User guide

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Figure 28. NetApp Operations Manager
3.4.12 Data Protection
The availability of thousands of virtual desktops is dependent on the availability of the shared storage on which
the virtual desktops are hosted. Thus, using the proper RAID technology is very critical. Also, being able to protect
the virtual desktop images and/or user data is very important. RAID-DP®, the Citrix StorageLink virtual machine
Backup and Recovery function, NetApp SnapMirror®, and NetApp Snapshot copies are critical components of the
NetApp solution that help address storage availability.
3.4.12.1 RAID-DP
With any Citrix XenDesktop deployment, data protection is critical, because any RAID failure could result in
hundreds to thousands of end users being disconnected from their desktops, resulting in lost productivity. RAID
DP provides performance that is comparable to that of RAID 10, yet requires fewer disks to achieve equivalent
protection. RAID DP provides protection against double disk failure as compared to RAID 5, which can only
protect against one disk failure per RAID group. For more information about RAID DP, refer to NetApp TR-3298:
RAID-DP: NetApp Implementation of RAID Double Parity for Data Protection.
3.4.12.2 Backup and Recovery
The virtual machine Backup and Recovery capability in XenCenter allows customers to use NetApp array-based
block-level Snapshot copies to provide consistent backups for the virtual desktops. NetApp snapshot has simplest
snapshot model with best disk utilization and fast performance.