Advanced File System/NAS Performance-Tuning Software Utility Helps MSPs and Storage Vendor Partners Optimize Disk Subsystem Configurations to Reduce Cost and Meet Customer SLAs

Asigra Inc., the leader in agentless information recovery management, today announced its Storage I/O and Data Validation Tool™. The new utility helps Asigra storage partners, MSPs, VARs and users ensure that optimally tuned and architected storage servers are implemented as part of their disk-based data protection infrastructure to maximize investment return.

Finding the performance limiting ‘weakest link in the chain’ has always been a challenge for those building an infrastructure that ensures scalable backup and recovery performance. In order to reduce the backup window, IT professionals must look at software, hardware, applications, data load and a number of other factors which can affect data throughput. The Asigra Storage I/O and Data Validation Tool provides precise analysis to identify which storage systems under consideration for deployment or already deployed are optimized to work most effectively with Asigra Televaulting™ and any other I/O intensive general computing application to support positive ROI. The tool can simulate loads from hundreds or thousands of remote sites, target servers/workstations or PCs and multiple types of simultaneous activities like backup and restores which allow proactive backup infrastructure tuning.

The Asigra Storage I/O and Data Validation Tool works by measuring the communication speed between the backup vault or staged backup device and the backup targets. Typical culprits responsible for reducing backup performance include storage system architecture, slow hard drives, inefficient cache settings, insufficient RAM, poorly performing RAID controllers, network connectivity issues, untuned file systems, miss-architected RAID configurations and disk type/size/spindle count. The Storage I/O and Data Validation Tool identifies the issues and allows for tuning that maps to specific backup and recovery performance requirements. This new offering by Asigra supports managed service provider (MSP) pressures to meet customer Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and end user demands for meeting stringent backup windows as well as best practices to ensure lower operational costs.

"Managed service providers often struggle to balance the appropriate infrastructures to meet customer SLAs, especially with respect to backup and recovery. It is difficult to pre-qualify components without adequate testing utilizing typical loads encountered on day one, as well as on day one thousand," said Bob Laliberte, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Asigra's new tool is a big step in the right direction. By pre-qualifying new storage filers, MSPs are able to optimize their investment based on their profile. It can also be leveraged to identify bottlenecks in existing deployments, enabling providers to better meet business service levels today and in the future."

"Asigra's Storage I/O and Data Validation Tool promotes fiscal prudence while ensuring that infrastructure is optimally tuned for maximum performance," said Simon Chappell, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Backup Technology, a leading U.K provider of managed backup services. "The ability to match hardware resources to current and anticipated backup and recovery data loads based on actual performance numbers ensures maximum ROI. This is a first that we are happy to see Asigra take the lead in driving."

“Our partner ecosystem is critical to Asigra’s success and we support our network with industry-leading technology, thought leadership and services which now includes this innovative performance optimization tool,” said Eran Farajun, Executive Vice President for Asigra. “Asigra will continue to bring such innovations to provide our partners with a strong competitive advantage. The Storage I/O and Data Validation Tool is the first in a series of new tools we are bringing to the channel, allowing us to more closely align with our partners in meeting customer SLA requirements.”