WANSync / Enterprise Rewinder

XOsoft offers disaster recovery tools in the form of full-scale server replication software (its WANSync line) or CDP-based data recovery directly on individual hosts through change monitoring (Enterprise Rewinder).

The Enterprise Rewinder platform is targeted to system administrators and data centers, and allows for the short-term recovery of servers (i.e., between backups or snap shots) in the event that data becomes corrupted. The platform continuously monitors the server status and changes, and, in the event data corruption is detected, allows the administrator to "rewind" the server to a point-in-time prior to the introduction of the original errors.

The Enterprise Rewinder platform consists both of individual Data Rewinder clients that are specialized for specific server platforms (the vendor's site lists modules for Exchange, SQL, File Server, and Oracle) and a centralized GUI management console providing a single control point for multiple Data Rewinder clients. The clients monitor and capture application and data-specific writes and updates, and store local (on the protected host itself) "rewind logs" that contain the necessary operations that would undo those changes. These logs can then be played out in reverse to restore the server (or a single database or storage group, for example) to a previous point in time.

In addition to the basic journaling dimensions mentioned above, administrators can further granularize the protection process by rewinding only specific data; one example provided by the vendor is that of rewinding data in a specific storage group on Exchange Server. Rewind processes can be performed manually by reviewing I/O activities and rewinding to a specific event, or configured to be performed automatically when data faults or corruptions are detected. Of course, data can only be restored back to a point at which the Enterprise Rewinder software was loaded; i.e., Enterprise Rewinder cannot recover from data corruption that existed prior to the initial loading and running of the Rewinder clients.

The WANSync line of offerings provides for remote data replication between two servers; replication servers can be located on the local LAN or connected via WAN. Like the Rewinder technology described above, only the changes necessary to synchronize the replica server are captured and transmitted to it. Additionally, the vendor's Rewind technology is built in to the replication process itself: If corruption is discovered on the master server, the replica server can then be rewound to a previous good state before it is accessed.

In the event of a master server failure, a replicated server can be used to retrieve data from or directly, allowing for access to its applications and data while the master server is repaired. For automated failover allowing for continued access in the event of a master server failure, the vendor offers WANSync HA, a superset of WANSync which includes both automated failover capabilities as well as production server status and application monitoring tools.

Like Enterprise Rewinder, WANSync is served in several flavors depending on the specific type of server to be replicated: WANSync for Oracle, WANSync for Exchange, WANSync for File Servers, WANSync for SQL, and now WANSync for IIS.

New features in the latest WANSync release include:

- A reconfigured management and deployment module, boasting an integrated wizard for installation, remote installations, simultaneous installations, and remote configuration

- Support for Linux and 64-bit platforms

- CDP Support for UNIX

- Support of Blackberry Enterprise Server

Visit the XOsoft Web site for further information.