by Doug Jury, VP Cloud Sales
When customers look at cloud block and NAS storage options they have many criteria points that they consider. We gathered the most frequently requested features our customers are concerned with:
- Can a novice user configure the storage? And is it self-provisioning?
- Is it highly available? And will it support mission critical apps?
- Can I use NFS and iSCSI protocols to access my storage
- Can I develop true clusters?
- Is performance consistent and do I have noisy neighbors to contend with?
- Is it secure?
- Is it 100% as a service?
- Is performance something I can control? Can I choose and change drive types, RAID types, or controller performance?
- Is it easily modifiable? Can I add, subtract or delete on a minute’s notice?
Cloud Storage has many different facets that must be considered. Just like we seldom compare the car we are purchasing based on raw performance or horsepower, storage requires a similar process; all the features must come together to help make the decision a smart one.
If we juxtapose the above list to on-premise high-end SAN and NAS storage arrays (which we all know very well as the benchmark of any Enterprise storage) we can easily say that most of the items listed are design features of these high-end solutions. SAN and NAS arrays have all the buttons and knobs to control how the array is setup and managed, and one can create just about anything they want.
So why would anyone move to the cloud when the storage solution at home is so great?
For costs? For agility? For a competitive advantage? For time to market?
The answer will be different for everyone.
If you are running your applications currently in the cloud, or plan to in the near future, how do these items stack up to your storage needs? Have you seen the features you are all too familiar with, simply not available in the cloud, and is this keeping you from making the move?
Any one of the storage features listed above can be essential for customer needs and a deal breaker for many who are examining Enterprise cloud storage solutions:
- If you have found the performance you require but NFS is not supported, you’re applications simply can’t run.
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If you have found the security solution for your data but the service won’t support clusters and sharing, your applications can’t run.
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If you’ve considered a hybrid model to get something closer to on-premise but it isn’t easily modified or re-configurable, you’re yet again not able to move to the cloud.
The main concept is, you want it all!! And better stated, you need it all. You need on-premise features, cloud agility and cloud economics that solve real business challenges.
Here at Zadara Storage we built a product that was designed from the ground up for the cloud, but with all the on-premise features we are all accustomed to from high-end arrays. With our VPSA technology, customers receive a solution that answers a big “YES” to all the questions we listed above, as it maintains a big “NO” when it comes to upfront costs and hefty contracts. Our customers can stay agile, be more competitive and get more out of their cloud solution. With all these features of SAN and NAS added to cloud benefits, you may find that performance is ranked only 7th on your list of needs.
