Today's IT organizations have a wide range of opportunities to optimize their infrastructures across distributed computing environments, including remote branch offices. Many organizations duplicate corporate data at each remote site for convenient user access, which means all of that data has to be routinely backed up and secured. Some organizations even deploy multiple servers at each site just to handle single-function applications. However, these sites rarely have dedicated IT personnel, so maintenance and troubleshooting often require the use of part-time, unskilled, or roving personnel.

Brocade Branch File Consolidation and Replication Solutions provide a simple, comprehensive approach to file data management across the enterprise. These solutions combine innovative technologies and leverage best practices and professional services to enable reliable remote file data management.

The Brocade Branch File Consolidation Solution enables organizations to consolidate data and resources at a central data center to simplify administration of distributed data and resources. This solution enables migration of branch office data to a data center and provides fast remote CIFS and TCP/IP data access with Brocade Wide Area File Services (WAFS) technology. As a result, organizations can more easily meet the varied needs of small branch and large regional offices while enhancing file data access, reducing local administration, improving application performance, and centralizing backup.

Migrating branch office data to the data center is critical to consolidation efforts. The Brocade Branch File Consolidation Solution supports the migration of data accessed through Common Internet File Services (CIFS). Consolidating multiple branch office Windows services — including, file, Web, print, and network services — onto a single centrally managed server simplifies administration and reduces the amount of redundant or underutilized hardware.

By helping to consolidate branch office services management, the Brocade Branch File Consolidation Solution enables efficient, reliable, and intelligent deployment of data and application content. For example, organizations can implement a unified global namespace to create a logical view of data for transparent file management and extended File Area Network (FAN) functionality at their branch offices.

The Brocade Branch File Replication Solution provides data replication from branch offices to a central data center location. Rather than accelerate remote data access, this solution enables fast, local access along with replication for centralized backup, disaster resiliency, and business continuity.

In addition to replication, this solution supports the movement of data accessed through CIFS or Network File System (NFS) and provides multiprotocol data management policies.

By providing logical, location-independent views of data, the Brocade Branch File Replication Solution facilitates continuous data access with failover capabilities. In the event that the branch office data becomes inaccessible locally, users are automatically redirected to access the replicated data at the central location.

Brocade Branch File Solutions enable pervasive and secure data access. Utilizing Brocade StorageX® Global Namespace technology, these solutions present logical, location-independent views of file data, making the physical location of data transparent to users. This approach enables administrators to move data without disrupting user access.

While network outages can disrupt user access to data, Brocade Branch File Solutions support architectural approaches that enable seamless data path failover to minimize disruptions. In addition, the solutions are natively integrated with Microsoft Active Directory and utilize pervasive file locking and security features (such as SMB packet signing) to help ensure secure access to enterprise data. This design enables seamless preservation of file permissions, even during the migration process.

To improve overall efficiency, Brocade Branch File Solutions eliminate the need for remote sites to manage their own backup processes-reducing the amount of repetitive file management tasks while consolidating IT services. Central management of Windows-based operations-including file caching, network management, Web and print services, SMS content distribution, replication, and failover-is performed through easy-to-use interfaces. During centralized data replication, intuitive policy-based services automate replication between remote sites and data centers, eliminating the need for constant administrator involvement and monitoring.

The solutions combine several technologies to reduce WAN overhead when data is pushed out from the data center to the branch office cache or replicated from the branch office to the data center. These technologies include data compression, protocol acceleration, byte-level file differential replication, and data de-duplication.

Centralization of data backup provides valuable benefits in terms of efficiency and cost savings. Eliminating remote site backup increases the reliability of data recovery, reduces backup resource overhead (including costs for hardware, software, and personnel), and minimizes lost business due to failed backups.

Brocade Professional Services offerings complement leading-edge products with unmatched expertise to provide comprehensive business solutions for consolidating and optimizing branch office data and IT infrastructure. In addition to basic product installations and deployments, key offerings include:

• Development and deployment of Distributed File System (DFS), global namespaces, and FANs
• Remote data access evaluation and implementation of Brocade Branch File Consolidation and Replication Solutions, stackable branch office services, data replication services, and active path failover solutions
• Remote site data migration and Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path management for embedded documents

• Brocade StorageX
• Brocade Professional Services