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Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are increasingly critical to customers by delivering services organizations need to scale by removing the burden of managing and maintaining the IT infrastructure. 

Over the last several years, StorONE has worked closely with MSPs who service businesses of all sizes to understand how their business works and makes money. We asked questions to learn more about their data management needs as a service and for day-to-day management. 

With this knowledge and some of our closest MSP partners, we developed StorMSP. 

StorMSP allows qualified MSPs to take advantage of a program designed to help them improve their bottom line through the most simple, profitable, and flexible storage services program.

StorMSP is a revolutionary new way for MSPs to provide their customers with a complete suite of automated storage management on one platform. This three-tiered program offers the lowest investment to get started and includes premium support at all levels. Financing will be available through Dell Financial Services. 

MSPs can leverage StorONE’s technology to create differentiated services across a wide range of client use cases, including backup as a service as a backup target, disaster recovery, archive, hybrid application use cases, Ransomware recovery, Network Attached Storage, and High-Performance Computing (HPC)/Artificial Intelligence (AI) use cases. Key StorONE technologies include a cacheless architecture, StorONE’s Virtual Storage Containers™, vRAID, Optimized Data Placement, and vSnap differentiated snapshots. 

Tiered Program for MSPs of All Sizes  

No matter the MSP’s size, they can offer a complete suite of automated storage management services on one platform that runs multiple use cases. StorMSP is not a one-size-fits-all program.

This three-tiered program focuses on profitability and gives flexibility for the MSP to pick a configuration that covers their needs, along with a ramp-up period. This is designed to keep costs efficient and enable MSPs to scale the margin on their data storage offering. Each tier includes premium support from StorONE’s team of experts.

StorMSP Silver is meant for MSPs launching an entry-level service for small enterprise customers. 

StorMSP Gold and StorMSP Platinum: is for more complex and larger footprint storage services. Each tier has capacity targets and solution packaging that is easy to understand that will allow MSPs to choose the best approach to deployment. Benefits include co-marketing, technical support, an online portal, training programs, and capacity pricing.

Predictable OPEX costs and Flexible Storage-as-a-Service Deployment Options

A cornerstone of the program will be MSPs’ ability to finance their hardware and software investments through StorONE and Dell Financial Services. MSPs can quickly deploy a pre-configured platform that includes StorONE and Dell PowerEdge Servers, and Dell PowerVault Storage with a managed approach to OPEX costs that will enable revenue growth over a multi-year period.* MSP customers can defer the start of their StorONE subscription payment based on the program tier they elect to participate in.

The StorONE MSP program opens new possibilities for service providers to enhance their service offerings and deliver top-notch storage solutions to their customers. By joining forces with StorONE, MSPs can unlock the true potential of their storage services, providing a seamless and scalable experience to their clients in today’s dynamic and data-driven world.

About StorONE’s Enterprise-Class Storage Data Platform 

StorONE, the leader in enterprise-class storage data platforms, is the only platform that has abstracted the hardware from the software, similar to how hypervisors and software-defined networking transformed servers and networks.

Through the first Virtual Storage Container™, you will get unparalleled flexibility in data mobility between on-prem, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, eliminate the hassles of migrations, and can mitigate ransomware threats with a recovery point of 60 seconds. 

The StorONE storage data platform is designed to last, maximize your hardware utilization, run all protocols, and utilize all storage media types, which enables you to run all storage use cases in a single data platform.  

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In today’s data-driven world, organizations face the challenge of managing vast amounts of data while ensuring long-term retention and accessibility. As data grows exponentially, having a reliable and efficient archive target becomes crucial. StorONE, a leading storage platform, offers a powerful solution for archiving data, specifically through the S3 protocol. In this blog, we will explore the significance of an archive target, highlight the benefits of using StorONE as an archive target with the S3 protocol, and shed light on how it differs from traditional backup methods.

What is Data Archiving?

Data archiving is a critical component of any organization’s data management strategy. It involves moving infrequently accessed or older data to a separate storage system for long-term retention. This frees up primary storage resources, improves overall system performance, and reduces costs. Archiving is not the same as traditional data backups; it focuses on preserving data for historical, regulatory, or compliance purposes rather than for immediate recovery in case of data loss or system failure.

By adopting data archiving practices, organizations can efficiently manage the ever-growing volumes of data and comply with data retention regulations. Archiving allows businesses to optimize their primary storage for active and frequently accessed data while ensuring that older information is readily accessible when needed. 

A well-structured archiving strategy can lead to significant cost savings, improved data governance, and enhanced data protection. As organizations face the challenge of managing exponential data growth, understanding data archiving becomes crucial to maintaining a well-organized and high-performing data environment.

The Importance of an Archive Target 

An archive target serves as a dedicated repository for storing data that is no longer actively used but still requires long-term retention and compliance with regulatory requirements. Unlike backup, which focuses on data recovery in the event of a loss or system failure, archiving prioritizes the long-term preservation and accessibility of data. 

An effective archive target ensures that data remains securely stored, searchable, and readily available whenever needed while reducing the strain on primary storage resources.

