Archive Appliances
Not everyone is comfortable using FTP or a browser for managing their data.
There is nothing automatic about them. You need to manage the process
of logging into your Infinidisc Vault, selecting the files you want to move,
watching and waiting for it to complete to confirm your data has made it to
the vault, and then start the process all over for the next file you want to
archive. For users not willing to accept FTP or a web browser as their
interface to the vault, we offer an appliance that manages much of the
archiving process so you can focus on more important aspects of your job.
Once data lands on an Infinidisc Appliance, everything else in automatic.
The appliance is a network attached server that connects to your local
network. It is built from an open distribution of Linux, making it
familiar, a server just like many others in your environment. As an
appliance, no Linux administration skills are required, with an intuitive
web interface providing all administration options. Once the
Infinidisc Appliance is installed and powered on, it will automatically acquire an IP address via DHCP,
with fixed addressing available for networks without DHCP. The Infinidisc Archive appliance
provides access via traditional protocols, including SMB, CIFS, NFS, and FTP. All major operating systems use one or more of these
protocols to make accessing Infinidisc quick and easy.
Once data is stored on the appliance, everything happens automatically.
Based on schedules set by the administrator, everything is copied to your
vault, where it is staged on disk, automatically copied to two tapes, one
copy stays available for automatic retrieval, one copy moved off site for
disaster recovery. Given enough available bandwidth to move new data
to the vault, your appliance never gets full and is self protecting.
We have provided a number of configuration options for the appliance:
Basic Configuration includes changing the administrator password, setting bandwidth controls,
migration control, purge controls, and access security. Our engineers will
assist you in the configuration during the installation process.
Bandwidth Control allows the
administrator to set to bandwidth allocations at proper levels to complete daily
new data migration
requirements.
Migration Control sets
the frequency of the appliance checks for new data. By default the
appliance will check once per day, however more frequents settings can be
applied such as hourly, twice daily, weekly etc. Once set, the
Infinidisc Appliance will search for new data and begin the migration process
to your vault. This is a completely transparent process and will continue until
all new data has been copied to your remote vault.
Never Full Purge Control. Even though a
copy of your data has been sent to your remote vault, files remain
resident on the Infinidisc Appliance until it reaches a capacity
threshold or water mark. The default setting is 80% full capacity. This
setting can be set higher or lower depending upon your needs. Once the purge
water mark is reached, the appliance will begin to
purge the oldest data first and will continue this process until the
appliance has reached its set purge level. This doesn't mean your data
is no longer available. All files and directories stay the same,
regardless of where the data is located. If data is local, the
appliance accesses it locally. If the data has been purged locally, it
is accessed remotely, form disk or tape, completely transparent to the user.
By the way, the only time users know data is being stored on tape is when
accessing data on tape, it can take up to a minute for data to begin staging
back to the appliance.
Access Security. Every customer is
different and has different access controls that need to be implemented.
Some customers leave the appliance fully open to all users, restrict user
access complete for strict machine to machine access, others need Active
Directory integration or multiple combinations. Our engineers can help
with every aspect of configuring your appliance to fit your unique needs.
The Infinidisc Appliance is a cache. The cache keeps a certain
amount of locally available data, so that accessing and working with this
data is a fast and easy as possible. The appliance can be sized to
almost any requirement, and any enterprise appliance can be scaled by simply
adding iSCSI expansion capacity. Our current customers have as much as
180 TB of local cache storage in the appliance.
The Infinidisc Network
The connection between the appliance and the vault is required to provide
enough bandwidth to move new data to the vault. If enough bandwidth is
not available, the solution will get choked and migration/purge cycles will
not be able to complete, eventually the appliance will get full, and the
system will automatically stop accepting new data until sufficient free
space is available to continue operation. This makes determining the
amount of bandwidth allocated to remote archiving a very important component
of sizing your solution. This, by the way, is not different than any
other cloud-based storage solution.
We make dedicated bandwidth available at our data center to customers
that have specific requirements understood. To properly balance your
appliance, vault and bandwidth ensures long term archiving success.
Keep in mind, we can't control bandwidth at YOUR data center, but we will
assure your dedicated bandwidth is available at our end. Bandwidth
charges are set based on megabit per second per month requirements, and
their is no limit to how much dedicated bandwidth that can be purchased at
our end.
