Continuous Data Protection
by: backupvault
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Continuous data protection (CDP), also called continuous backup or real-time backup, refers to backup of computer data by automatically saving a copy of every change made to that data, essentially capturing every version of the data that the user saves. It allows the user or administrator to restore data to any point in time. CDP is a service that captures changes to data to a separate storage location. Continuous data protection is different from traditional backup in that traditional backups can only restore data to the point at which the backup was taken. With continuous data protection, there are no backup schedules. When data is written to disk, it is also asynchronously written to a second location, usually another computer over the network. This eliminates the need for scheduled backups.
CDP products are available in two forms: near-CDP and real-CDP. Near-CDP products take advantage of application, file system or volume-level snapshot features that are available with some applications and server operating and storage systems. Near-CDP products take frequent, periodic (typically about every 15 minutes) snapshots of application data using these available application or system snapshot features. Most near-CDP products are limited to a maximum number of snapshots that the application, operating system or storage system can create. Real-CDP products continuously capture or track data modifications and store changes independent of the primary data. These products may be block-, file- or application-based and provide finer levels of control in restoring data by providing an almost infinite number of recovery points.
Continuous data protection will protect against some effects of data corruption by allowing to restore a previous, uncorrupted version of the data. Transactions that took place between the corrupting event and the restoration will be lost, however. They could be recovered through other means, such as journaling. Most continuous data protection solutions save byte or block-level differences rather than file-level differences. This means that if you change one byte of a 100 GB file, only the changed byte or block is backed up. Traditional incremental and differential backups make copies of entire files.
The market for CDP products is expected to grow as businesses discover the advantages of maintaining a continuous journal of backups or archives. The best way for businesses to plan recovery requirements for the majority of their applications is to make continuous data protection (CDP) a part of their data protection. This is especially true for enterprises in which, data changes often and the amount of stored data is large.
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