16.2 Protection Tiers

A Protection Tier is a custom collection of workload protection parameters that define the following:

  • The frequency and recurrence pattern of replications

  • Whether to encrypt data transmission

  • Whether and how to apply data compression

  • Whether to throttle available bandwidth to a specified throughput rate during data transfer

  • Criteria for the system to consider a workload as offline (failed)

A Protection Tier is an integral part of every workload protection contract. During the configuration stage of a workload protection contract, you can select one of several built-in Protection Tiers and customize its attributes as required by that specific protection contract.

To create custom Protection Tiers in advance:

  1. In your Web Interface, click Settings > Protection Tiers > Create Protection Tier.

  2. Specify the parameters for the new Protection Tier:

    Parameter

    Action

    Name

    Type the name you want to use for the tier.

    Incremental Recurrence

    Specify the frequency of incremental replications and the incremental recurrence pattern. You can type directly in the Start of recurrence field, or click the calendar icon to select a date. Select None as the Recurrence Pattern to never use incremental replication.

    Full Recurrence

    Specify the frequency of full replications and the full recurrence pattern.

    Blackout Window

    Use these settings to force a replication blackout (for suspending scheduled replications during peak utilization hours or to prevent conflicts between VSS-aware software and the PlateSpin VSS block-level data transfer component).

    To specify a blackout window, click Edit, then select a blackout recurrence pattern (daily, weekly, etc.), and the blackout period’s start and end times.

    NOTE:The blackout start and end times are based on the system clock on your PlateSpin Server.

    Compression Level

    These settings control whether and how workload data is compressed before transmission. See Data Compression.

    Select one of the available options. Fast consumes the least CPU resources on the source but yields a lower compression ratio, Maximum consumes the most, but yields a higher compression ratio. Optimal, the middle ground, is the recommended option.

    Bandwidth Throttling

    These settings control bandwidth throttling. See Bandwidth Throttling.

    To throttle replications to a specified rate, specify the required throughput value in Mbps and indicate the time pattern.

    Recovery Points to Keep

    Specify the number of recovery points to keep for workloads that use this Protection Tier. See Recovery Points.

    Workload Failure

    Specify the number of workload detection attempts before it is considered failed.

    Workload Detection

    Specify the time interval (in seconds) between workload detection attempts.