Recovery points only consist of a copy of changed disk sectors. This means it usually only take seconds or minutes to complete disk synchronization even on very large volumes. The more frequently recovery points are schedule the quicker they complete. When compression is enabled hundreds of recovery points can be stored in less space than it takes to store one disk image. In between synchronization requests from the CDP Server, the CDP Agent passively tracks changes to the hard disks as they are happening. This process introduces NO overhead and requires a relatively small amount of memory. This is typically about 6 MB of memory per 100 GB of disk storage being synchronized.

Secure Data Management and Archiving
Data on the CDP Server is stored in R1Soft's patent-pending Disk Safe storage format. This on disk format enables CDP Server to archive point-in-time recover images for long periods of time using as little disk space as possible. For each configured backup schedule a rotation policy can be defined. This policy specifies the number of different incrementals to keep for each schedule. Old recovery points are automatically deleted according to the policy. This system of minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly recovery point management is flexible enough for all needs.

Please consider the following example policy demonstrating the flexibility of automatic data protection policy:

• synchronize every 10 minutes - retain the last 48 recovery points
• synchronize hourly - retain the last 48 recovery points
• synchronize daily at midnight
• retain the last 7 recovery points
• synchronize weekly on Sundays - retain the last 4 recovery points
• synchronize monthly on the 1st - retain the last 48 recovery points

Such a policy can be automatically managed by CDP Server. In addition to policy based management any unwanted recovery point can be deleted by an administrator at any time. Selected recovery points can also be locked to prevent automatic deletion by a policy.

Support Heterogeneous Environments
The CDP Server Software can be installed on either a Microsoft Windows Server or *Linux Server*. Regardless of O/S selection for the CDP Server both Windows and Linux computers running the CDP Agent program can be protected. Both Linux and Windows data protection are managed from a single web interface on the CDP Server.

Linux Server Open File Backups and Point-in-time Recovery
The Linux CDP Agent runs on most 2.4 and 2.6 Linux distributions. There are a variety of agent installers built with binary compatibility for most popular Linux distributions. For unsupported distributions and customized Linux kernels we make a Linux 2.6 Generic installer. For more details and an up to date list of Linux CDP Agent installers go to http://www.r1soft.com/distros/.

Windows Server Volume Shadow Copy Integration
The Windows CDP Agent integrates with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) providing online synchronization of VSS aware applications such as Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange Server, and SharePoint Services. VSS is also used to provide online backup of disk volumes on Microsoft Windows Servers and work stations.

Browsing and Restoring Files
Files for both MS Windows NTFS partitions and Linux file systems can be browsed on the CDP Server web interface. Administrators can verify backups by browsing files. Any combination of files and directories can be selected for restore through an easy-to-use web interface and file browser. Files can be restored to their original location, an alternate location, or even alternate host. They can also be optionally encrypted in transit using RSA keys and 128-bit blowfish encryption.

The CDP Server has proprietary implementations of NTFS and Linux file systems enabling the CDP Server to read directly into the recovery point disk images just like they were mounted on a live server.

Bare-Metal Restore and Disaster Recovery
Each recovery point stored on the CDP Server is virtually a complete disk image as seen at a particular point-in-time. Each disk image includes the file system formatting, partition table, and volume management data needed to rebuild the entire disk.

In the case of disaster or for quick roll-back your Windows or Linux server can be booted into a special disaster recovery mode (see Disaster Recovery Methods below). Once booted into disaster recovery mode a recovery point can be streamed across the network directly onto your server's hard disks from the CDP Server.