Disaster Recovery Journal Winter 2024

that currently deduplicate their backup data and then switch to an object storage backup target may see their backup stores mushroom. This storage growth may be a showstopper, or at least throttle how widely an

and many do, confirm they work in the way the organization expects them to work. 4. Verify the object storage backup target or the backup software offers a certified configuration or reference architecture for how they work together . If either provider provides this type of documentation, organizations can have a higher degree of confidence this solution will work once deployed. If an organization cannot check all these boxes, it may be better served to select a NAS backup target. NAS backup targets still offer the core cybersecurity features organizations commonly use. Organizations may find NAS backup targets easier to imple ment and manage after deploy ment. Organizations can also consider using backup targets that concurrently support both NAS and object storage. While still uncommon, they do exist and give organizations the flexibility to use either NAS or object storage at their discre tion. In this way, organizations may continue using NAS while they acclimate themselves to the nuances of using object storage as a backup target. v

to any applications that do not use S3-compliant APIs. immutability options . While both NAS and object storage backup targets offer data immutability, object storage backup targets offer more granular options to administer this feature. For example, NAS backup targets can usually, at best, only granularly manage data immutability permissions at the folder level. In contrast, object storage backup targets may administer data immutability permissions at the folder level, on each individual backup, or both. n More scalable than NAS backup targets . The storage software deployed on object storage backup targets often has its origins in technology used by cloud storage providers. This scalable design gives organizations more flexibility to start small and then grow as large as their backup environment requires. Using an object storage backup target, they can essentially n More granular data create a backup storage cloud. Once they store a backup there, they may never need to formally manage its placement again. The object storage backup target automatically handles each backup’s placement on physical storage media for its life. performance . Organizations may view the performance of S3-compliant object n High levels of

storage backup targets in the context of Amazon Glacier. While economical, any backups retrieved from Glacier can take lengthy amounts of time to complete. While that scenario can theoretically play out on object storage backup targets, most products offer high levels of performance. Object storage backup targets typically manage multiple tiers of storage, including a performance tier of SSDs. They can then place backups, or copies of

organization implements object storage backups. 2. Their backup software supports using

S3-compliant APIs to store backups . Organizations should not assume their backup software uses or supports S3-compliant APIs. While most enterprise backup software products now support S3 -compliant APIs, support is not yet a given. implementation . Confirming both the backup software and object storage backup target support S3-compliant APIs is only the first step. Organizations should assume both the backup software and the object storage backup target implement the S3 APIs slightly differently . Alternatively, they may not support all available S3 API operations. Differences specifically begin to emerge in how each one supports operations such as data immutability, encryption, and replication. If an organization plans to perform these operations,

backups, on one or more storage tiers to account for both performance demands and cost concerns. Give Preference to Object Storage, but … Considering the growing threat ransomware represents, DCIG advises organizations to give preference to object stor age backup targets. They offer more cybersecurity options than NAS backup targets and better position organizations to scale their backup infrastruc ture. However, organizations must do some due diligence before simply choosing any object storage backup target. They should minimally verify the following: 1. The amount of backup data they will store once they implement an object storage backup target . Only about 40% of object storage backup targets offer deduplication as a feature. As a result, organizations

3. Their backup software can interface with the object storage backup target being considered and support its S3 API

Jerome Wendt, an AWS Certified Solutions Architect, is the president and founder of DCIG, LLC., a technology analyst firm. DCIG, LLC.,

focuses on providing competitive intel ligence for the enterprise data protection, data storage, disaster recovery, and cloud technology markets.

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