What is Data Deduplication? Types of Data Deduplication methods
What is Data Deduplication? Types of Data Deduplication methods
Have you ever heard of data deduplication? In this article, we will explain data deduplication and mention the types of data deduplication methods for you.
Data deduplication helps you to easily transfer your files to the cloud server at a very high speed and provide the best services to your users.
Data deduplication methods are different, and today in this article, you will learn the types of data deduplication methods. You will know how you can implement data deduplication.
In the subject of calculation, Data deduplication is a method to eliminate duplicate and redundant copies of data. In fact, by using this technology, you can prevent duplicate files and make the network load much lighter, and, in this way, you can create a single instance of existing data or, in English, Single-Instance Data. It is also said.
The reason for using data deduplication is that it helps you optimize your data and information storage space and greatly reduces the number of bytes sent to the server.
The way it works is that at first, during a process, data byte patterns are identified and analyzed, and then it is compared with other pieces with the current saved version if there are two similar files. Yes, it prevents the creation of that file in the storage space and does not allow this to happen.
Is Deduplication the same as file compression?
Deduplication is different from data compression algorithms, such as LZ77 and LZ78. While compression algorithms identify redundant data within files and encrypt this redundant data, its overall goal is to optimize storage space by eliminating duplicate files on the server that cause the load on the server to become much lighter than before, and for this reason, the efficiency of the server increases.
For example, a typical email system might contain 100 instances of the same 1 MB attachment. Each time the email platform is backed up, every 100 attachments are saved and require 100 MB of storage space. Using the Data deduplication method, you will only see one example of the attached file, and you will no longer need to spend extra space on duplicate files.
Storage-based data allocation through it reduces the storage required for a set of files.
Data deduplication is most commonly used in programs where many duplicate files are stored in storage space, and for this reason, in the case of data backup, which is usually used to protect against data loss. It is done faster, and there is no need to back up a file more than 100 times, reducing the operation’s size and increasing speed.
Backup systems try to increase speed by deleting files and documents that have not changed.
However, none of the mentioned methods register redundancies.
The efficiency of servers and virtual machines from Deduplication
Virtual servers benefit from Deduplication because it allows system files and files created for the virtual machine to be collected in one storage space. At the same time, you can set If duplicate files are collected in the storage space, they should be deleted or replaced.
If you are in charge of the IT department of a company and you are responsible for making backup copies or transferring a large amount of data from time to time, you have likely heard the word Deduplication by now. This practice causes the Replication of duplicate data can be avoided, and when you use a cloud server, it can greatly reduce your costs.
In its simplest definition, data deduplication is a technique to eliminate duplicate data in a server or storage space.
Redundant copies of the same files and data are deleted, and only one copy is saved. The data is used to identify duplicate byte patterns to ensure that the single instance is a complete file, and then the duplicates are replaced with a reference file.
Given that the same byte pattern may occur tens, hundreds, or even thousands of times, the amount of duplicate data can be significant in the number of times you make small changes to a file.
In some companies, 80% of the data is copied, which causes the workload to increase without any particular reason, and many costs are spent on storage space. And on the other hand, the speed of backup is greatly reduced. Finds and can waste a lot of time.
After this direction, you are suggested to take the issue of data deduplication seriously in your company or organization.
Data deduplication methods – What is data deduplication?
One of the most common data deduplication methods is comparing data pieces to detect duplicates. For this to happen, a part of the system software compares hashes and the way files are encoded next to the bytes of a file and then finds out if the file is duplicated or not.
In many data deduplication methods, it is assumed that if the data identification and information are the same, the data is the same, and the files need to be deleted.
Other implementations do not consider that two blocks of data with the same identifier are the same but confirm that the data with the same identifier are the same.
After collecting the data, after reading the relevant file, wherever a link is found, the system replaces that link with the referenced data section and compares.
Data deduplication problems – Is there a possibility of errors in data deduplication?
One method for collecting data is to use cryptographic hash functions to identify duplicate parts of data. If two different pieces of information produce the same hash value, this is treated as a duplicate file. Usually, a file is deleted when the length of the hashes and bytes are the same, and therefore a duplicate hash may be created, so the files are deleted, which may cause great damage to your business…
To prevent this from happening, usually, when deleting files, the user needs to confirm if these two files are the same or if there are differences in the data.
