Reducing Risk with Cloud Storage

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage 2 Dells’ Definition of Cloud Demand driven scalability: up or down, just happens Metered: usage-based billing Highly Automated: policy driven controls minimal need for intervention Robust: protects against systems failure Virtual Resources: abstracted and pooled Provision of information resources that are dynamically scalable and virtualized - as a highly available service.

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage Assumptions and Definitions Cloud Storage matters because it solves real business problems Cloud Storage shifts storage cost from CAPEX to OPEX – Nice when both are reduced Computing and Storage go together as Information Services are virtualized Cloud Storage – demands effective resource planning – requires management › Can effectively use advanced services like: optimization, archiving, replication Nice to have features of Cloud Storage – No capacity limits – No data loss or theft – No data corruption/degradation – No unplanned costs – No systems outages 3

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage What is Dell DX Object Storage? 4 Objects are files stored as a single data stream together with content-rich metadata Namespace is flat & efficient using 128-bit UUID Metadata enables storage policies and data protection Dell DX Object Store is a Cloud Storage technology platform

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage No Traditional file systems limits: Number of files, File Size, Naming semantics Measures of Risk Reduction 5 Dell DX Object Storage reduces storage risks: High Up Time: Management, Data Replication Avoid Unplanned Costs Reduced Data Loss: No Obsolescence, Data protection, Improved security

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage Efficient Design – Intelligently stores data objects – Reliable storage – Peer scaling › Each storage node is an intelligent storage server Designed Integrity Management – Self healing › Assures integrity of stored data – Built-in data replication facilities – Easy to deploy DR sites Robust Infrastructure – Designed for rapid recovery from hardware and node failure without impacting cluster operation Designed for to remain current – Easy to update to new generations – Seamless upgrade process Modular Design Flexibility – Add capacity as needed – Massively scalable – Node capacity in 4 or 12 drive units › 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, or 24 TB nodes – Storage capacity easy to manage › Add, replace, retire through a simple console interface › Quick and automatic – No provisioning, No LUNs Self-Managing – Storage policies › Cluster-wide default policy › Per object policy over-rides › Implemented as a background process – Compliance management › Driven by object header metadata › Capable of full background processing 6 Dell DX Object Storage Value Points

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage 7 Cloud Storage Protocol: HTTP HTTP-based protocol Open standard protocol enabling ubiquitous access Basic HTTP methods Create with POST (write) Retrieve with GET (read) Update with PUT (update any part of an immutable object) Update with COPY (update object metadata) Update with APPEND (update object with appended content on the end of the existing stream) Retrieve metadata with HEAD (info) Remove with DELETE (delete)

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage 8 Cloud Use Cases: For Verticals Media: Allow professionals as well as non-technical experts to quickly and efficiently produce new media-rich content, re-purpose existing content and distribute content through multiple channels, for consumption by users on multiple types of end devices. Telco: Enable large numbers of mobile end-users to safely access content on heterogeneous devices. Enhance the efficiency of content-rich applications by allowing fast adaptation to change in user context (e.g., location and device). Healthcare: Access healthcare data based on its content and its relationships, and automatically extract metadata from large volumes of medical data. Enterprise: Support multi-tenant cloud-native business applications, leveraging the advanced data model to provide database-like capabilities and efficiently migrate tenant data.

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage Cloud Storage is shared! 9 Multiple tenants share the same Storage Cloud: What about security?

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage 10 Multi-Tenancy: Essential for Cloud Storage Secure infrastructure isolates data and the consumption of system resources between tenants. Storage Network Layer Network separation - Zoning, VLANS Data Storage Layer Control storage access between tenants for security Traditional techniques: LUN masking, SAN zoning Physical partitioning of resources for quality of service Examples: Assigning CPU’s, cache, disks, interfaces to VM’s Private Cloud = shared resources is main concern (QoS) Public Cloud = data isolation is main concern (Security) This is how …

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage 11 Dell DX Object Storage Multi-tenancy DX Cloud Storage To enable a new tenant define a new Domain in the cluster: Buckets: Users can create containers for named objects Domains and Buckets have associated Security Realms containing authorization lists - list of users and credentials Maintenance and administration of these Security Realms can be delegated to administrators who own a Domain Individual Objects can have authorization lists attached as well

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage 12 Intelligent Distribution Enabled by Metadata Policy-based replication to geographically distributed site(s) Policies driven by defined rules based on object metadata Multiple replication and distribution topologies supported – 1:1, 1:M, M:1, M:M – Customize to meet specific needs Replicate some or all files Fully automated Extensible for use in other post- process functions Disaster Recovery Site Affiliate Branch Office Regional Data Center Metadata filter Object Routing Primary Site Dell DX Object Store

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage Traditional storage an obstacle? 13 The ability to leverage Cloud Storage when presently committed to traditional storage technologies can be a challenge. Issues include: Vendor lock-in Proprietary infrastructure High retooling cost Costs of retraining

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage Dell DX Object Storage Migration Strategies 14 Some ways to take advantage of Dell DX Object Storage technologies: Write or modify applications to use HTTP directly Change exiting software architecture to direct data I/O through middleware – Connector abstracts I/O implementation › Application becomes independent of the storage technology Use of a Gateway solution – Use gateway to provide a “temporary” interface › Looks like a block-storage system to redirect data to DX Object Storage – Capture metadata separately › Also store in DX Object Store – Later migrate metadata to stored objects

Dell Storage Forum 2011 Storage Conclusion 15 Dell DX Object Storage tangible Cloud Storage benefits: Risk reduction Consolidation Improved information systems integration Improved data manageability Partnerships provide a broad solutions value to the Cloud Storage spectrum