Enterprise Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Consulting

NetApp MetroCluster Disaster Recovery Solutions
MetroCluster, included with NetApp's ONTAP storage operating system, is high-availability and disaster recovery software that combines array-based clustering with synchronous replication to provide rapid, zero data loss disaster recovery between datacenters separated by up to 185 miles (300km). By synchronously mirroring volumes between storage controllers, MetroCluster allows zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and under two-minute Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for mission-critical applications. MetroCluster supports SAN and NAS hosts, is available in 2-, 4- and 8-node configurations, and integrates with NetApp SnapMirror for asynchronous, near-zero data lass protection for datacenters separated by longer distances. Storage costs are kept at a minimum via inline data reduction technologies including deduplication, compression, and compaction.

Progent offers online or onsite access to a NetApp subject matter expert with NCIE, NCDA and NASAP certifications who can provide advanced support to help you design, deploy, manage, optimize, update or troubleshoot a disaster recovery solution based on NetApp MetroCluster technology. Progent also offers support for other NetApp SAN and NAS storage solutions including ONTAP, SnapMirror, SnapVault and Open Systems SnapVault (OSSV), FlexPod private cloud converged infrastructure, Virtual Storage Console, MultiStore, vFiler, OnCommand Unified Manager Core with OnCommand Reporting and OnCommand Insight, plus NetApp's hybrid Flash FAS, all Flash AFF, V-Series and N-Series hardware portfolio. (See NetApp SAN Integration Consulting.)

Key Features of NetApp MetroCluster
MetroCluster provides local high-availability (HA) and rapid, single-command remote disaster recovery (DR) for an organization's storage infrastructure by connecting two clusters, one each at two geographically separated datacenters, in a bi-directional peered storage network where you can quickly switchover either cluster to handle the storage and services of the other cluster in addition its own workloads. By running the Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs) from the offline cluster on the surviving cluster, MetroCluster allows continuous access to data during an outage of a storage cluster or datacenter.

In a four-node configuration, each datacenter has a two-node failover cluster configured as a high-availability (HA) pair with mirrored non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) and multipath storage between the two local nodes. If either node in an HA pair stops working, automatic failover allows the surviving local partner to take over the offline node's operation without incurring downtime. For DR clusters at separate sites, MetroCluster supports active-active and active-passive configurations. In an active-active configuration, both sites serve independent workloads during normal operation. In an active-passive (or active standby) deployment, the cluster at a selected primary site hosts all application workloads in a steady state and switchover only occurs from the protected primary site to the backup site. In this mode, no switchover is required if the secondary site fails but resource utilization is relatively low. You can also configure local HA pairs to operate in active-passive mode.

Switchover between clusters at different datacenters and failover between nodes in a datacenter's cluster can be planned (e.g. for non-intrusive maintenance, testing or upgrades) or unplanned, as in a site disaster. Switchback is the process by which the surviving cluster in one datacenter returns switched-over resources to the original cluster at the other datacenter. Giveback, or failback, is the process by which an offline node in local cluster is returned to a steady operational state.

To provide zero RPO disaster recovery, MetroCluster uses synchronous replication between storage clusters so that any change made at one datacenter is automatically propagated to the other datacenter. The replication process includes storage replication with NetApp SyncMirror, nonvolatile NVRAM replication, and replication of the cluster configuration. For MetroCluster to preserve the identity of the storage access paths during switchover, you must set up an L2 spanned Ethernet network and a single SAN fabric across the two datacenter sites.

MetroCluster requires both datacenters to have the same hardware and disk configurations. A variety of components from multiple vendors are supported. In a four-node deployment, each cluster uses NetApp's standard clustered Data ONTAP cluster interconnects, usually a switchless, back-to-back connection between the two HA nodes. Two Fibre Channel (FC) or FCIP switches at each datacenter connect to the HA nodes via FC initiators and FC-VI interfaces and connect to storage with SAS-to-FC bridges. (Direct-attached configurations do not require FC switches.) This allows all nodes in both clusters to see all the storage. Brocade FC switches supported by MetroCluster allow DR clusters to be up to 185 miles apart. The Clustered Data ONTAP storage OS supports both switchless configurations and a variety of cluster interconnect switches.

