Rapid Recovery 6.4 - User Guide

Understanding archives

The Rapid Recovery Core saves snapshot data to the repository. While a repository can reside on different storage technologies (such as SAN, DAS, or NAS), the most critical performance factor is speed. Repositories use short-term (fast and more expensive) media. To prevent a repository from filling up quickly, the Core enforces a retention policy, which over time rolls up recovery points and eventually replaces them with newer backup data.

If you need to retain recovery points, whether for historical significance, legal compliance, to fulfill offsite data storage policies, or other reasons, you can create an archive. An archive is a copy of recovery points from your repository for the specified machines over a date range that you designate. Archiving a set of recovery points does not delete the original recovery points in your repository. Instead, the archive freezes the collection of recovery points at the point in time in which the archive was created, as a separate copy in a storage location that you specify. Unlike recovery points in your repository, the data in an archive are not subject to rollup.

You can create, import, and attach archives from the Archive option on the button bar, or from the Archives page accessible from the (More) icon on the Core Console.

Related topics:

• Archive creation and storage options
• Amazon storage options and archiving
• Recovery point chain options for archives
• Methods to access an archive
• Uses for archives
• Creating an archive

Archive creation and storage options

You can create a one-time archive on demand at any time.

You can also define requirements for continual scheduled archive. This action creates an archive of recovery points for the machines you select, in the location you designate. Additional recovery points for those machines are then continually appended to the archive on a schedule you define (on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis).

When you create an archive, you specify where you want to save it. You can store an archive in a file system (locally or on a network), or in a storage account in the cloud.

If storing your archive in an Amazon cloud storage account, you must define the storage class when creating the account. To archive directly to Amazon Glacier, you can specify Glacier storage when defining the location in the Archive Wizard. For more information about Amazon storage classes, see Amazon storage options and archiving.

• One-time archives are read-only. When creating a one-time archive, the destination location you specify must be empty.
• When using scheduled archive, the Core appends additional recovery points to the existing archive.
• If the storage medium you selected runs out of space, Rapid Recovery pauses the archive job, letting you specify another location. Your archive is then split into segments, which can reside in different locations, as space allows.

Amazon storage options and archiving

When archiving data in an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) account, you can choose from various storage classes. Each has different associated costs, benefits, and access restrictions. Prices may differ by region. Rapid Recovery release 6.2 extends support of Amazon storage accounts to all storage classes. This is useful when planning to store Rapid Recovery archives in the Amazon cloud.

Understanding storage classes available and the difference in lead times to access those classes is critical to control storage costs effectively while being able to access your archives within acceptable time frames.

In general, Amazon currently offers the following storage classes.

Standard. This storage class is for data you plan to access frequently or access quickly. This class is the default storage option from all Rapid Recovery wizards, windows, and dialog boxes. There are no separate fee to retrieve information in the standard storage class.

Standard Infrequent Access (IA). This storage class is more economical than standard, intended for data that you do not intend to access frequently. There is a retrieval fee associated with accessing data in the storage class. However, availability is immediate. Amazon charges fees for objects deleted from Infrequent Access storage before 30 days.

Glacier. This storage class is for long-term storage of data that does not require real-time access. It is most economical for long-term storage of data that is rarely retrieved. There is a retrieval fee associated with accessing data in this storage class. Amazon charges fees for objects deleted from Glacier before 90 days. Retrieval of data stored in Glacier is not immediate. Standard retrieval times require 3 to 5 hours; bulk retrieval for large amounts of data can take up to 12 hours. Expedited retrievals can take up to 5 minutes. Fees apply to each retrieval option.

Reduced Redundancy Storage (RRS). This category is a lower-cost storage class is designed for noncritical reproducible data with less redundancy than the standard storage class. There is a minimal retrieval fee associated with accessing data in this storage class. A fractional percentage (Amazon cites as much as .01%) of objects stored in this class are expected to be unrecoverable.

For the most recent information, always review materials on Amazon's website.

In general, the following guidelines apply:

• If you expect to restore data on any regular basis from a Rapid Recovery archive, Standard is likely to be the best option.
• From a cost perspective, if you plan to restore data occasionally, consider Standard Infrequent Access.
• Glacier is intended for cold storage of archived recovery points from which you rarely expect to restore. A good example of when to use Glacier storage is when saving data for regulatory compliance. Glacier is available as an archive option from the Archive Wizard.
• For storage of noncritical, reproducible data, consider RRS.

Recovery point chain options for archives