Harnessing the Power of S3 Protocol as an Archive Target

Organizations can establish a reliable and efficient storage solution by unlocking the potential of the S3 Protocol as an archive target. The industry-standard S3 protocol offers scalability, durability, and cost-efficiency, making it an ideal choice for archiving workflows. Seamless integration with leading archive software solutions ensures a robust storage strategy for organizations looking to harness the power of S3 for their archival needs.

Benefits of Using StorONE as an Archive Target

• Scalability and Cost-Efficiency: StorONE’s architecture allows organizations to scale their archive storage seamlessly, accommodating the ever-increasing volumes of data. With its optimized resource utilization, businesses can maximize cost-efficiency, leveraging a mix of storage media, including high-capacity hard drives and cloud storage, to meet their specific requirements.
• Durability and Data Integrity: StorONE ensures the durability and integrity of archived data through advanced data protection mechanisms, including erasure coding and redundant storage. These features safeguard against data loss and provide peace of mind knowing that archived data remains intact and accessible for extended periods.
• Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: StorONE’s archive solution enables organizations to meet compliance and regulatory obligations by providing secure data storage and retention. With immutability and data encryption features, StorONE ensures data privacy and protection against unauthorized access or tampering.
• Seamless Integration and Simplified Management: StorONE’s compatibility with archive software applications streamlines the integration process, making incorporating StorONE into existing archive workflows easy. The unified management interface allows administrators to manage and monitor the archive storage infrastructure efficiently, simplifying day-to-day operations.

What Does This Mean For Me?

Establishing a reliable and efficient archive target is crucial for organizations seeking to manage and preserve their ever-growing data volumes. With StorONE’s support for the S3 protocol, businesses can harness the power of scalable, durable, and cost-effective object storage for their archiving needs. By leveraging StorONE’s archive solution, organizations can ensure long-term data retention, compliance with regulatory requirements, and simplified management of their archive storage infrastructure. 

Download the StorONE Archive Data Sheet to learn more.

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Data is the lifeblood of modern organizations, powering critical processes, insights, and decision-making. As businesses rely more on data, robust backup and disaster recovery solutions are paramount. 

The first step is understanding the significance of data backup and recovery strategies and the impact on an organization’s ability to bounce back after an outage or cyber-attack.

What is Backup and Disaster Recovery in Data Storage?

Data backup is how you create copies of your data so that there is multiple copies at all times, reducing the risk of data loss. 

Disaster recovery refers to the plan and strategy that is in place to ensure seamless recovery in the event of data loss or system failures. 

Why Your Organization Needs This In Place

As ransomware attacks, natural disasters, and human errors become more frequent, organizations of all sizes and industries need to be protected from data breaches, hardware failures, natural disasters, and ransomware attacks.

Losing data at any level has severe business consequences, including financial losses, legal liabilities, damaged reputation, and operational disruptions. Organizations have not survived data loss, which is why IT teams need to ensure their business is set up to get their data back in a timely, safe fashion. 

A comprehensive backup and disaster recovery plan is crucial to minimize downtime and ensure business continuity in the face of unforeseen events.

Backup and Data Recovery Strategies

Now that we know how important backup and recovery is, let’s look at how organizations can create tailored data backup and recovery strategies that meet their specific business requirements. 

These strategies include determining data retention policies, setting recovery point objectives (RPOs), and defining recovery time objectives (RTOs) and then building a platform that can hit those requirements. 

How would an organization determine its RPO?

Organizations determine their Recovery Point Objective (RPO) by evaluating the amount of acceptable data loss in the event of a disaster or system failure. This assessment is closely tied to their data criticality and business continuity requirements. 

The RPO defines the maximum interval between data backups or snapshots, representing the point in time to which data must be restored to minimize data loss. 

Organizations consider various factors, such as the frequency of data updates, data transaction volumes, and the potential impact of data loss on business operations. Through a comprehensive analysis of these factors and close collaboration between IT, data management teams, and business stakeholders, the organization can establish a suitable RPO that ensures data integrity and supports effective disaster recovery planning. 

How would an organization determine its RTO?

Organizations determine their Recovery Time Objective (RTO) by assessing the maximum tolerable downtime for critical business processes and applications in the event of a disruption or disaster. 

The RTO represents the targeted time within which systems, applications, and data must be fully restored and operations to resume normal business operations. Factors such  as the complexity of the IT infrastructure, the availability of resources, the type of data, and the complexity of applications all play a role in determining the RTO. Business stakeholders, IT teams, and data management experts collaborate to set a realistic and achievable RTO that aligns with the organization’s business continuity goals. 

By understanding the impact of potential downtime on business processes, the organization can implement appropriate data protection and disaster recovery strategies to minimize downtime and ensure timely restoration of services in the face of any unforeseen events.

What is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule?

The 3-2-1 backup rule is a widely recommended standard for data protection as it sets you up to recover fully when needed. 

This rule suggests that you should have the following:

 3 copies of critical data on 2 different storage media, with 1 copy stored off-site 

As you can see, this strategy provides a structured template to work off of to ensure redundancy and resilience against data loss.