To improve performance, some systems use both strong and weak hashes. A weak hash is much faster to calculate, but there is a higher risk of collisions or errors in the system.
Systems that use a weak hash calculate a strong hash and use that as the determining factor as to whether the data is the same or not.
Note that the system overhead related to calculating and searching for the hash value is primarily a function of the deduplication workflow.
Another concern is the interaction of compression and encryption. The purpose of data encryption is to eliminate any recognizable pattern in the data. So encrypted data cannot be bypassed, even though the underlying data may not be redundant.
If your hashes can be guessed and different devices can easily guess the hashes of your data, it will cause the security of your files to be lost, and for this reason, they will have different access to your system or want to Delete files on your system.
So it would be best if you tried to use proper encryption and a relatively strong hash in this matter so that no one can disrupt your security.
How does data deduplication work? – What is data deduplication, and how does it work?
Deduplication operates at the 4KB block level across the entire FlexVol volume and all volumes in the storage space, removing duplicate data blocks, storing unique data blocks, and does not allow load. The server becomes heavy, and for this reason, things are done faster.
When the data is written to the system, the inline deduplication engine scans the received blocks and stores them in the form of a hash to find out whether this file is duplicated.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of data deduplication?
Data deduplication has various advantages and disadvantages, which we will discuss further.
When you use data deduplication methods to remove duplicate files, you should pay attention to some points that will not end up harming you.
Advantages of using Data deduplication:
- It eliminates duplicate files in cloud storage.
- It increases the performance of your server.
- It makes the server load much lighter.
- You will have easier access to system files.
- The transfer of files takes place at a very high speed.
- Data backup operations are performed faster.
- It can reduce costs to a great extent for you.
Problems when using data deduplication:
- If the file you have produced has a very similar or identical hash, it may threaten you.
- Compares many hashes with each other.
- The possibility of a system error when using data deduplication methods
- Data deduplication methods cannot be 100% reliable
You can see that data deduplication methods can have advantages and disadvantages.
In the last line that you read in the section on problems when using Data deduplication, it should be mentioned that no system and algorithm has 100% compatibility, and there is a well-known topic, which is that operating systems are not stable in any way and should never be. Don’t worry about doing data deduplication, but you should check various topics in this field every so often to see if everything has been done correctly or not.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is data deduplication?
Data deduplication is a method to eliminate duplicate files in the cloud or data storage space. For this reason, it can reduce the server load and also help server efficiency. Deduplication operations can help companies to eliminate additional costs and provide better services to their users because it increases their efficiency.
What are the methods of data deduplication?
When it comes to Deduplication, it can be pointed out that this technology, by using the operation of comparing hashes and byte by byte of a file, can understand whether two compared files are similar to each other or not. . If it was a similar file, it deletes one of the files. It saves the reference file or a special data storage space in the cloud.
Is the comparison operation to eliminate similar files only with two files?
No, when comparing files, it can be wider than two files. Perhaps there may come a time when the comparison operation between thousands of files is done, and it can free up the data storage space, and therefore you can put more data and no copies on your server. Among the thousands of files it compares, it first compares the hashes and bytes of the files, and if they are similar, it deletes the file and allows the reference file to be saved on the server…
Is it possible for errors to occur in data deduplication?
If we want to have 100% confidence in technologies, we have exaggerated, and we cannot say that robots and technologies are supposed to do a job 100% correctly. The probability that you will turn off your laptop tonight and tomorrow and your operating system will not start are very high. Although these events happen rarely, there is still a possibility of them happening.
For this reason, when you perform data deduplication, the system may see some files that are not copied as the same and try to delete them, which can cause losses to your business.
For example, there may be an accident in the hashes, or many files have the same size.
Of course, you don’t need to worry that your files will be deleted in the future, but you should be careful and back up your files from time to time to avoid any possible incidents. If it happens, prevent it.
Where is Deduplication performed?
You may be the IT man of a company and want to move files or even back up company data from time to time, and you may encounter a large volume of files, many of which are likely to be duplicated…
For this reason, you can use the Data deduplication operation to identify duplicate files, and for this reason, the process of backing up or transferring files can be done at a high speed.