Not everyone is comfortable using FTP or a browser for managing their data. There is nothing automatic about them. You need to manage the process of logging into your Infinidisc Vault, selecting the files you want to move, watching and waiting for it to complete to confirm your data has made it to the vault, and then start the process all over for the next file you want to archive. For users not willing to accept FTP or a web browser as their interface to the vault, we offer an appliance that manages much of the archiving process so you can focus on more important aspects of your job. Once data lands on an Infinidisc Appliance, everything else in automatic.
The appliance is a network attached server that connects to your local network. It is built from an open distribution of Linux, making it familiar, a server just like many others in your environment. As an appliance, no Linux administration skills are required, with an intuitive web interface providing all administration options. Once the Infinidisc Appliance is installed and powered on, it will automatically acquire an IP address via DHCP, with fixed addressing available for networks without DHCP. The Infinidisc Archive appliance provides access via traditional protocols, including SMB, CIFS, NFS, and FTP. All major operating systems use one or more of these protocols to make accessing Infinidisc quick and easy.
Once data is stored on the appliance, everything happens automatically. Based on schedules set by the administrator, everything is copied to your vault, where it is staged on disk, automatically copied to two tapes, one copy stays available for automatic retrieval, one copy moved off site for disaster recovery. Given enough available bandwidth to move new data to the vault, your appliance never gets full and is self protecting.
We have provided a number of configuration options for the appliance:
Basic Configuration includes changing the administrator password, setting bandwidth controls, migration control, purge controls, and access security. Our engineers will assist you in the configuration during the installation process.
Bandwidth Control allows the administrator to set to bandwidth allocations at proper levels to complete daily new data migration requirements.
Migration Control sets the frequency of the appliance checks for new data. By default the appliance will check once per day, however more frequents settings can be applied such as hourly, twice daily, weekly etc. Once set, the Infinidisc Appliance will search for new data and begin the migration process to your vault. This is a completely transparent process and will continue until all new data has been copied to your remote vault.
Never Full Purge Control. Even though a copy of your data has been sent to your remote vault, files remain resident on the Infinidisc Appliance until it reaches a capacity threshold or water mark. The default setting is 80% full capacity. This setting can be set higher or lower depending upon your needs. Once the purge water mark is reached, the appliance will begin to purge the oldest data first and will continue this process until the appliance has reached its set purge level. This doesn't mean your data is no longer available. All files and directories stay the same, regardless of where the data is located. If data is local, the appliance accesses it locally. If the data has been purged locally, it is accessed remotely, form disk or tape, completely transparent to the user. By the way, the only time users know data is being stored on tape is when accessing data on tape, it can take up to a minute for data to begin staging back to the appliance.
Access Security. Every customer is different and has different access controls that need to be implemented. Some customers leave the appliance fully open to all users, restrict user access complete for strict machine to machine access, others need Active Directory integration or multiple combinations. Our engineers can help with every aspect of configuring your appliance to fit your unique needs.
The Infinidisc Appliance is a cache. The cache keeps a certain amount of locally available data, so that accessing and working with this data is a fast and easy as possible. The appliance can be sized to almost any requirement, and any enterprise appliance can be scaled by simply adding iSCSI expansion capacity. Our current customers have as much as 180 TB of local cache storage in the appliance.
The Infinidisc Network
The connection between the appliance and the vault is required to provide
enough bandwidth to move new data to the vault. If enough bandwidth is
not available, the solution will get choked and migration/purge cycles will
not be able to complete, eventually the appliance will get full, and the
system will automatically stop accepting new data until sufficient free
space is available to continue operation. This makes determining the
amount of bandwidth allocated to remote archiving a very important component
of sizing your solution. This, by the way, is not different than any
other cloud-based storage solution.
We make dedicated bandwidth available at our data center to customers that have specific requirements understood. To properly balance your appliance, vault and bandwidth ensures long term archiving success. Keep in mind, we can't control bandwidth at YOUR data center, but we will assure your dedicated bandwidth is available at our end. Bandwidth charges are set based on megabit per second per month requirements, and their is no limit to how much dedicated bandwidth that can be purchased at our end.
