a lesser qualification than cluster-aware, and merely ensures that there are no direct conflicts when running within a clustered operating system.
Cluster-aware: An application is cluster-aware when it modifies its behavior when operating in a clustered environment. As an example, most cluster-aware applications install differently when being installed onto a node of a cluster as opposed to a standalone server. To be truly cluster-aware, an application should not only “SeemAlive” (a clustering term denoting that an application can be externally observed to use memory and CPU), but should also support “IsAlive” – where the application has active dialog with the cluster engine, for the purposes of invoking its own failover during an application crisis.
Double-Take® Availability: Provides real-time data replication and failover for physical and virtual systems. High availability is provided for VMware® Infrastructure, Microsoft® Hyper-V and the ability to GeoCluster® cluster nodes for disaster recovery.
Double-Take® Backup: Combines the best of continuous data protection with full-server on-demand recovery capabilities. Double-Take Backup can provide granular level backup for point-in-time recovery down to the file level or entire full-server image recovery including the operating system (OS), applications and data to servers with different hardware configurations and virtual servers.
Double-Take® Flex: Reduces the time and expense of desktop and server provisioning and management, while increasing the level of control that you have over your current infrastructure. Double-Take Flex lets you create shared network boot volumes that can be provisioned once and assigned to many machines in order to boot from the same volume on the iSCSI SAN. This provides the flexibility for centralized management to rapidly provision multiple new workstations or servers all while keeping them highly secure. Double-Take Flex turns any Windows server into an iSCSI SAN and manages boot volumes with its built-in iSCSI tools, helping to efficiently manage single or multiple desktop or server images while creating a more flexible and dynamic infrastructure.
Double-Take® Move: Uses a migration process with real-time data movement and hardware-independent conversion technology that make workloads simple for administrators to move and consolidate, minimizing the impact on user productivity. Migrations can take place during business hours. Double-Take Move simplifies server and storage migration for administrators and works on any Windows server, regardless of the underlying server hardware or storage architecture. Operating systems, applications and data are easily moved from one make, model and server configuration to another regardless of the physical or virtual infrastructure. Because Double-Take Move is hardware and virtual platform independent, it can also be used for migrating or consolidating between to any combination of virtual or physical servers.
Data Deduplication: As data is created, distributed, backed up and archived, duplicate data objects determined redundant are eliminated and reference only the original object for better storage efficiency.
Disaster Recovery: Any business continuity project where the primary objective is for data to be survivable (replicated elsewhere), and assumes that the production server and/or location is unavailable. In the event of any outage or disaster crisis, the replicated data is immediately available via manual access or for server recovery using traditional server recovery methods. See also High Availability.
Disaster Recovery Site: An alternate location from the production site that is not susceptible to the same environmental or crisis. The type of facility and proximity to the production site will vary based on the type of disaster (i.e. earthquake versus building fire). This site may serve a production purpose (another corporate location in another city) and may have user accommodations. It may also be an outsourced provider, simply as a repository of data to facilitate recovery operations.
Dynamic Infrastructure: Also known as Infrastructure 2.0 and Next Generation Data Center, is an information technology model that provides the ability to intelligently, automatically and securely move workloads in a data center. Whether the purpose is for migration, provisioning, enhancing performance or building co-location facilities the workloads are moved with inherent security and data protection.
Failback: The process by which a redundant platform releases operations from a failed production resource (letting go of the production IP address, machine name and shares – as well as stopping any re-started services). After failback is complete, restoration should be performed to transmit the modified data on the target server back to the production source platform. Failback is always an intentional and manually-invoked event, so that the viability of the source platform is ensured before restoring data and resuming operations. See also Restoration and Failover.
Failover: The process by which a redundant platform resumes operations for a failed production resource. Double-Take target servers are able to assume the names and IP addresses for multiple failed source servers simultaneously. In addition, Double-Take products can recreate file shares and initiate scripts to automate actions as re-starting services or alert notification. Failover usually requires the two nodes to be in close proximity and is therefore an aspect of a high availability solution, but typically not disaster recovery.
GeoCluster: Extending the capabilities of Microsoft Failover Clustering to create a stretch cluster. A GeoCluster allows the creation of geographically dispersed cluster nodes without the limitations of shared disk. Instead, a GeoCluster node has its own local disks containing replicated copies of clustered data providing data redundancy.
High Availability: A business continuity solution where the primary objective is to ensure the productivity of the users by providing data redundancy and services within a customer location. In the event of an outage, the replicated data (and potentially services) are available via either manual or fully-automated methods of server failover, typically within only a few minutes. See Failover.
Mirroring: A whole file transfer of data, applications or an entire physical or virtual workload between physical or virtual machines. A mirror is typically initiated to duplicate a server workload from a production server to a redundant target server. Additionally, “fast mirrors”“, partial mirrors” or “difference mirrors” are methods of comparing the copies of files on source and target and only sending those files or pieces of files that are different. See also Replication.
P2V: Conversion process to move a server workload from a physical platform to a virtual platform.
Replication: The ability to capture changes to files as they are written within the operating system and transmit a copy of that file operation to another server (with another copy of the data), where the file operation can be applied again. This (typically real-time operation) keeps alternate copies of data as current as the network bandwidth will allow. Replication operates at whatever granularity that the application writes to the file (i.e. 10 bytes versus 4KB page versus whole-file). See also Mirroring.
Restoration: The activity of moving the changed (and more current) data from a target server that had failed over for a production source back to the production source. This happens after failback where the target releases the failed identity and after the production platform is powered up - but before the users are allowed to resume operations.
Server Migration: A method used for transferring server workloads from one server to another usually for upgrading the hardware or moving to a different platform.
Storage Optimization: An archive process that reduces the size of files on a storage device and archives them, optimizing existing storage volume for better efficiency. Parameters can be set similar to hierarchal storage management (HSM) systems, to archive data based on file size, last access date or defined storage thresholds.
Synchronous Replication: This approach guarantees that both copies of data are always the same. The method for this is to hinder I/O transactions on the production platform until the currently serviced transaction is applied not only to the production disks but also to the redundant disks. Synchronous solutions are usually hardware/controller based. See also Asynchronous.
Virtual System Protection: Virtual server technologies provide businesses and IT departments with the ability to consolidate data and applications onto a single server. The result is reduced costs, simplified IT management and minimized space requirements. The need to protect these virtualized systems is paramount as they have a single point of failure by running multiple business-critical applications on a single physical server, requiring a higher level of protection.
Workload Availability: Ensuring the availability of critical IT workloads for disaster recovery and business continuity using real-time replication and failover that can protect individual applications, entire servers or virtualized workloads running on VMware® Infrastructure or Microsoft® Hyper-V.
Workload Backup: Continuously backing up workloads and recover them on-demand to a new physical or virtual machine. Recovery can be done at the item level to any point in time. Data can be recovered from cloud infrastructure.
Workload Flexibility: The ability to easily manage any workstation or server workload by booting a disk image from iSCSI SANs, regardless of hardware and without the need for specialized HBAs.
Workload Migration: The ability to move workloads between any combination of physical and virtual hardware (P2P, P2V, V2P or V2V) for X2X migrations within datacenters for hardware refreshes or across locations for datacenter migrations and consolidations.
Workload Optimization: the ability to easily move, backup, protect and flexibly run your IT workloads in physical and virtual environments, regardless of platform or location.