Home > Storage > PowerFlex > White Papers > Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure: Protecting SQL Server Data with Dell APEX Protection Storage > Overview
The test results indicate that using the Microsoft application agent with Application Direct and in conjunction with DDVE empowers application administrators to efficiently safeguard and restore Microsoft SQL Server application data on APEX Block Storage volumes within Dell APEX storage on Azure. This approach not only ensures effective and prompt protection of SQL Server databases but also delivers space savings, enabling enterprises to safeguard a larger volume of data.
Data compression happens at two levels: global and local, global compression, or deduplication, identifies redundant data segments and stores only the unique data segments by comparing received data to data already stored on disk, while local compression compresses the unique data segments.
The total compression factor indicates the total amount of compression the DD system performed with the data that it received. The higher the total compression factor for a backup, the greater the space savings for that backup.
The data reduction percentage represents the total compression savings to show the consolidation achieved during the backups. The higher the reduction percentage, the greater the space savings on the DD appliance.
DD Boost software sends only unique data from the backup host or client to the DD system, enabling more efficient use of the network. Also, the greater the amount of unique data, the higher the CPU utilization.