How Progent Can Help You with MetroCluster and Other NetApp Storage Solutions
Progent's team of seasoned IT consultants can help you plan, deploy, manage, upgrade, test and troubleshoot a disaster recovery solution built around NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can help you design a two-node, four-node or eight-node topology for your MetroCluster environment that aligns with your functional requirements and IT budget. Progent can make sure you follow best practices for installing your MetroCluster environment by providing help with tasks such as assigning disk pools and shelf IDs, arranging aggregate and plexes layout, provisioning NetApp FlexVol volumes, configuring NetApp Snapshot, provisioning Cisco and Brocade switches, implementing a tiebreaker, and setting up a TCP/IP configuration replication network between your peered clusters. Progent can also help you streamline the management of your MetroCluster ecosystem and non-disruptively test your disaster recovery solution to prove compliance with industry standards and government regulations. In addition, Progent offers FlexPod integration consulting to help you incorporate MetroCluster into a resilient private cloud infrastructure that consolidates servers, network fabric and storage assets for hosting critical applications.

Progent can provide as-needed expertise to guide you through occasional technical roadblocks and also offers comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing. Progent offers remote and on-premises consulting services and gives you easy access to the breadth and depth of knowledge of more than 100 veteran subject matter experts. In addition to offering the support of a NetApp-certified network architect, Progent can provide the services of a Cisco-certified CCIE network infrastructure consultant, a VMware VCDX-certified virtual networking expert, a Microsoft-certified Exchange specialist, a Citrix-certified XenDesktop consultant, and other IT consulting experts.

Non-stop Solutions Offered by Progent's Experts
Progent's certified consulting experts can help your business to design a sensible, high-availability environment that resolves major challenges encompassing a broad array of infrastructure solutions and operations including:

Business Continuity Planning
Progent's disaster recovery consultants can show you how to design a workplace recovery strategy that will allow you to resume IT operations in the event of an IT network catastrophe. Progent can assist you to define a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy that includes periodic disaster recovery assessments and drills. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified engineers can also help you create an affordable, zero-downtime system solution that takes into account availability issues covering a broad range of infrastructure technologies and processes. For more information, go to Disaster Recovery Consulting Services.

CRISC-Premier IT Risk Mitigation
The CRISC certification program was established by ISACA in 2010 to validate an IT professional's skills to plan, deploy, and maintain IS control mechanisms to reduce network risk. Progent can provide the expertise of a CRISC-certified engineer to help your company to develop and carry out a workplace continuity plan based on leading practices identified by CRISC and geared to align with your organization's risk tolerance, business objectives, and budgetary guidelines. To learn more, visit CRISC-Premier network risk mitigation experts.

Microsoft Server 2019 High Availability Failover Clustering
Windows Server 2019 incorporated important improvements in scale, performance, management, cybersecurity, application compatibility, Linux support, container technology, and hybrid integration of local and cloud-hosted assets. Headline enhancements of Windows Server 2019 are Windows Admin Center for unifying the management of hybrid local/cloud deployments, System Insights for taking advantage of advance predictive analytics to control on-premises environments, Windows Defender ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) Exploit Guard for host-intrusion defense, container networking with Kubernetes, Cluster Sets for deploying and administering large high-availability scale-out clusters, and Microsoft's Storage Migration Service for simplifying the upgrade process from legacy releases of Windows Server. For more information, visit Windows Server 2019 Fault-tolerant Failover Clustering Expertise.

Microsoft Server 2016 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Progent's Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery/business continuity experts can help you to design a disaster recovery solution based on Microsoft's cloud-tested Failover Clustering tools including Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade for non-intrusive migration to Windows Server 2016, Storage Replica for zero-data-loss Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Storage Spaces Direct for high-performance network-attached storage using commodity hardware, Virtual Machine Load Balancing for improving the speed and resilience of Failover Clusters while reducing capital investment and operational expenses, and Cloud Witness for fast, economical creation of a stretch cluster quorum arbitration point. To read more, go to Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery Help.

