A greener backup solution

The "eco" economics

Green storage is more of a dollar issue than an environmental one.

In the quest for energy and cost savings, a recent survey from the Linear Tape-Open Program shows companies using hard disk-only storage have begun to look at tape storage technology as part of a tiered storage infrastructure to support backup and archiving.

More than 80 percent plan to add tape storage within 12 months due to its low energy consumption, low cost of ownership and portability for data protection.

Other studies show that tape-based backup and archiving solutions can deliver substantial total cost of ownership benefits and energy savings, particularly compared to spinning disks.

Benefits of tape over disk

Tape is an ideal medium for the long-term archival of data.

Some industry professionals believe disk drives are so cheap one should simply archive to disk, but disk is not a viable, long-term option for reasons of cost, space and practicality.

Adding disk drives is far more costly than tape - once a reasonably sized disk array is full, it is far more practical and secure to migrate data to tape than to add drives. 

When the required infrastructure surrounding disk is added, disk is many times more costly than archiving on tape.

Implementing better data management and archiving to tape will reduce backup and restore times significantly, bringing the dual benefits of less wear and tear on the server while cutting power use.

Designed for daily use, disk drives might not be compatible with future hardware, software and protocols, making them a risky proposition for long-term archiving. Put one on a shelf for a few years, and it may never spin again.

Devising a green strategy

While it is important for equipment manufacturers to have a green product roadmap, it is essential the industry establishes its own "green storage" best practices and develops a common terminology.

The Storage Networking Industry Association has set up a taskforce and technical working group to address green storage.

Because it is difficult to obtain the independent information needed to determine data centre efficiencies, calculate companies' carbon footprints and do energy modelling, the SNIA is developing resources to help IT managers understand and address environmental issues.

For companies, it is important to consider three areas: an assessment of the data centre with the goal of reducing power consumption; a formal assessment of IT equipment recycling; and a carbon footprint analysis.

An important first step in that formal assessment of the data centre is to determine how much energy a company's storage consumes and what it costs.

Basic statistics on power consumption and heat production can often be obtained from equipment manufacturers. If not, it may be possible to measure power consumption by installing temporary meters on the circuits feeding storage devices and air-conditioning.

Once energy usage has been determined, the next step is to calculate costs. Then recommendations can be developed on how energy usage could be decreased without compromising business needs.

The future

Curtailing energy consumption and addressing climate change will require governments, industries and individuals to seek solutions.

To achieve real and lasting results, all of these groups must make real, long-term commitments for a sustainable future.

Existing regulations on facility compliance like ISO 14000 are part of a series of international standards on environmental management and product compliance that includes legislation like RoHS and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).