WysDM Software Inc. is bringing its
data protection management (DPM)
capabilities to
disk arrays with the latest version of its product suite that
will launch next week.
WysDM will add WysDM for Disks to its existing WysDM Backup and
WysDM for Fileservers products. The disk product reflects the
emerging popularity of disk-based backup and expands WysDM's
capabilities into features usually associated with storage resource
management.
WysDM also broadened support for its WysDM for Backups and WysDM
for Fileservers products. WysDM for Backups now supports CommVault
Systems Inc.'s Galaxy, Symantec Corp.'s PureDisk and CA Inc.'s
ARCserv backup applications to go with support for the major backup
products from Symantec, EMC NetWorker and IBM Tivoli. WysDM also
added provisioning and capacity planning for fileservers and moved
its report processing from the GUI to the server to run faster.
But support for disk was the biggest addition. WysDM isn't first
here --
Aptare Inc. added capacity planning for
primary storage in August. Perhaps it's no coincidence that
WysDM and Aptare are closely aligned with disk vendors. EMC
Corp. rebrands WysDM as its Backup Advisor application to
monitor tape backups while Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) sells
Aptare's StorageConsole as Hitachi HiCommand Backup Services
Manager.
Data protection management applications were originally created
to monitor tape backups. Vendors include WysDM, Aptare, Bocada
Inc., Servergraph, Tek-Tools Inc. and the recently departed
Illuminator Inc., which sold its intellectual property to EMC in
August. They are driven by cross-correlation relationship engines
that take input from all the devices involved in a backup and
perform root cause analysis to show which backups are completed.
This information is useful in determining which service level
agreements (SLA) are in danger of not being met and why. But why
limit that functionality to tape backup?
WysDM for Disks provides configuration and status information
for disk arrays, helping storage administrators manage utilization
metrics, balance logical unit number (LUN) allocations across array
ports and ensure fan-out ratios do not exceed vendors'
specifications. The product helps administrators perform capacity
planning. It recognizes any arrays supported by EMC's Control
Center storage resource management (SRM) application at a cost of
$7,500 per array.
"Our customers told us lack of visibility on primary arrays was
becoming a problem," said WysDM CEO Alan Atkinson. Atkinson is
careful not to refer to the product as SRM, perhaps because he
doesn't want to be seen as competition for EMC Control Center. "We
don't actually make any changes [to the SAN]," he said.
But analysts maintain that data protection and SRM will have
more in common as disk becomes more prominent in backups.
"We're headed towards a single console for recovery management,
and that software will look at all the tools used, such as virtual
tape libraries, continuous data protection and tape," said Arun
Taneja of the Taneja Group. "Many data protection management
products are morphing and becoming hybrids combining SRM and
DPM."
Lauren Whitehouse of the Enterprise Strategy Group said
analytical and reporting tools for disk and tape are valuable for
determining if storage SLAs are being met.
"End users crave more visibility into their storage and data
protection environments," she said. "We're seeing service level
agreements negotiated between IT organizations and their business
constituents. For many organizations, what is lacking is the
ability to demonstrate if SLAs are being met. This will not only
provide visibility into operations, but will provide a measurement
of recovery performance."