This article describes how you can leverage Komprise Intelligent Tiering for Azure with any on-premises file storage platform and Azure Blob Storage to cut costs by 70% and shrink your ransomware attack surface. It was originally published on the Azure Storage Blog.
Unstructured data plays a big role in today’s IT budgets and risk factors
Unstructured data, which is any data that does not fit neatly into a database or tabular format, has been growing exponentially and is now projected by analysts to be over 80% of business information. Unstructured data, commonly referred to as file data, has caught some IT leaders by surprise because it is now consuming a significant portion of IT budgets with no sign of slowing down. File data is expensive to manage and retain because it is typically stored and protected by replication to an identical storage platform which can be costly at scale.
Why file data is factoring into CIO priorities
Cost optimization is a top priority for IT, according to the 2024 Komprise State of Unstructured Data Management survey. This is because file data is often retained for decades, its growth rate is in double-digits, and it can easily be petabytes of data. Keeping a primary copy, a backup copy and a DR copy means three or more copies of the large volume of file data which becomes prohibitively expensive.
On the other hand, file data has largely been untapped in terms of value. Businesses are now realizing the importance of file data to train and fine tune AI models. Smart solutions are required to balance the competing requirements of cost management and AI value.
Why file data is vulnerable to ransomware attacks
File data is arguably the most difficult data to protect against ransomware attacks because it is open to many different users, groups and applications. This increases risk because a single user’s or group’s mistake can lead to a ransomware infection. If the file is shared and accessed again, the infection can quickly spread across the network undetected.
How to leverage Azure to cut the cost and inherent risk of file data retention
You can cut costs and shrink the ransomware attack surface of file data using Azure even when you still require on-premises access to your files. The key is reducing the amount of file data that is actively accessed and thus exposed to ransomware attacks. Since 80% of file data is typically cold and has not been accessed in months (see Demand for cold data storage heats up | TechTarget), offloading these files to immutable storage through data tiering cuts both costs and risks.
Hybrid tiering moves entire files from the data storage, snapshot, backup and DR footprints while your users continue to see and access the tiered files without any change to your application processes or user behavior. Unlike storage tiering which is typically offered by the storage vendor and causes blocks of files controlled by the storage filesystem to be placed in Azure, hybrid tiering operates at the file level and transparently offloads the entire file to Azure while leaving behind a link that looks and behaves like the file itself.
Hybrid tiering offloads cold files to Azure to cut costs and shrink the ransomware attack surface:
- Cut 70%+ costs: By offloading cold files and not blocks, hybrid tiering can shrink the amount of data you are storing and backing up by 80%, which cuts costs proportionately. As shown in the example below, you can cut 70% of file storage and backup costs by using hybrid tiering.
- Shrink ransomware attack surface: Offloading cold files to immutable Azure Blob removes cold files from the active attack surface and provides a potential recovery path if the cold files get infected. When Komprise tiers to immutable Azure Blob with versioning, even if someone tried to infect a cold file, it would be saved as a new version. So you can recover files using an older version. Learn more about Azure Immutable Blob storage here.
| Assumptions | |||
| Amount of Data on NAS (TB) | 1024 | ||
| % Cold Data | 80% | ||
| Annual Data Growth Rate | 30% | ||
| On-Prem NAS Cost/GB/Mo | $0.07 | ||
| Backup Cost/GB/Mo | $0.04 | ||
| Azure Blob Cool Cost/GB/Mo | $0.01 | ||
| Komprise Intelligent Tiering for Azure/GB/Mo | $0.008 | ||
| On-Prem NAS | On-prem NAS + Azure Intelligent Tiering | ||
| Data in On-Premises NAS | 1024 | 205 | |
| Snapshots | 30% | 30% | |
| Cost of On-Prem NAS Primary Site | $1,064,960 | $212,992 | |
| Cost of On-Prem NAS DR Site | $1,064,960 | $212,992 | |
| Backup Cost | $460,800 | $42,598 | |
| Data on Azure Blob Cool | $0 | 819 | |
| Cost of Azure Blob Cool | $0 | $201,327 | |
| Cost of Komprise | $100,000 | ||
| Total Cost for 1PB per Year | $2,590,720 | $769,909 | |
| SAVINGS/PB/Yr | $1,820,811 | 70% |
Additional Benefits of Hybrid Cloud Tiering using Komprise and Azure include:
- Leverage Existing Storage Investment: You can continue to use your existing NAS storage and Komprise to tier cold files to Azure. Users and applications see and access the files as if they were still on-premises.
- Leverage Azure Data Services: Komprise maintains file-object duality with its patented Transparent Move Technology (TMT), which means the tiered files can be viewed and accessed in Azure as objects, allowing you to use Azure Data Services natively. You can leverage the full power of Azure with your enterprise file data.
- Works Across Heterogeneous Vendor Storage: Komprise works across all your file and object storage to analyze and transparently tier data to Azure file and object tiers.
- Ongoing Lifecycle Management in Azure: Komprise can manage the data lifecycle in Azure; as data gets colder, it can move from Azure Blob Cool to Cold to Archive tier based on policies you control.
Global law firm saves $900,000 per year and achieves resilient ransomware defense with Komprise and Azure
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (Katten) is a full-service law firm delivering legal services across more than a dozen practice areas and sectors, including Aviation, Construction, Energy, Education, Entertainment, Healthcare and Real Estate.
Like many other large law firms, Katten has been seeing an average 20% annual growth in storage for file related data, resulting in the need to add on-premises storage capacity every 12-18 months. At the global law firm, data is growing exponentially annually but cannot be deleted. Katten needed a solution offering deep data insights and the ability to move file data as it ages to immutable object storage in the cloud for greater cost savings and ransomware protection.
Katten Law implemented Komprise Intelligent Tiering to Azure and leveraged Immutable Blob storage to not only save $900,000 annually but also improved their ransomware defense posture.
Read how Katten Law does hybrid tiering to Azure using Komprise.
View this recent Komprise & Azure webinar: Cut costs, shrink ransomware risk and leverage AI for your file data with Azure and Komprise.
Next steps
Learn more and get a customized assessment of your savings at the Azure Marketplace listing or contact azure@komprise.com.
