I started my career with supporting Data Protection applications. Two decades ago, backups most of the time would sit On-premise or would be sent to a Vault for archiving. Based on the compliance needs, the data would reside at both of these places for certain duration. The Storage options avaible then would look little bulkier, power hogging and would be expensive too. Just look at the pictures of some older Primary Storages or for that matter the Tape libraries. With evolution of Storage in terms of the disk or libraries, it became very easy for users to choose based on much better performances or space utilised or easy sustainence.
Cloud storage!! Was the Gamechanger. Giving user the feasibility to avail when needed. Safeguarding it against any disaster that one could think of. Easy to integrate with any Data Protection application. Making it easier for user to store the primary as well as secondary copies to Cloud. Working on IBM Storage Protect, gave me an oppurtunity to use Cloud Storage for storing the primary as well as secondary copies unlike many other Applications who support only the second part. With so many Cloud providers in market, it becomes difficult to choose. Below section can help you decide, why to choose IBM COS:
IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS) is a cloud storage service provided by IBM that allows users to store, manage, and retrieve large amounts of unstructured data. Listed are some pros:
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Storage Architecture: IBM COS is built on a distributed architecture. It uses striping at the RAID level, thus ensuring faster writing abilities and quick recovery incase their is hardware failure. This architecture provides scalability, resilience, and high availability.
- Scalability: IBM COS is designed to scale seamlessly, allowing users to store and retrieve petabytes of data without worrying about capacity constraints. As storage needs grow, more capacity can be added without disrupting operations.
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Data Redundancy and Durability: IBM COS provides built-in redundancy and durability features to ensure data integrity and availability. Data is automatically replicated across multiple servers and data centers, reducing the risk of data loss due to hardware failures or disasters.
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Security: IBM COS offers robust security features to protect data at rest and in transit. This includes encryption, access controls, identity management, and auditing capabilities to help users meet compliance requirements and keep their data secure. By applying immutable retention polices that cannot be removed even by a bad actor with root credentials, it helps safeguard your data from tampering or manipulation by ransomware attacks, and helps customers meet compliance and business requirements
- Performance: IBM COS is optimized for high performance, enabling fast data access and transfer speeds. This is particularly beneficial for applications that require low latency and high throughput.
This blog covers details on the solution when using IBM Spectrum Protect with IBM Cloud Object Storage (IBM COS). It describes use cases, some best practices, and limitations as far as my understanding about the same is concerned.
Use case #1: IBM Storage Protect stores primary copy of backup data in IBM COS(Backup/Restore)
Problem
- The Backup Administrator is responsible for data protection. He is being asked to protect an increasing amount of data with a decreasing budget.
Solution
- The Backup Administrator uses IBM Storage Protect to store the primary copy of his backup data in IBM COS.
Benefit
- IBM Storage Protect integrated with IBM COS reduces costs and increases the scalability of his data protection infrastructure.
Use case #2: IBM Storage Protect stores secondary copy of backup data in IBM COS at DR site(Archiving/Restore)
Problem
- The Backup Administrator is responsible for data protection. He needs a secondary copy of his backup data stored off site for disaster recovery purposes. He needs the secondary copy to be very cost effective because of his strict budget.
Solution
- The Backup Administrator uses IBM Storage Protect policy-based replication to store a secondary copy of his backup data in IBM COS at his DR site.
- Benefit
- IBM Storage Protect integrated with IBM COS provides a second copy of his backup data, stored off site, at a reduced cost.
Use case #3: IBM Storage Protect stores long term copy of backup data in IBM COS (Archive/Restore)