ExaGrid, Permabit Revamp Dedupe Architectures

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Several data deduplication technologies received makeovers this week with Arkeia Software, ExaGrid Systems and Permabit all upgrading their dedupe architectures for improved application support, increased performance and higher levels of scale.

ExaGrid Offers ‘Generic’ Alternative to Block-Level Dedupe

Disk-based backup vendor ExaGrid Systems today added a generic mode to its deduplication algorithm that offers an alternative to block-level deduplication at scale.

The company revamped its architecture to support deduplication of any backup application. Now dubbed DeltaZone Deduplication, the architecture uses generic byte-level or content-aware byte-level deduplication along with the ExaGrid GRID architecture to eliminate redundant data – all without making changes to the backup process.

Vice president of product management, Marc Crespi, said DeltaZone has been running in ExaGrid’s systems since the beginning of the year, quietly “kicking in” based on data type, as the company baked and tested the technology in the field.

ExaGrid’s backup systems and dedupe technology support CA ARCserve, CommVault Simpana, IBM System i platform (AS400 or iSeries), HP Data Protector, Linux/Unix dumps, Microsoft SQL dump, Oracle RMAN dumps, Symantec Backup Exec, Symantec NetBackup, Veeam, Vizioncore vRangerPro and VMware Backup.

Crespi said the addition of a generic mode extend sExaGrid’s reach to additional backup packages.

Existing customers can deploy DeltaZone as part of a free software upgrade.

Permabit’s Real-Time Dedupe for Primary Storage

Permabit’s focus is on deduplication for primary storage, a task that has long been hampered by performance bottlenecks.

The company this week announced the latest version of its Albireo software with GX Technology, an embedded data optimization software platform for OEMs that brings primary dedupe to existing storage systems.

The company claims that, through advances in indexing and memory techniques, Albireo with GX can achieve sustained dedupe throughput of up to 77GBps (based on 64 KB chunk size and using hardware SHA-256 hashing) in a grid configuration.

Permabit’s CTO, Jered Floyd, said Albireo provides “real-time dedupe” for storage grids of up to 10.2PB of capacity – all without interfering with existing technologies.

“Albireo is not a box that sits in front of a storage device. It’s lightweight software that integrates with our partners’ management stacks and interoperates with replication, snapshotting, or any advanced features they have,” said Floyd.

Albireo with GX Technology boasts an average index lookup latency of less than 10 microseconds without the use of high-speed solid state disks (SSDs). “We maintain high levels of performance with SATA disks in standard configurations.

Designed to operate in source or target implementations, Albireo was created for hardware and software storage OEMs seeking to get a leg upon the competition when it comes to data optimization. Permabit’s partners can use Albireo to deploy sub-file deduplication technology with no impact to storage performance while ensuring data integrity, according to Floyd.

Permabit recently announced partnerships with a range of NAS and block storage companies, including BlueArc and Xiotech.

Arkeia Dedupes Virtual Machines

Aiming to take redundant data out of the virtual machine (VM) backup process, the latest version of Arkeia Software’s backup platform – Arkeia Network Backup Version 9.0 – includes “progressive deduplication” technology, which the company acquired through the purchase of Kadena Systems.

As reported by InfoStor’s Dave Simpson, progressive deduplication is an alternative to fixed-block deduplication and the more common variable-block deduplication. Arkeia’s implementation is global (vs. local), byte-level (vs. file-level), source-side (vs. target-side, although it supports both approaches as well as a mix), in-line (vs. post-processing), and content-aware. But the real differentiator is in how the software handles block sizes.

As with variable-block deduplication, the block size can be adjusted for optimal deduplication ratios, but Arkeia claims a “better” implementation that is more content-aware (or application-aware) than existing approaches. Arkeia Network Backup 9.0 software automatically adjusts block sizes based on file type in order to maximize dedupe ratios. (For more, see “What is Progressive Deduplication?”)

Arkeia plans to ship Network Backup Version 9.0 in January of 2011.

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Kevin Komiega
Kevin Komiega
Kevin Komiega is an Enterprise Storage Forum contributor.

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