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Expanding Quantum Support for the Veritas OST API, and Another Feature to Strengthen Cybersecurity

CMMA Blog

This week we introduced another feature in our secondary storage products to help strengthen data protection and cybersecurity.

Our latest DXi software, DXi 4.5.2, is now available for download and introduces support for Veritas OST WORM.  As a brief background, Veritas Open Storage Technology, or “OST”, is an API that allows NetBackup Media Servers to take advantage of intelligent disk devices. 

Quantum DXi backup appliances were among the first appliances to support OST, and over the years we’ve added support for key OST features like optimized deduplication, AIR, and now OST WORM.

OST Write Once Read Many (“WORM”) is an OST feature that makes a backup image immutable.  Here’s how it works with Quantum DXi Backup Appliances:

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So why do you care about all of these acronyms?   Because this is another, simple way that you can strengthen your data protection approaches, and your cybersecurity, by using this Veritas and Quantum combined solution.

If you are a Veritas NetBackup or BackupExec user, and whether you are a Quantum DXi customer or not, consider deploying DXi systems as part of your backup infrastructure.  To learn more about our DXi systems, go here . 

The post Expanding Quantum Support for the Veritas OST API, and Another Feature to Strengthen Cybersecurity appeared first on Quantum Blog .

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Deduplication Storage for Protecting and Recovering Your Data: Not Just for Big Corporations

CMMA Blog

Data deduplication represents an almost $4.5 Billion growing market. When Quantum acquired the first patent on variable-length deduplication in 2006, it was the latest and greatest technology and something only corporate giants could afford. But a decade and a half later, it no longer gets a lot of press or attention, but it’s still necessary and still widely used by the largest companies on the planet.

Deduplication is a no brainer: Why buy 20 disks when you could buy 1? It saves on disk, server capacity, power usage, space – everything. And while deduplication used to be bleeding edge technology only affordable to big corporations, it’s now a mature technology available to any size company – or individual by download. So once again, who wouldn’t want to buy less disk and spend less money? With corporate quality backup products and storage now available for free, is there any excuse not to protect your systems?

You know you must back up your data. And the question is not whether you should deduplicate backups, but rather how. Individual backup products often offer deduplication, but they may charge for it and only deduplicate their own data – and in a much less efficient way than appliances like Quantum’s DXi. The DXi appliance uses a more efficient “variable length” deduplication algorithm and is a storehouse for all kinds of data from any source with all of it deduplicated together. Usually at a 20:1 or greater ratio (deduplication rates vary, but most customers see between 10:1 and 30:1 rates).

New Virtual DXi V5000 Backup Appliance

The new DXi V5000, along with the DXi V5000 Community Edition , make it easier than ever to download and use Quantum DXi deduplication technology. This new offering is ideally suited for data protection at remote sites, edge environments, and for small businesses looking to efficiently back up and protect their critical data. The DXi V5000 has the same features and capabilities of a physical DXi appliance, deployed as a virtual machine.  A common use case is using the DXi V5000 as a virtual backup appliance at a remote site, then replicating deduplicated data to a core data center so that organizations can protect their data across sites, and between edge and core. In addition, along with the DXi V5000, we also announced the DXi V5000 Community Edition.

Announcing DXi V5000 Community Edition with 5 TB of Free Storage

As part of the rollout of the DXi V5000 – the newest member of the 15-year-old DXi family – Quantum is offering a free-forever virtual DXi to anyone. All you need is basic computer hardware with 1 – 5 TB of disk and Quantum will provide the software to store data for no charge. If you want to upgrade, you can buy a license to extend your DXi to 256 TB of storage and add on top-quality Quantum support.

DXi V5000 Download Requirements

To download and use the virtual DXi, all you need is an X86-64 computer with 2 CPU cores, 4 GB of memory, and anywhere from 200 GB to 5.1 TB of disk (scale it to the disk however you want and increase capacity later when you need it). DXi is downloadable as a .iso or a .ova file, and easily installs in Hyper-V, VMware or KVM. Linux with KVM is a good option and is both downloadable and free (never used Linux? There are plenty of YouTube videos to guide you through the install and configuration process). 

Once you get your DXi V5000 up and running, you have more than just a deduplicating storage device, you have a full powered DXi. You can setup other V5000s and replicate between them with intelligent, secure replication that only transfers changed data – saving on bandwidth. You can use the features of DXi to secure backups against ransomware, keep point-in-time snapshot images of data without wasting disk space, and restore anything at any time – as easy as if you just copied to a big NAS system.

And you can use a DXi with Windows Backup and Restore (free on any Windows system) or Veeam’s “Free Forever for 10 workloads” community version and you’ve got a corporate level backup system – for free. If you already use a backup technology like NetBackup or Veeam, DXi is integrated to work with all the major backup products. And all DXi features are included with the Community Edition of the DXi V5000.

Get Started: Download the DXi V5000 Community Edition

Here are some links to get you started. Quantum’s DXi V5000 Community Edition is available from here . Community support, videos on install and configuration, and other helpful subjects are available in Quantum’s ForumV Community page.

