File services seem to be one of the natural use cases for organizations that are looking for ways to leverage the cloud as part of their IT infrastructures. A popular suggestion has been to use cloud storage as a tier for their unstructured data needs. File services are, after all, one of the more problematic areas for an organization. Going to the cloud as a tier may seem like a good strategy, but it may be pushing cloud storage beyond the practical limits of available bandwidth - as well as beyond the reality of what users need.

Instead, what IT Managers may want to consider is on-premise storage that “embeds the cloud”, or the ability to leverage cloud storage as a back end but still enjoy on-premise performance. This would allow users to leverage what each technology can best deliver. In this model the file services offering evolves from a standard on-premise file server that uses a second file server for cloud storage, to a storage controller that has the cloud embedded into the core of the solution. In this model organizations would reap the benefits of protected storage, unlimited capacity and local performance using best of breed technologies that seamlessly work together.

The On-Premise Advantages

The advantages of on-premise file services are fairly obvious, but often left out of the cloud storage discussion since it’s what the cloud may be the weakest at providing. The first advantage of an on-premise file service, of course, is speed. No matter how efficient the WAN optimization, how fast the WAN connection or even how smart the caching algorithms may be, if data is not on the local tier when needed, then the user is likely to notice a performance loss.

Each organization is going to have a different threshold of pain regarding performance which drives how often data needs to be fetched from the cloud. With an on-premise file services controller the local storage can be sized such that there is never a “miss” if need be, meaning requested data is always available on local storage. Or if an occasional miss is acceptable then local storage can be sized smaller. The point is that the on-premise controller brings the flexibility which allows the user to configure it to meet their needs for performance, as well as the realities of budget and bandwidth.

The second advantage of an on-premise architecture is that it can integrate more seamlessly into existing active directory structures. This saves the administrator time managing a separate user list for the file services offering.

The major on-premise advantage though, is reliability. If the WAN connection or even if the service provider is down, the local on-premise device will continue to operate until remote services can be restored. Conversely, if the on-premise device fails the embedded cloud can be leveraged to quickly return the organization to operation. Storage Switzerland demonstrated this in a test of the Nasuni Filer where they were able to provide access to GBs of file data in a matter of minutes when our local on-premise controller failed.

The Off-Premise Advantages

Cloud storage is gaining in popularity because of its own set of advantages. First, it provides complete and automated protection from a failure. Data can be set to replicate from the local file services controller to the cloud storage provider and then replicated once again within the cloud. The copies of these replications can be kept for as long a time as the user needs. The replication happens automatically, no special backup jobs or scheduling need to be configured.

Cloud based protection provides a more realistic view of what data protection costs will be for the organization, removing many of the hidden expenses often seen in more traditional data protection systems. With cloud based services like Nasuni’s you are only charged for the net new capacity that is consumed by the initial copy of the data. Legacy protection has a charge when it is backed up to disk, replicated to another disk, and when it’s copied to a tape device.

The other advantage is that the use of the storage is elastic in nature. In other words it grows, and even shrinks as the environment does. As local capacity increases there is no need to remember to buy additional storage in the cloud, it just grows automatically. If bandwidth is upgraded local storage can remain the same and the embedded cloud can be leveraged more for longer term data storage. In addition, no concern has to be given about upgrading the storage systems in the cloud. The provider handles upgrades and migrations automatically.

“Elastic” also means the ability to shrink storage needs. If retention rules change, and data does not need to be retained as long, snapshot policies can be adjusted and actual usage as well as the amount charged can be reduced. Compare this to the scenario of having TBs of extra storage capacity in a traditional data center bought to accommodate normal data growth that sits idle until used - or is never used.

The Global Advantages

Using cloud that is embedded into a file services controller also provides a global access capability. Nasuni for example, recently added the ability to reside on multiple controllers, simultaneously, while all being managed centrally by the cloud. This allows traveling users or collaborating teams to always be working on the latest copy of data being served from their local controllers.

Global access from a solution where the cloud is an integrated component significantly reduces complexity by eliminating the need for expensive and complex collaboration software or having to start a special cloud initiative just to enable global office file sharing. Global access also eliminates the unneeded duplication of data by maintaining the master copy of that data in the cloud. Without it each user needs to make a duplicate so they can have their own copy.

The Services Advantage

Finally, there is also a monitoring and management advantage to the file services controller. The file share is potentially the most challenging service that the IT administrator has to provide. It is difficult to protect, growing constantly and it’s the data most likely to be restored because of accidental overwrite or deletion.

Thanks to the embedded cloud the file service can be monitored and managed remotely, removing that burden from the IT staff. When a problem arises the IT staff can be quickly alerted. For example, if replication to the cloud has not occurred, for example  due to the company’s Internet connection being down, a company like Nasuni has the ability to alert the site to the problem and help them take corrective action.

Finally, because the controller has built-in cloud awareness the entire process is turnkey. The IT staff does not have to deal with multiple products for on-site file services and a separate set of products for cloud data movement and then a third entity to provide the actual capacity in the cloud, nor does IT have time to do so. Companies like Nasuni provide a single point of control that simplifies set up and reduces finger pointing.

Summary

Embedding cloud functionality into an on-premise file services controller allows the organization to have the best of both worlds. They can enjoy local performance, have control over situations in which data will not be stored locally and be able to distribute that data on a global basis throughout the organization. The key is to look at cloud storage as one piece of the puzzle that solves the file share challenge, not as a single ’universal’ puzzle piece that is assumed to fit every situation just right.

Nasuni is a client of Storage Switzerland

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