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The foundational elements of IT—servers, networking, and storage—are essential for the success of any workload. Storage is particularly vital, serving as the repository for data. Without the source data in storage, applications cease to function, processes come to a halt, and system communications break down. Data resides in storage, which also safeguards it.
Since its debut in 2006, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) has become a cornerstone of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) storage offerings. With a comprehensive range that includes file storage, block storage, and object storage, Amazon S3 caters to virtually every customer requirement.
AWS provides a variety of storage and data transfer services, such as Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS), AWS Storage Gateway, AWS Snowball, AWS Direct Connect, and Amazon S3 Glacier. Recent service introductions include AWS Backup, AWS DataSync, Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering, and Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive.
In conjunction with AWS’s native storage solutions, the AWS Partner Network (APN) Storage Partners represent a vast community that assists customers in moving and storing diverse data types. With their expertise, APN Storage Partners are adept at assessing, deploying, upgrading, and managing storage-centric solutions across numerous use cases. As AWS continues to enhance its storage services, APN Partners swiftly innovate, offering customers increased choice and flexibility.
To explore more about APN Storage Partners, click here.
APN Storage Partners Address Various Use Cases
AWS’s storage options deliver the durability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness needed by customers. The focus of APN Storage Partners centers on four prevalent use cases:
- Backup and restore operations within the AWS ecosystem.
- Primary storage utilizing file or block protocols and object storage.
- Data archiving functions.
- Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions.
Let’s delve into each of these use cases and see how APN Storage Partners can assist.
Backup and Restore
Backup and restore operations are crucial IT functions. While production workloads may be client-facing, backup processes operate in the background, securing the data that drives business. AWS and APN Storage Partners collaborate to create secure, efficient, and economical backup and restore solutions, leveraging the scale and reliability of the AWS Cloud.
Most backup and restore offerings from APN Storage Partners feature native connectors that allow direct interaction with AWS storage services, like Amazon S3 or Amazon S3 Glacier. These connectors streamline processes by eliminating the need for gateways and can be integrated with existing on-premises setups or Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) when applicable. APN Partner solutions come with various capabilities such as data tiering, cloning, and using AWS storage as a primary data repository.
Prominent AWS Storage Competency Partners such as CloudBerry Lab, Cohesity, Commvault, CTERA, NetApp, Rubrik, N2WS, and Veritas provide solutions with native connectors to AWS. These leading APN Partners simplify the implementation process, allowing customers to designate AWS as their preferred storage solution, thus minimizing on-premises hardware and management costs.
Backup as a service (BaaS) is a software as a service (SaaS) offering that backs up multiple clients and devices without requiring management of any server or storage infrastructure within the backup environment. Customers install agents on their devices, while all other backup environment components function in the partner’s AWS account. APN Advanced Technology Partners like Commvault and Druva provide such SaaS solutions.
Primary Storage
Primary storage caters to high-performance production workloads. APN Storage Partners enhance AWS’s primary storage benefits by extending functionality beyond core AWS capabilities. These solutions supplement native services and offer file, block, and object storage options that can either integrate with on-premises environments or be entirely cloud-based. APN Storage Partners adhere to AWS best practices regarding security, performance, economics, and simplicity, delivering a comprehensive suite of storage features.
Primary storage is essential for workloads that include:
- File distribution, synchronization, and sharing services.
- IP storage protocol gateways.
- Native replication of storage.
- Storage as a service that negates the need for on-premises infrastructure.
- Emulating on-premises storage in the AWS cloud, including for high-performance computing (HPC).
APN Storage Partners such as CTERA, Nasuni, NetApp, Panzura, SoftNAS, WekaIO, and Zadara empower customers to run production workloads on AWS, reducing capital expenses by minimizing upfront storage over-provisioning, and maximizing data value through proximity to other AWS services, such as compute and big data.
Data Archiving
The data archiving use case focuses on preserving critical but infrequently accessed data, balancing cost and resilience. Backup and restore solutions from APN Storage Partners often include seamless archiving features by tiering backups into Amazon S3 Glacier as they age, or by directly archiving to Amazon S3 Glacier while bypassing Amazon S3 altogether.
Data can transition from production systems into an active archive tier, or even to Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive when retention policies necessitate long-term storage with rare access. The archiving capabilities of APN Storage Partners, combined with AWS’s archive-optimized storage tiers, can drastically lower or entirely eliminate the need for on-premises backup and archive installations, including extensive tape systems.
These archiving solutions decrease the requirements for primary storage and backup infrastructure while emphasizing both cost and performance benefits.
APN Storage Partners like Cohesity, Commvault, NetApp, and Rubrik can reduce the total costs associated with maintaining legacy data storage infrastructure, such as tape management, intensive refresh cycles, security, and manual data transfers.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR)
At the core of disaster recovery (DR) is the definition of essential business resources and addressing technical challenges to ensure their availability at all times. Defining DR capabilities in the cloud for on-premises resources involves understanding service margins for availability. APN Storage Partners assist customers with primary workloads outside AWS in enabling rapid DR of critical systems to the AWS Cloud, without the financial burden of maintaining a second physical site.
If primary workloads are already operating on AWS, you can leverage APN Storage Partner solutions to utilize AWS’s global infrastructure, facilitating reliable and predictable failover. This approach ensures that businesses maintain operational continuity, even in the face of unforeseen disruptions.
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