So, whether you manage a big or small computer environment, can you afford not to use professional-level products like these to protect your data?

The post Deduplication Storage for Protecting and Recovering Your Data: Not Just for Big Corporations appeared first on Quantum Blog .

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Take the Virtual DXi V5000 Software for a Test Drive

ActiveScale

The need for affordable high-capacity storage grows every year, which is why Quantum continues to produce DXi deduplication appliances and software with blazing fast ingest rates and huge capacities. But most large companies also have smaller sites that don’t need a monster storage solution of their own – and may even have excess virtual server and storage capacity sitting idle. For these sites – or any office with limited storage needs– Quantum offers virtual DXi deduplication appliances that you run on your own servers and scale to your own needs (for the soon-to-be-released V5000 that means from 20 TB to 5 PB of logical storage).

These virtual DXi appliances have all the main capabilities of their hardware relatives, including the ability to replicate data in either direction with other DXi appliances whether virtual or physical; or with AWS S3 Glacier Storage; or a Quantum ActiveScale server via S3 Cold Storage.

Try Out the Free V5000 Trial Version

Quantum just released the first test iteration of the V5000 – the V5000 Trial version — available for free here . This is a test system (the full GA version will be out this summer) that you can install and test out for up to 8 months and see how well this product can work for you. It’s not rated for production data and only scales to 1 TB of native storage, but you can use it to test out ways to install and utilize the V5000 full version coming in the summer. And the real shocker – when the full V5000 becomes available, the first 5 TB of storage you apply, which means up to 40 TB of logical data, is absolutely free without an expiration.

So, you can download the V5000 Trial version to test your hardware solution now and get a feel for the award-winning DXi technology in preparation for the true V5000 available this summer. The bottom line is that whatever your storage needs are, large or small, Quantum has a DXi answer.

About DXi Software

Quantum DXi software is fast and simple to download and deployable within minutes. For disaster recovery and ransomware protection, it includes the power and flexibility of target-based deduplication, instant encrypted replication that can send data to any other virtual or physical DXi appliances. The Secure Snapshot feature enables you to defend against cyberattacks, keeping data immutable. Quantum DXi integrates seamlessly into your environment and is compatible with leading backup software.

Try Out the V5000 Trial Version Now

Download the Trial Version Here

To view our Partner blog, click here

A Trifecta of Veeam-Ready Solutions

ActiveScale

They say the most interesting things in life come in sets of threes. Certainly, some sets are more interesting and simpler than others, such as live, love, laugh, or rock, paper, scissors, or my favorite, the good, the bad, and the ugly. While not super philosophical, they are easy concepts to remember and, in some cases, simplify our daily lives. When we think of things that we need to simplify in a data centric environment, we think of data management, data security, and data protection. Quantum has made a commitment to provide leading solutions that simplify; this is clearly apparent as we continue to work with Veeam offering solutions around data management, security, and protection. Quantum has been a long-standing partner of Veeam and has been certified as Veeam Ready, a program that ensures compliance with functionality and performance standards put forth by Veeam.

As the evolution of Big Data continues, the three core topics of concern to date are protect, secure, and manage data. The industry has done a decent job of providing data protection. Data Management is an emerging market segment focused on unstructured data. Recent hacking and ransomware attacks have brought concerns around data security to the forefront of people’s minds. Quantum has been a Veeam partner for a long time, since Veeam 9.5 Quantum DXi deduplication appliances and award-winning Scalar tape libraries have been certified with Veeam. Quantum’s most recent addition to the portfolio, Active Scale Object Storage , has also been Veeam Ready (v10) certified. Here is the full portfolio that is Veeam 10 Ready certified:

Veeam Integrated DXi Deduplication Appliance

DXi backup appliances offer cost-effective, fast backup and restores for mission-critical product data. Our customers love our DXi for many reasons, but feedback we often hear is that the DXi replication starts just after the first file is backed up without waiting for the end of the Veeam task, so the period of risk—the gap between when a backup is done and a copy is safely off site—is incredibly short, unlike some competitor’s solutions that start the replication only when the Veeam task is done. In v10, Fast Clone feature improves synthetic full performance by referencing existing data blocks on volumes instead of copying data blocks between files and copying those blocks only when files are modified. We have seen up to 15x improvement in our test labs and customer deployments in the speed and in some cases reduced the creation time from hours to minutes.

Veeam Ready Scalar Tape Library

Quantum Scalar tape solution for compliance, long-term retention requirement and ransomware protection. Quantum Scalar library is the only tape system in the market that uses Active Vault, a hands-off approach to managing media between an active and vaulted partition that is completely disconnected from the network. This enables our customers to fully airgap their data and thwart the effects of ransomware or other malware.

Veeam Ready Object Immutability – Active Scale Object Storage

ActiveScale is Quantum’s object storage system that provides a data-forever storage infrastructure. The ActiveScale system architecture accommodates storing primary copy of multi-petabyte-scale datasets that are highly durable and facilitates long-term data retention with minimal administrative overhead. With a Veeam Ready Object Immutability certification, Quantum solutions offer clients the ability to leverage our appliances efficiently through the Veeam GUI.

