While snapshots can reduce your dependencies on it, if implemented correctly, Hybrid Cloud eliminates backup. In reality, primary storage solutions should have eliminated backup many years ago. The problem is that the limitations of enterprise-class storage features caused by inefficient software won’t allow the technology to finish the job. Because of these limitations, the features that should eliminate the backup process actually perpetuate it. Vendors need to rewrite their storage software to remove these limitations, and they need to address the vulnerability of a single site by leveraging a cost-effective hybrid cloud.
Eliminate Backup with High Data Integrity
The first step to eliminating backup is for the storage solution to deliver high data integrity. The problem is that most storage systems must use RAM as a write cache to accelerate performance. Using RAM puts data at risk and requires vendors to design overly complex architectures to work around RAM’s vulnerabilities. The answer is to re-write storage software so that it is so efficient that it can write directly to persistent storage media without sacrificing performance. StorONE’s DirectWrite architecture delivers hundreds of thousands of IOPS without the need for dangerous RAM-based write caches. Learn more about DirectWrite in our article “The Write Cache Crutch.”
Eliminate Backup with Advanced RAID
One of the top causes of backup restoration is when multiple drives fail in a RAID group. The reason for these recovery events is because of slow RAID rebuild times. When one drive fails in the RAID group, the rebuilding effort takes so long that the chances of a second drive failure are high, and if that second drive fails, all data is lost.
The second step in eliminating backup is improving RAID. While there are many aspects of RAID that need improving, when it comes to replacing backup, rebuild times must improve. The faster the rebuild, the less likely you’ll have an additional drive failure, and the less likely you will need to recover from a backup. StorONE’s vRAID delivers that fastest rebuilds in the industry, and in our latest release, we improved our rebuild times even more. Learn about our Q3–2020 release here.
Eliminate Backup with Snapshots
Snapshots seem to be the ideal method to provide the point-in-time recovery that backups offer. The problem is that most storage systems are severely limited in their ability to take and retain snapshots. Most are limited to a dozen or so before they impact production performance. To effectively replace backup, the storage solution must maintain an almost unlimited number of snapshots without impacting performance. StorONE’s S1:Snap feature supports millions of snapshots with no performance impact.
Using Replication to Complete Backup Elimination
The combination of high data integrity, complete protection against media failure, and our robust snapshot functionality enable our customers to eliminate backup, almost. We need to address one weak point however…what happens during a complete disaster? If a catastrophic event destroys the entire storage system, such as a natural disaster or rogue actor, we need one more capability: cost-effective replication.
S1:Replicate, included in the Enterprise Storage Platform, delivers complete protection from disaster. S1 customers can replicate from their primary data center to another data center both synchronously and asynchronously. It is easy to set up and configure, and the flexibility of replicating from any media to any media helps keep costs down.
However, the challenge with replication is that it does require a second location, which is some distance away from the primary data center. That location should be data-center-class. However, not all organizations have a second location that meets the data center-class criteria. That’s the role of a hybrid cloud solution and why we say “hybrid Cloud eliminates backup.”
Eliminate the Replication Challenge with Hybrid Cloud
A private, hybrid cloud solution, similar to our partner Madison Cloud, is an ideal answer to that “I don’t have a second site” problem. As a result, Hybrid Cloud eliminates backup. This single solution enables the customer to eliminate backups and creates a bulletproof DR strategy. Unlike other cloud providers, Madison provides dedicated hardware for your data center’s replication target. There is no risk of intermixing data with another Madison Cloud client. Madison Cloud provides the DR target as-a-service. You avoid operational expenses altogether. Once your data is on its dedicated storage appliance in Madison Cloud, you can set up a separate snapshot policy to complete the backup elimination strategy. Of course, since all your data is now at a secondary site, you’ve also completed your DR project as well.
Do More Than Eliminate Backup
The powerful foundation of StorONE always allows you to do more. In a recent virtual whiteboard presentation, we discussed how our replication solution enables you to do more than solve DR challenges. And with our Madison Cloud partnership, you can do more than just eliminate the challenges of paying for and maintaining a second site.
Madison Cloud has all the connectivity nuances worked out between its service and Amazon, Azure, and Google. It provides a direct connection of your data to cloud compute from these various providers. Since your data is now the center of the universe, you don’t have to worry about data gravity, since the services connect to you, and you can switch between services almost instantly. Their service enables you to take advantage of special pricing from a particular provider or a unique capability with the flip of a switch. In essence, by solving the backup and DR problem, you’ve also solved the hybrid cloud problem.
Learn More
To learn more, join StorONE and Madison Cloud for our on-demand webinar “How to Create a Cost-Efficient Hybrid Cloud”. During the webinar we discuss creating a hybrid cloud and how to use it to eliminate today’s challenges like backup and DR, as well as create a foundation to leverage cloud compute resources from the various cloud providers.
