Enterprise Data Tiering and Archiving 

Data tiering and archiving is a great way to keep up with data growth and reduce storage costs. When done right, finding cold data and archiving it from your expensive storage and backups can save 70% of costs.

But how much you save depends on how you archive.

Komprise Intelligent Data Management is the only standards-based transparent data tiering and archiving solution that uses Transparent Move Technology^TM, which uses symbolic links instead of proprietary stubs.

As a true transparent data management and migration solution it creates literally no access disruption.

True transparency that users won’t notice

When a file is archived using Transparent Move Technology^TM, it’s replaced by a symbolic link, which is a standard file system construct available in both NFS and SMB/CIFS file systems.

The symbolic link, which retains the same attributes as the original file, points to the Komprise Cloud File System (KCFS), and when a user clicks on it, the file system on the primary storage forwards the request to KCFS, which maps the file from the secondary storage where the file actually resides. (An eye blink takes longer.)

This approach seamlessly bridges file and object storage systems so files can be archived to highly cost-efficient object-based solutions without losing file access. Read the TMT white paper.

Continuous monitoring maximizes savings

Komprise continuously monitors all the links to ensure they’re intact and pointing to the right file on the secondary storage. It extends the life of the primary storage while reducing the amount of the primary storage required for your hot data.

This savings makes it more affordable to replace your existing primary storage with a smaller, faster, flash-based primary storage.

Reduced backups

Most backup systems can be configured to just backup symbolic links and not follow them. This reduces the backup footprint and costs because only the links are backed up, not the original file.

If a tiered / archived file needs to be restored, the standard restore process for that backup system needs to be followed to restore the symbolic link that is then transparently used to access the original file.

Less rehydration

To control expensive rehydration, Komprise allows you to set policies when an archived file can be rehydrated back onto the primary server. You can limit rehydration upon first file access, or when a file is accessed a set number of times within a set time.

When a file is accessed for the first time, KCFS caches it thereby ensuring fast access on all subsequent access. Watch the Chalk Talk.