For more information on testing criteria or detailed information about how Quantum’s portfolio can help you achieve your data protection requirements, visit us our Quantum & Veeam web page or talk to one of our solution representatives.

To view our Partner blog, click here

DXi9000 Has a New Big Brother – Welcome DXi9100!

CMMA Blog

Quantum has been busy this year rolling out new products and product enhancements that offer amazing benefits and value particularly around data management. And speaking of data management, one solution that we couldn’t leave untouched this year as it reduces the data volume to help you manage your data efficiently, is Quantum’s DXi backup appliance . The DXi offers value in its data reduction, data protection, and data recovery capabilities. We understand the pressure IT professionals are under. The C-level executive is always looking through the lens of cost optimization, so if you’re looking for the most cost-effective solution that enables you to do ultra-fast ingests and restores, then look no further. The backup appliance provides a uniquely powerful solution for meeting your backup needs and SLA requirements while staying under budget. Perhaps you are familiar with DXi9000, the most efficient backup appliance in the market. Well, it got bigger! Let’s jump right into what was announced earlier this month.

Launching One of the Most Efficient Backup Appliances to Date

On December 4th, we rolled out the new DXi9100 . With this new model, we doubled the capacity of the DXi9000, scaling from 204 TB to 2 PB in 102 TB increments, and same performance as the DXi9000 Ultra, which is +99 TB/h with Accent. We added 21 TB SSD for ultra-fast metadata management, added additional memory and storage allowing the scalability of up to 40 PB of logical storage (@20:1).  Restores can now be done in a fraction of the time compared to the previous model. This new backup appliance builds upon the DXi9000, offering enterprise performance and scale, requiring less footprint, providing some relief to your budget. DXi continues to have industry-best density which these days is ultra-necessary as data growth continues to explode and is projected to continue to grow as more digital transformation takes place across many data centers.

Value-Added Features Provide Layers of Data Protection

Whether it’s because you have a need to consolidate, be compliant to GDPR or CCPA, or you need more performance, DXi offers some of the coolest features without additional licensing required. Features like encrypting data without impacting performance – DXi includes self-encrypting drives and provides encrypted replication, crucial as part of the layers of protection you need in today’s cybercrime environment. In the DXi9100, we continue to offer an easy to scale model with capacity-on-demand, all-inclusive licensing. This licensing model is a big differentiator to alternatives and makes the users world a little less complex because your backup appliances shouldn’t add more complexity to your life. That is why with the DXi, you can add TB’s quickly and easily with a license key which can also futureproof your system; and now with the DXi9100 you can grow up to 2 PB of capacity in a 22U!

If you haven’t had a chance to dive deeper into our new DXi9100 model, and how we can help you meet or exceed your SLA’s make sure to check us out or speak to your authorized Quantum representative. Check out our DXi9100 Datasheet here .

To view our Partner blog, click here

What Matters in Storage

CMMA Blog

The past few decades have brought a series of innovations to the storage industry, such as tiering, snapshots, deduplication, replication, iSCSI, SSD, NVMe, and a few others, but the storage service itself hasn’t changed. This might sound shocking; let me explain by first, establishing a definition of a storage service.

Storage service is the combined delivery of three interdependent services: Capacity, performance (defined by throughput, IOPS and latency), and availability or up-time. The storage service hasn’t changed; the applications’ demand for storage services has changed only in how much, but what constitutes a storage service has stayed the same. Though this definition of storage services omits most of the innovations we have touted over the past decades, it doesn’t imply that the innovations don’t matter when evaluating solutions. So, what does drive the adoption of innovation? There is only one answer: ‘cost’.

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Cost of the storage service required is what has been driving storage innovation. Here are some examples:

  • Deduplication reduces the amount of actual data being stored, thus reducing capacity required to support application’s needs. If storage capacity costs $1 and deduplication reduces the need by 50%, then even if the cost of deduplication is $0.20, the overall savings of $0.30 would justify adoption. If there were no cost advantages to deduplication, would it matter whether the system had it or not?
  • Tiering is the ability to move data across media performance tiers allowing for the data to consume storage that is aligned with its performance needs. Tiering data to a lower performant-less expensive tier, where storage costs 3X less, would result in significant cost efficiencies.
  • iSCSI as an access protocol has replaced FC in many data centers. Though initially the performance of iSCSI was viewed as lower than FC, the cost of deploying an iSCSI network was significantly less expensive. Many applications were fine with iSCSI performance and the adoption of this protocol skyrocketed with extensive cost savings.
  • MLC, TLC, and QLC NAND deliver higher density with each iteration. The adoption of higher density NAND offers a lower per GB cost in capacity. Since NAND delivers better performance per GB than HDD, the cost savings are amplified with higher density.

There are many other examples where innovations in storage were targeting improvements in performance, capacity density and utilization, up-time, and access to drive down the overall cost of storage services. Evaluating these features as they affect the core storage services per unit of cost will help address the need to align total cost of ownership with business value.

To view our Partner blog, click here