News
Wolverhampton City PCT centralises data backup with BakBone
22 September 2008
Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust (PCT) has improved its data
protection strategy by implementing BakBone NetVault: Backup. The PCT
uses the software to centralise the entire infrastructure management and
move to a more effective disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) model.
The PCT provides community health and mental health services and
manages primary care services for the population of Wolverhampton. To do
so, it directly employs approximately 2,000 people and relies on over
2,000 computers linked to more than 75 servers located across two sites.
Toward the end of 2007, the PCT decided to update its data protection
strategy to free up time in the IT department’s schedule. The team
wanted to increase tape capacity, improve the backup interval and make
the hardware more reliable. After lengthy internal discussions, the
department decided to source a new solution that would offer
uncompromising efficiency, reliability, fast data recovery times and
ease of use.
"Because of the lack of existing capacity and the significant issues
we had with the backup hardware, we got to the stage where we needed a
new solution and fast. Time was a luxury we definitely did not have,"
said Tracy Kenny, IT manager at Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust.
"We looked carefully at all the selection factors and decided we
would not compromise on reliability, technical support, and ease of use.
We also wanted a product that would not be ineffective after 12 months
so scalability and general future proofing were critical. We were
pleased to be introduced to NetVault: Backup because it was exactly what
we were looking for."
Today, the Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust’s data storage
infrastructure features a D2D2T setup and is split across two sites: The
primary one that includes Fibre Channel and iSCSI storage area networks
(SANs) for file, print, exchange, SQL and other core services load
balanced across Fibre Channel and iSCSI arrays; and a secondary site
that features two iSCSI arrays and an LTO 3-tape library that stores
data from both sites. BakBone NetVault: Backup allows the Trust’s IT
department to manage the entire infrastructure from a single point while
protecting 3.5 TB of data.
A single backup server is attached to an array and a tape loader,
while a second smart client server at the second site is attached to
another array. NetVault: Backup is deployed on all the servers, which
backup to their local array via the respective server.
"We chose NetVault: Backup because the BakBone software was very
user-friendly and reliable, unlike the other solutions; it also came
highly recommended from the parties we spoke to," Kenny continues. "In
addition, the virtual tape drive facility had a tremendous impact on the
duration of the backup process because it allows us to run many backups
concurrently."
Thanks to BakBone, the Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust enjoys a
much more efficient data protection strategy where the team only needs
to swap tapes in a single location and very rarely needs to retrieve
data from the tapes, a great boon with regard to speed.
"I am delighted that BakBone has helped another customer enhance and
modernise its data protection approach without a costly and complex
overhaul of the infrastructure,’ said Chris Ross, vice president of EMEA,
BakBone. Simply by letting NetVault: Backup manage the existing
resources, the Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust technical team has
reduced the backup admin time by more than 90%. Backups now comfortably
fit into the overnight interval and the team has copious amounts of
spare capacity to accommodate future growth."
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