Acronis Resource Center

電子報

September 08, 2008

POSCO Window NT/Linux Server Recovery and Back-up System

Overview

POSCO Co. Ltd., Korea's leading steel company was founded in 1968. In 1973, the first production line manufacturing 1.03 million tons of crude steel was completed. Pohang Works with a 9.1 million ton production line for crude steel was established in 1983 after undergoing four expansions. Subsequently, the Gwangyang plant was built in 1985. Seven years later, POSCO emerged as an ultra-modern steelworks conglomerate that combines ironmaking and steelmaking. The Company also forged and established close collaborations with industries, academics, and initiated research with the founding of Pohang University of Science and Technology and the R&D Center for Industrial Science and Technology.

For a huge and complex organization like POSCO, the company relies heavily on the intensive use of servers to deploy the numerous applications for day-to-day operations. A huge amount of transactions involving massive amount of data go through these servers daily and having a fool-proof backup system becomes critically important for the company.

Challenges and Selection of Solutions

POSCO (www.posco.co.kr) wanted a backup and recovery solution for their Windows NT and Linux based server environment that would continue to offer full functionality and services in the event of a server breakdown or technical malfunction situation.

Originally, POSCO had to initialize the entire system when they back-up the system. The back-up and recovery process requires a considerable amount of time and manpower. POSCO decided that they need to establish a system that can promptly back-up or recover the entire server without bringing down the entire network and also a system that stores data for 3 months in multiple locations such as Seoul, Bundang, Pohang, and Gwangyang.

POSCO benchmark tests the various recovery and back-up solution packages available in the market for the most optimal, cost efficient and effective solutions. The goal is to ensure that the Windows NT and Linux-based servers can be backed-up or recovered in the most expeditious and efficient manner. Other considerations are secure system credibility and expandability, maintenance service and return on investment. Taking all these requirements into consideration, POSCO finally zeroed their choice to "Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server for Windows & Linux".

Tangunsoft Co. Ltd, the exclusive distributor of Acronis products is responsible for the management and implementation of this important project. Building and testing of the final implementation was completed late last year and actual implementation began in early 2007.

Product Evaluation and Actual Implementation

"Acronis True Image Enterprise Server 9.1" supports the back-up and recovery of all operating systems so that it allows prompt system recovery when there is a breakdown in the Windows NT or LINUX servers. It also allows a flawless back-up or recovery of the entire system in separate individual units of files/folders as it generates disk back-up images online for recovery without having to reboot the system thereby minimizing down time.

Users can regularly run an automatic back-up of the system through the "Automatic Back-up Function", which is a scheduling function of Acronis True Image 9.1. Also, "Acronis True Image 9.1" supports back-up to any kind of HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) attached to the server through the "Universal Restore" function. This function has the ability to restore to a totally different hardware and provides back-up on separate individual partitions of the system by activating the remote computer.

It also uses Microsoft's "VSS(Volume Shadow Copy Service)" technology to support 64-bit hardware/software, the database PiT (point-in-time) snapshot function, and supports database applications which can be initiated and terminated remotely. Finally the Acronis True Image 9.1 enables a function that allows direct-recovery from a remote origin.

Immediate Benefits

POSCO uses "Acronis True Image 9.1" to complete the back-up of the entire 196 Windows NT and Linux-based servers. This is executed once every month and the backed-up data is stored for 3 months.

With the Acronis True Image 9.1, POSCO is able to execute OS image back-ups in real-time without having to terminate other tasks. POSCO is also able to generate multiple restore points by schedule, handle procedural restoration through the multiple restore points, and select the partitions to restore. This significantly increases the data backup efficiency and the outcome is a stable system that is prepared to handle major data losses while minimizing system recovery time.

Back-up and recovery can also take place in the entire system or in individual file/folder units and the "Disk Back-up Image" saved in various types of HDD can serve as an insurance that restores the previous system environment in the event of system malfunction.

Ultimately, POSCO seeks to boost customer satisfaction and business competence through efficient IT investment, prompt business actions, and enhanced efficiency.

"POSCO was in desperate need of a solution that consistently and reliably provides back-up and recovery on both Windows NT and Linux server machines with no system down time. This is a crucial consideration since terminating the system would not only cause a great deal of inconvenience to internal users but will also have a very negative impact on business continuity. Acronis True Image 9.1 truly addresses all these considerations and is in our opinion the best choice to fulfill our system and business requirements," said Deputy Manager of POSCO Information Planning Department, Information Service Group, Kong Yong Deuk.

Extended Deployment

POSCO will continue to enhance the recovery and back-up system process as this is a crucial step in the integration and management of the company's overall IT infrastructure. Ultimately, the goal is to enhance the level of work task efficiency and customer satisfaction.

"Today, POSCO enjoys a tightly-managed and efficient infrastructure; reduced operational costs and a stable day-to day IT operations thanks to the globally renowned Acronis True Image (ATI)-based back-up recovery solutions. Consequently, POSCO is one satisfied customer who has greatly optimised IT investment through efficient system implementation and lower IT administration headcount." commented Deputy Manager of POSCO Information Planning Department, Information Service Group, Kong Yong Deuk

"Acronis is a dedicated recovery and back-up solution company. With our track record in the industry, we have been providing proven solutions and support to our satisfied customers around the world. Examples are global companies such as KT, Korea Amway, Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp, Meritz Insurance, POSCO, and Korea Railroad. Our software goes through rigorous tests, verifications, installations and migrations troubleshooting while we work closely with our customers on their specific requirements on applications, work and system environments." said Country Manager Lee Kun Woo of Acronis Korea.