So I go on a job interview yesterday and for the most part it went alright. But the guy asked me what's the best way to back up several terabytes of data and honestly I didn't know the answer. I suggested either a NAS or maybe SAN backup system but that would take a long time to back up. So my question is are there any other options or how do some companies backup large amounts of information and I mean several terabytes 50 or more. Yes I know most companies don't have that much information but just curious how everyone else would answer that question.
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job interview question
- Thread starter wuzzzy
- Start date
Trepidati0n
[H]F Junkie
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- Oct 26, 2004
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- 9,269
So I go on a job interview yesterday and for the most part it went alright. But the guy asked me what's the best way to back up several terabytes of data and honestly I didn't know the answer. I suggested either a NAS or maybe SAN backup system but that would take a long time to back up. So my question is are there any other options or how do some companies backup large amounts of information and I mean several terabytes 50 or more. Yes I know most companies don't have that much information but just curious how everyone else would answer that question.
Depends on what is meant by backup. At the 50 TB level and having a solid backup, tape is still the way to go IMO. They have some very BITCH'N backup systems these days for large data systems.
EDIT: It also depends upon the type of data. Is the data "static" or "changing". That also affects what you want.
So I go on a job interview yesterday and for the most part it went alright. But the guy asked me what's the best way to back up several terabytes of data and honestly I didn't know the answer. I suggested either a NAS or maybe SAN backup system but that would take a long time to back up. So my question is are there any other options or how do some companies backup large amounts of information and I mean several terabytes 50 or more. Yes I know most companies don't have that much information but just curious how everyone else would answer that question.
You gave the answer for redundancy, but tapes are still the industry standard for backups. There are huge rooms that some companies have for tape backups. I cannot recall what the name of it is.
So I go on a job interview yesterday and for the most part it went alright. But the guy asked me what's the best way to back up several terabytes of data and honestly I didn't know the answer. I suggested either a NAS or maybe SAN backup system but that would take a long time to back up. So my question is are there any other options or how do some companies backup large amounts of information and I mean several terabytes 50 or more. Yes I know most companies don't have that much information but just curious how everyone else would answer that question.
I beg to differ, last time i was at a datacenter hosting facility they had a 1000 TB 3Par SAN unit sitting there, that thing was a beast.
But to answer your question, at that level, like Trepidati0n said, there are some snazzy tape library's out there now.
unhappy_mage
[H]ard|DCer of the Month - October 2005
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Disk-to-disk-to-tape, generally. The intermediate disk is used for keeping the most recent data online for quick retrieval, and for buffering so that the tape drives can stream rather than start and stop. This prevents wear and tear on the tapes, and gets backups done faster. For 50 TB, you'd have a tape robot with several drives - 3 or 4. That translates into several hundred megabytes per second of reads that the intermediate storage needs to fulfill. However,
it can all be sequential reads, meaning cheap sata disks will suffice. Lots of companies make big arrays out of sata disks, so it's not necessary to make your own box for this.
PS: At my work we don't have a big enough array for this, so instead we replace all our tapes about once a year, at great cost, and backups take over 24 hours. I've pointed this out, and the upper echelon is considering this fact, but so far no results.
it can all be sequential reads, meaning cheap sata disks will suffice. Lots of companies make big arrays out of sata disks, so it's not necessary to make your own box for this.
PS: At my work we don't have a big enough array for this, so instead we replace all our tapes about once a year, at great cost, and backups take over 24 hours. I've pointed this out, and the upper echelon is considering this fact, but so far no results.
thanks for the information. I will remember that if I ever get a question like that again. I figure with over 50 terabyte of data there's no easy way of doing it that is cost effective as well as keeping the down time to a min. was just one of the questions i was caught off guard by and was like how in the world would I know that since I don't work in a data center or anything close to it.
thanks for the information. I will remember that if I ever get a question like that again. I figure with over 50 terabyte of data there's no easy way of doing it that is cost effective as well as keeping the down time to a min. was just one of the questions i was caught off guard by and was like how in the world would I know that since I don't work in a data center or anything close to it.
Keep in mind that cost affective includes more than just the initial cost. You have maintenance and long term upgrades to keep in mind when factoring costs. Just a little FYI.
thanks for the information. I will remember that if I ever get a question like that again. I figure with over 50 terabyte of data there's no easy way of doing it that is cost effective as well as keeping the down time to a min. was just one of the questions i was caught off guard by and was like how in the world would I know that since I don't work in a data center or anything close to it.
UM hit it right on the head in his response. The other thing I forgot to say in my first post was, you can cache the server onto another server and then backup that second server without having downtime on the production server.