A comprehensive catalog of data and snapshots is vital for efficient use and management of resources in hybrid clouds. The catalog should show when the data was updated, mounted and deleted, when snapshots and snapshots of snapshots were created, which applications have been deployed against what data when and where the data and snapshots are physically located. This, writes Wikibon CTO David Floyer (right) in “The Value of an Integrated Catalog for Hybrid Cloud”, can create significant savings in overhead, minimize data duplication and decrease systemic risk to data and application integrity.

The catalog is the basic tool for fighting database snapshot creep, which is the tendency for each developer and tester to make a new snapshot of one or more databases for each project. Without a comprehensive catalog, these snapshots tend to accumulate and linger long after their usefulness is ended. At the least this accumulation wastes resources. At the worst it becomes a security risk.

A catalog can improve recovery time and effectiveness for applications in the hybrid cloud by making it easy to identify the closest and most recent snapshot of the database. It informs all users of the identity and location of all available snapshots, allowing them to choose the most recent or most appropriate snapshot for their use. It can also cut communications costs between locations and applications by preventing unnecessary data movement.

Furthermore, catalogs can improve access for development, QA and testing. In hybrid cloud environments in which production is kept on premise while development and test move to the provider’s cloud platform, developers can use an integrated catalog to automate identification and publication of development data copies.

Database snapshots are growing in popularity and usefulness as flash storage replaces spinning disk. However, the lack of comprehensive management tools makes tracking, managing, and eventually deleting these snapshots difficult. The integrated catalog can simplify and at least partially automate management of the large numbers of snapshots that accumulate in enterprise environments, making it the core tool for effective data snapshot management, Floyer says.

Floyer’s full Professional Alert is available without charge on the Wikibon Web site. IT professionals are invited to register for free membership in the Wikibon community. This allows them to influence the direction of Wikibon research, and post comments, questions, and their own original research for the community.

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