The first blog in this series discussed initially using a Cloud as Primary Storage solution for data protection and then in the second blog in the series, transitioning to using the Cloud as Primary Storage to store production data. In both situations, the Cloud as Primary Storage is also ideal for disaster recovery.
Under normal conditions Cloud as Primary Storage uses an on-premises cache to mitigate latency issues. The on-premises cache also presents a standard block IO device that applications can access via standard network protocols. The applications don’t need to change in order to leverage cloud storage since the on-premises cache manages all the translation.
Most solutions that use the cloud for disaster recovery require some sort of change to the application or the way the application accesses data in order for the cloud copy to take over operations. As a default the cloud does not run the same storage protocols as the typical data center.
The Cloud as Primary Storage, works around the protocol differences by instantiating a cloud copy of the on-premises cache, not to address latency issues but to maintain compatibility with existing applications. Assuming the customer has followed the process of using the Cloud as Primary Storage as a backup solution first and then for production data, all that has to occur during a disaster is to start the cloud version of the on-premises appliance. Data is already in the cloud and computing resources are readily available. With Cloud as Primary Storage, DR recovery happens almost instantly and with only minutes of data unavailability.
Conclusion
Cloud as Primary Storage fulfills the full promise of the cloud. Without sacrificing performance it allows an organization to move storage out of their data center, starting with secondary storage and as they gain confidence in the solution, production storage. While that transition is occurring backup infrastructure is reduced and recovery times improved.
To learn more about how Cloud as Primary Storage can change your data center watch our on demand webinar “Eliminate Backups and Simplify DR with Hybrid Cloud Storage.” If you are one of the 40,000 subscribers to our BrightTalk Channel you can watch this webinar without reregistering, if you are not then register once and gain access to our library of over 300 on demand webinars.
George Crump is the Chief Marketing Officer at VergeIO, the leader in Ultraconverged Infrastructure. Prior to VergeIO he was Chief Product Strategist at StorONE. Before assuming roles with innovative technology vendors, George spent almost 14 years as the founder and lead analyst at Storage Switzerland. In his spare time, he continues to write blogs on Storage Switzerland to educate IT professionals on all aspects of data center storage. He is the primary contributor to Storage Switzerland and is a heavily sought-after public speaker. With over 30 years of experience designing storage solutions for data centers across the US, he has seen the birth of such technologies as RAID, NAS, SAN, Virtualization, Cloud, and Enterprise Flash. Before founding Storage Switzerland, he was CTO at one of the nation's largest storage integrators, where he was in charge of technology testing, integration, and product selection.
StorageSwiss.com - The Home of Storage Switzerland 