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Disaster Recovery Solutions
VMware's Site Recovery Manager (SRM) is a component of VMware vCenter that allows you to orchestrate, automate and test a consistent workflow for restoring services rapidly after a breakdown. Site Recovery Manager supports centrally managed and automated recovery, application mobility, plus non-disruptive site migration, failback and re-protect. SRM also enables non-disruptive testing for disaster recovery, updates and fixes and can produce reports to verify complete service restoration, validate Service Level Agreements and prove compliance. Progent can provide the skills of a VCDX certified VMware Site Recovery Manager consultant to assist your organization to plan, deploy, test and administer a DR system powered by VMware SRM.

High Availability Load Balancing
Progent provides high availability load balancing support covering network load balancing, load balanced programs, network infrastructure routing, and content delivery technology such as F5 Networks 3DNS. High availability load balancing solutions for which Progent can provide consulting expertise include Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Network Load Balancing Manager, Citrix Metaframe and Presentation Server, Cisco CSS, Cisco Content Distribution Manager and Cisco CDN Software, and F5 Networks BIG-IP. To read more, go to Fault Tolerant Load Balancing.

Zero Downtime Internet Data Centers
Progent's Data Center professionals can help you select zero-downtime data centers that match the specific requirements of your company. High availability colocation sites are especially attractive to small and mid-size organizations because of their low cost and convenience compared to taking a do-it-yourself approach. Trying to create an in-house data center with even a basic degree of fault tolerance is too expensive for typical small businesses. Progent can help you reap all the benefits of high-availability colocation facilities by providing a complete range of engineering and support services. To read more, see Fault Tolerant Internet Data Centers Consulting.

High-Availability Inter-office Connectivity
Progent’s interoffice network infrastructure consultants can help companies create zero-downtime interoffice connectivity via fully redundant system architectures featuring automatic failover. Progent’s Cisco-certified CCIE engineers can plan and deploy ultra-reliable Inter-office connections supported by non-stop EIGRP network routers or fault tolerant OSPF deployment of Cisco routers. Progent can demonstrate how redundant connections and transparent fail-over can provide economical non-stop interoffice connectivity. For details, go to High-Availability Inter-office Networking.

Fault Tolerant Internet Connectivity
Progent's Cisco-certified IT engineers can show you how to build an affordable, fault tolerant Internet connection solution that can achieve 24x7 Internet connectivity through a wide array of fault tolerant Internet network technologies including non-stop BGP, automatic fail-over, and redundant Internet Service Providers. Progent offers CCIE professionals to show you how to apply the most advanced techniques for fault tolerant Internet connectivity to create a cost-effective, fully redundant Internet network with automatic failover and other features to deliver zero-downtime Internet availability. For details, go to Fault Tolerant Internet Access Solutions.

Backup and Restore Technology Consultants
Progent offers economical online support from IT engineers with expertise in a broad range of utilities and technologies that deliver solutions for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux/UNIX physical and virtual servers and desktops plus notebooks and smartphones. Progent can provide expertise for leading backup platforms such as Acronis Backup and Recovery, Symantec Backup Exec, BackupAssist, CrashPlan, Double-Take, MozyPro, Retrospect, Time Machine, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), and Oracle Solaris FLARs. Progent's consultants can assist you to implement, upgrade, or troubleshoot backup systems for a range of environments including local, edge to datacenter, cloud-based, or a mix. For details, see Backup and Recovery Technology Consulting.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) Backup and Restore Consulting Services
Progent's expert System Center Data Protection Manager support professionals can assist you to create a practical business continuity plan, design a cost-effective high-availability IT architecture, configure a SCDPM-powered backup and recovery system, comprehensively test your system, train your administrative staff or local service providers how to manage Microsoft SCDPM, or provide extensive IT outsourcing such as remote housing of virtual or physical SCDPM servers in Progent's world-class data center facility. For details, visit System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) Expertise.

Barracuda Backup Multi-site and Cloud Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is an affordable, subscription-based backup/restore platform for small and medium-size businesses. A Barracuda Backup solution can incorporate a purpose-built physical storage device manufactured by Barracuda or a software-based appliance with similar features but which utilizes your existing storage infrastructure. Barracuda Backup protects vital business data generated locally, at one or multiple remote sites, or in the cloud. For disaster recovery, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon Web Services (AWS), or to any location with a physical or virtual Barracuda Backup appliance. Progent is a certified Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consultants offer a broad array of consulting services to assist you to design, configure, manage and troubleshoot a BDR system built on Barracuda Backup. For additional information, visit Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consulting and management.

ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup Solutions for Backup and Disaster Recovery
Altaro VM Backup offers small organizations a dependable and budget-friendly platform for backing up and recovering Hyper-V and VMware-based VMs. Altaro VM Backup can be deployed in on-premises, offsite, distributed, and cloud environments and also supports low-cost cloud backup to Azure storage. Progent is an Altaro partner and offers a wide range of online or onsite services to assist you to design, install, optimize and debug a modern backup/restore system based on Altaro VM Backup software. With ProSight Data Protection Services Altaro VM Backup, Progent offers a managed backup/restore service based on Altaro VM Backup technology. To find out more, see Altaro VM Backup certified consultants.

ProSight Data Protection Services Altaro O365 Total Backup Services
Microsoft 365 (formerly branded Office 365) provides simple archiving but does not have native support for crucial data protection capabilities like Exchange Online backups or long-term point-in-time recovery for OneDrive or SharePoint. Altaro O365 Total Backup provides a full-featured platform for programmable backup and rapid recovery of all your company's O365 mailboxes, Teams Chats, SharePoint documents, and OneDrive for Business data. Progent is a certified Altaro partner and offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) O365 Backup to provide comprehensive managed services for Altaro's O365 back/restore suite. ProSight Data Protection Services O365 delivers a low-cost backup-as-a-service (BaaS) alternative that defends O365 components against data loss or corruption caused by human or software error, malicious corruption, and cyber assaults like ransomware. To find out more, see ProSight Data Protection Services Altaro O365 Backup solutions.

Fully Managed Cloud Backup: ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO
ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO offer small and mid-sized businesses an affordable and fully managed solution for reliable backup/disaster recovery (BDR). Available at a fixed monthly cost, ProSight DPS ECHO automates and monitors your backup processes and enable fast recovery of critical files, applications and virtual machines that have become unavailable or damaged as a result of component breakdowns, software bugs, disasters, human mistakes, or malicious attacks such as ransomware. ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO can help you protect, retrieve and restore files, folders, apps, system images, plus Hyper-V and VMware images. Important data can be protected on the cloud, to a local storage device, or mirrored to both. Progent's BDR specialists can provide world-class support to configure ProSight DPS ECHO to be compliant with government and industry regulatory standards such as HIPAA, FINRA, and PCI and, when needed, can assist you to restore your critical information. Read more about ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO managed backup and recovery.

ProSight DPS 360 Backup Solutions
Progent can assist your company to create, implement and troubleshoot a backup/restore plan based on MSP360 software. MSP360 enables file or image backup/restore for VMs and physical computers, works with all leading public clouds, and allows you to create a data protection ecosystem with a minimum Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and a granular RPO. With ProSight Data Protection Services 360 Backup, Progent offers comprehensive monitoring and management of your backup environment to prevent data loss resulting from human mistakes, computer errors, ill-intentioned users, and malware assaults like ransomware. To find out more, see ProSight DPS 360 Backup solutions.

Consulting Services Double-Take Software for Data Backup/Restore
Double-Take offers a selection of products designed to provide small businesses a range of affordable solutions for backing up and restoring business-critical workloads such as Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL, Blackberry, and Microsoft SharePoint. Progent’s business continuity planning experts have in-depth backgrounds integrating Double-Take Software products into small business IT networks to create a high state of availability and business continuity capability at a budget-friendly price. For details, go to Consulting for Double-Take Solutions for Data Backup.

Why Choose Progent for Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning Solutions?
Because Progent is a Microsoft Partner and provides professional application support for a wide range of small business software programs, Progent can help clients to arrive at efficient IT solutions that substantially enhance the productivity of your IT network. As a Registered Partner with Cisco, Progent offers the expertise of premier engineers and specialists with experience in architecting, implementing and maintaining networking solutions built on Cisco products. The extent of Progent's IT know-how and Progent's sensitivity to the needs of small and midsize companies make Progent the perfect partner for building and running an affordable, high-availability information system.

Contact Progent for NetApp SAN Storage Solutions
If you are looking for expertise to help you design, deploy or troubleshoot a SAN storage solution based on NetApp technology, call Progent at 800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.