Growing Manufacturer Needed to Increase Backup Performance and Reduce Capacity for a Variety Of Rapidly Growing Data Types and VMs

A leader in the production of precision measuring instruments for 150 years, The Mahr Group and its 1,700 employees rely on a complex, data-intensive working environment that includes a variety of different CAD systems and databases, along with Windows applications such as Office and SharePoint.

Keeping Up as Data Volumes Double

“Over the last five years, our data volume has doubled, and keeping up has become an ever-increasing challenge,” Thomas Wendt, The Mahr Group’s Backup Administrator, explains. The IT team had updated its legacy backup systems, but as they added server virtualization, new data-intensive applications, and large-scale NAS, the amount of data again outpaced the old infrastructure.

“We now needed a new solution, which could, on the one hand, increase backup performance and reduce capacity requirements, and, on the other, dovetail easily into the existing infrastructure,” Gerd Wiechers, The Mahr Group’s head of IT, explains.

Moving to Next-Generation Backup with Deduplication

The IT team went to Quantum, this time selecting a DXi6700 Series deduplication appliance. It, along with the company’s Scalar i500 tape library, has become the foundation for the backup operation, providing fast performance and low overhead.

“Quantum has impressed us every time we have implemented a new solution because they have what we need and the installations have always been completed in just one day,” attests Wiechers.

In the new system, data from the virtual machines (VMs) is written to the DXi using Veeam Backup. Data on the NAS system is written to the DXi using Backup Exec, and the data on the DXi is written to the Scalar i500 tape library using a direct path-to-tape that does not send the data through the backup server. The backup of the databases are written directly to tape.

The Results: Better Reliability and Lower Costs

“The Scalar i500 makes our backup as reliable as pack mules,” explains Wendt. Full backup of VMs, the NAS storage solution, and databases takes place outside of office hours on the weekends. Incremental backup of the VMs is written daily directly to the DXi6700.

The benefits are quantifiable. Backup management time has been reduced by 85%, the backup window has been reduced by a full 33%, and the patented data deduplication of the DXi appliance has dramatically reduced disk needs. At 80% reduction in data, 28TB of DXi capacity holds more than 160TB of data, contributing to significantly lower costs. Backups to tape are also more reliable since the iLayer™ software in the Scalar i500 proactively monitors itself using built-in diagnostics.

Top Marks for Technical Support

Having a good backup solution is not enough if the manufacturer fails to provide effective support, and the IT team of The Mahr Group is enthusiastic about the after-sale service they receive from Quantum.

“We have been building on Quantum for more than a decade. When it comes to personal contact and technical support, our team can think of nothing better,” says Wiechers. “Quantum easily provides the best quality in terms of service.”