Separate physical network for backup?

Question

This is a general question rather than a product-specific one, so I'm not really sure where to put it. I'd like to ask the question of the Avamar, Networker, and Data Domain communities.

To give you some context, at present we have two physically separate (i.e. separate cables to separate NICs on our servers) networks - one for production data and the other for backup data. We are looking at consolidating everything into just one physical network, but we'd like to see whether others are doing the same. If we can point to a whole lot of companies and other educational institutions that don't use a physically separate network (I don't mean separate VLANs) for backup then it will give our request a lot more weight in the eyes of management.

So, to those of you who are responsible for such things, do you use physically separate networks for production and backup data?

Thanks.

Deb_PS · Answer

It's a wide open question, first thing to ask is when you say most companies, if they use two separate VLAN for Prod & Backup, still they use two separate NIC for separating the traffic. Thanks Deb

brastedd · Answer

Deb, I'm not sure what you're saying here. If you're using separate VLANs you don't have to use separate NICs. A network team (e.g. in Windows Server 2012) can easily accommodate more than one VLAN on the same physical connection(s), assuming the switches are set up accordingly. You only need separate NICs if you have physically separate networks (i.e. a separate set of cables).

I also don't see how it's a "wide open" question. I'm simply asking whether or not one is using physically separate backup/production networks. Or, to put it another way, do you use a physically separate network for your backup data?

netofm · Answer

Brastedd, I am using, and would recommend, two separeted networks (two NICs): one for backup and another one for production.

dynamox · Answer

I don't separate physical networks.  I do have to use different VLANs but everything resides on the same physical gear.  I know some shops like to have dedicated backup networks, for me it's another security nightmare to managed and more hardware to troubleshoot.  All my servers are Cisco UCS with 10G interfaces so it's has not been an issue.

brastedd · Answer

FMonteiro and Dynamox, may I ask which industry sector you're working in? FMonteiro, why would you recommend separate networks in this day and age?

ble1 · Answer

We use both, but nowadays I would say more or less all separation is done logically at VLAN level.  Depending on VLAN, certain network filters/characteristics are made (eg. for what is used for backup we use wide nonrouted VLAN without any port restrictions between backup infra and clients).

Data Domain

Separate physical network for backup?

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