RecoverPoint is a journaled write platform that allows administrators to recover data to any point in time. The hardware-based offering includes modules enabling both local, same-SAN continuous data protection, as well as WAN-connected site-to-site asynchronous remote replication. Two flavors of RecoverPoint are available from the vendor; RecoverPoint, which supports the protection of data over heterogeneous storage arrays and hosts; and RecoverPoint/SE, which supports replication of data only over the vendor's CLARiiON arrays.

In brief, data is split and sent simultaneously to the target data storage as well as the RecoverPoint appliance; where journaled-write technologies track individual data changes at the block level for potential restoration as and when necessary. In the case of VMware hosts, both individual VMs as well as entire ESX Servers can be replicated/restored.

The splitting of data happens either within the CLARiiON array (in RecoverPoint or RecoverPoint/SE); directly via the hosts themselves (Windows only in RecoverPoint/SE; Windows, Solaris, and AIX in RecoverPoint); or within the fabric (support is listed for multiple of the vendor's Connectrix switches or blades in RecoverPoint only). Note that when CLARiiON arrays are utilized, multiple hosts are supported including Linux, Windows, VMware, AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris in both flavors of the product.

Hardware-wise, RecoverPoint/SE supports up to two appliances in a cluster and replication within a single local CLARiiON array and a single remote CLARiiON array. The full RecoverPoint product supports up to 8 appliances in a cluster and protection over an unlimited numbed of arrays. Each appliance is 1U and equipped with four 4 Gb/sec FC ports for SAN or site-to-site connectivity; as well as a pair of 100/1000 Ethernet ports (one for management, one for WAN links). As the devices operate out-of-band with respect to the source data flow (recall that the data is split and sent to the target source and RecoverPoint simultaneously) the vendor notes that the switch-based version of the platform replicates data with no added latency or primary I/O disruption.

Each of the journaled entries are time-stamped and optionally application stamped, allowing for application consistent and any-point-in-time restorations. The vendor states that read/write access can be granted to the replicated data without disrupting the replication process itself, via a process dubbed "Target Side Processing." With Target Side Processing, the replica data is separated from the journaled data; allowing replicas to be mounted on test hosts and accessed directly while live journaling continues. Application-wise, the vendor specifically notes integration with external APIs (Microsoft VDI or VSS) for "application-consistent" recovery of Exchange or SQL Server.

Other features include a Java-based, Web-accessible management GUI as well as a CLI (SSH or SSL) that can be programmatically accessed; compression techniques that can, according to the vendor, reduce overall WAN communications in remote replication scenarios by up to 10 times (compression is also applied to stored journal entries); SNMP support; automatic discovery of LUNs; and support for simultaneous local (synchronous) and remote (asynchronous) replication.

New features in the latest release of RecoverPoint include support for "stretched" CPD, which enables synchronous replication at distances of up to 18 miles over fiber-to-fiber connections; integration with MS clustering for the support of Windows Server clusters; and support for virtual provisioning support in CLARiiON CX4 systems (where only the actual physical storage is replicated).

RecoverPoint is available now; the new release is expected to be generally available November 21, 2008. Pricing starts at $60,000.

Visit the EMC Web site for further information.