Benefits of Data Deduplication, And Use Cases In Business
Traditional backup solutions do not provide any capability to prevent duplicate data from being backed up. With the growth of information and 24-by-7 application availability requirements, backup windows are shrinking. Traditional backup processes back up a lot of duplicate data, which significantly increases the backup size requirements and results in unnecessary consumption of resources such as storage space and network bandwidth.
What is Data Deduplication?
Deduplication of data is the process of detecting and removing duplicate data. When duplicate data is deducted during backup, The information is discarded. Data duplication helps to reduce the storage requirement for backup, shorten the backup window and remove the network burden. It also helps to store more jams on the disk and retain the data for longer.
Data Deduplication Methods:
There are two methods of data deduplication:
- File-level
- Subfile level
1. File-level deduplication: This is also called single-instance storage. It detects and removes redundant copies of identical files. It ensures the storage of only one copy of the file while the subsequent documents are replaced with pointers, leading to an original file. This method is simple and fast but fails to address the problem of duplicate content inside the files.
1. Subfile level deduplication: In this method, the files are broken into smaller chunks, use specialized algorithms to check for redundant data. Subfile deduplication eliminates placate data across the file.
There are two forms of subfile deduplication fixed-length block (deduplication carried out in fixed-length blocks and algorithm employed to find redundant data) and variable-length segment (deduplication is carried out, so a change in a part does not affect the overall data).
Data Deduplication Implementation:
Determining the uniqueness of implementing either method is necessary; results can vary. The differences exist in the amount of data reduction each process produces, and the time each approach takes. Duplication can occur close to where the data is created, often referred to as Source-based replication. It can also happen close to where information is stored, called target-based duplication.
1)Source-based Deduplication eliminates redundant data at the source before transmission to a backup device. A source-based data deduplication can dramatically reduce the amount of backup data sent during the backup process. It provides the benefit of a shorter bracket window and requires less network bandwidth. There is also a substantial reduction in the capacity needed to store the backup images. However, this implementation increases the overhead on the backup client, which impacts the performance of the backup and application running on the client. This means that this implementation might also require a change of backup software if it is not supported by the backup software to deduplicate the files at the source.
2)Target-based Deduplication: This is an alternative to source-based deduplication. It occurs at the backup device, which offloads the backup client from the deduplication process. The data is deduplicated at the backup device itself either immediately or at a scheduled time. This method reduces the storage capacity needed for the backup. This is most suited for an environment with a large backup window.
Benefits of Data Deduplication:
Some benefits of data deduplication are listed below:
- It reduces infrastructure costs
- Data deduplication Enables longer retention periods
- It reduces the backup window
- Reduces backup bandwidth requirement
Use Case: Remote Office/ Branch Office Backup:
Today businesses have remote or branch offices, and these offices have their local IT infrastructure. However, too often, remote business’ data are inadequately protected, exposing the business to a risk of lost data. As a result, protecting the data of an organization’s branch or remote office across multiple locations is necessary. Deduplication can reduce the network bandwidth and enables remote offices to back up data using this existing network.
Conclusion
To save storage space and increase network bandwidth, deduplication is needed. Avoiding duplicated / redundant copies either from the source or otherwise. With a proper backup window, the company’s data is secure.
Organizations can centrally manage and automate office report backup using some tools or software. One such is Castor. Castor helps to manage all data associated with companies both remotely and centrally. In addition, Castor aids in data deduplication for companies, and with Castor, the company’s data is documented most efficiently. Click www.castordoc.com to know how data can be deduplicated more effectively.
