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NDMP Protocol Delivers True Interoperability to Storage UsersPrior to 1996, the storage industry did not have an open standard for data management, especially for storage backup and recovery. Instead, each data management and storage vendor used its own proprietary method of managing data stored on storage devices, increasing R&D expenses and disallowing interoperability among different components. To the end user, this resulted in extra complexity and costs for managing data.To address these challenges, the idea of a new and innovative data management protocol was born. Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) is an open protocol for managing data stored on networked servers. By maintaining compatibility with a single well-defined protocol, users are able to rely on complete interoperability between different storage devices and management applications. The modular architecture of NDMP provides a great deal of flexibility and also simplifies the data management process. Co-invented by storage leader Network Appliance and Intelliguard (now part of Legato), NDMP is now being actively enhanced and adopted by the storage industry. Already in its third revision (version 3), NDMP is clearly the leading open data management protocol in the storage industry, with more than 25 NDMP-compliant products in the market.  In April 2000, a new work group for NDMP was created as part of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) to take responsibility for the development of the protocol standard, interoperability testing, and educational programs on NDMP. The formation of this group is encouraging wider adoption and helping further the development of the standard. The group is now in the final stages of defining version 4 of the protocol. NDMP was also highlighted at March's Connectathon at the San Jose Convention Center, an annual engineering event featuring interoperability testing. Leading storage vendors performed interoperability testing with each other's implementations of the protocol. The focus this year was on testing early implementations of the NDMP version 4 specification. Today, NDMP is established as the de facto standard for data management, based on wide adoption within the storage industry. Plans are already being developed for defining NDMP version 4 extensions, version 5, and beyond. By providing a standard protocol, NDMP brings true plug-and-play capabilities to the user, eases the data management process, supports more flexible storage configurations, and reduces the complexity and cost of managing servers, data, and applications. Home | News | Products | White Papers | Download | About NDMP | Join | Feedback |
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