Off-Site Backup / On-Prem Backup / Cloud Backup

Organizations have multiple options for storing their backups, such as off-site backups in secure locations, on-premises backups using dedicated hardware, or leveraging cloud backup solutions. Each approach offers unique advantages, and a combination of these methods can enhance data protection.

Off-Site	On-Prem	Cloud
Advantages	Advantages	Advantages
1. Physical Security	1. Complete Control	1. Scalability
2. Geographic Diversity	2. Low latency	2. Accessibility
3. Regulatory compliance	3. Cost-efficiency	3. Automation & management
4. Redundancy	4. Data sovereignty	4. Rapid recovery
Disadvantages	Disadvantages	Disadvantages
1. Physical transportation	1. Hardware maintenance	1. Internet dependency
2. Limited access	2. Scalability constraints	2. Security concerns
3. Cost considerations	3. Disaster vulnerability	3. Data transfer times
4. Dependcy on service providers	4. Complexity	4. Long-term costs

Immutable Backups – What Are They?

Immutable backups are write-once, read-many (WORM) snapshots that cannot be altered, deleted, or modified. This feature ensures data integrity and protects against cyber threats like ransomware attacks, where malicious actors target backup data to render the organization vulnerable.

An example of an Immutable Backup strategy leveraging StorONE as a backup target is as follows:

Consider a financial institution that prioritizes data protection and resilience against ransomware attacks. The organization uses StorONE as its backup target in a hybrid backup approach, employing immutable snapshots, snapshot schedules, and vReplicate for added security and redundancy.

1. Backup to StorONE: The financial institution backs up critical data from its primary storage systems to StorONE’s highly reliable and scalable backup target utilizing the advanced features allow the organization to create efficient and space-saving backups of their data.
2. Immutable Snapshots: Leveraging StorONE’s Immutable Snapshots, the institution establishes periodic backups that are immutable in nature. Once the data is written, it cannot be altered, deleted, or tampered with, providing a secure foundation for data integrity.
3. Data Integrity and Security: Immutable backup strategies guarantee data integrity and protects against ransomware threats. In case of an attack, the organization can confidently restore its data from a known good state without fear of ransomware encrypting or modifying the backup data.
4. Snapshot Schedules: StorONE’s flexible snapshot schedules allow the financial institution to create regular and consistent backups. By setting up automated and immutable snapshots at scheduled intervals, the institution ensures that critical data is protected without manual intervention.
5. vReplicate for Redundancy: To enhance data protection and further safeguard against data loss, the financial institution leverages StorONE’s vReplicate feature. vReplicate allows the institution to replicate the Immutable Snapshots to other locations or secondary StorONE systems, creating additional copies of the backup data for disaster recovery purposes.
6. Access Control: StorONE enables multi-admin authorization for any system changes, ensuring that only authorized personnel can manage and protect the Immutable Snapshots. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security, preventing any unauthorized modifications to the backup data.

By employing Immutable Snapshots, Snapshot Schedules, and leveraging vReplicate with StorONE as a backup target, the financial institution ensures that its backup data remains tamper-proof, secure, and redundant. Utilizing the advanced snapshot  capabilities, combined with vReplicate, they can safeguard critical data and provide robust protection against potential data loss or cyber threats.

Do My Backups Need to be Immutable?

In a short answer, yes. 

Incorporating immutable backups in your data protection strategy can be a game-changer in safeguarding against ransomware and other data manipulation threats. By preventing unauthorized changes to your backups, you can ensure data availability and integrity during disaster recovery scenarios.

If your backups are not immutable, they are susceptible to unauthorized changes, which can have severe consequences during disaster recovery scenarios. 

Look at an example of what could happen if backups are not immutable:

A healthcare organization is facing a ransomware attack that successfully infiltrated its systems, including the primary storage and backup infrastructure. 

The attackers identify the location of the backup data and manipulate the backups, rendering them unusable for recovery purposes. 

Since the backups are not immutable, the ransomware can easily encrypt or modify the backup data, leaving the organization without a reliable and unaffected data source to restore from.

In this situation, the organization’s ability to recover its critical patient records, medical histories, and operational data becomes compromised. The lack of immutable backups opens up vulnerabilities in the data protection strategy, and the organization will be forced to pay the ransom to regain access to its own data, leading to potential financial loss and reputational damage.

However, if the backups were immutable, the ransomware attack would have been thwarted from altering or deleting the backup data. The organization would have a secure, tamper-proof data source to initiate the recovery process, ensuring minimal data loss and downtime during the restoration.

How Does Your Backup Affect RPO/RTO? 

A well-designed backup system can reduce downtime and data loss, enabling faster recovery and mitigating the impact of disruptive incidents. By incorporating features like immutable snapshots, vReplicate for data protection across locations, and efficient data placement, you can optimize RPO and RTO, enhancing data availability, resilience, and overall business continuity. 

Reducing RPO and RTO is highly advantageous for organizations, as a shorter RPO means less data will be lost in the event of an incident, ensuring minimal disruption to business operations and reducing the risk of critical information being permanently lost. 

A lower RTO enables faster recovery, allowing businesses to resume normal operations swiftly and preventing potential revenue loss, customer dissatisfaction, and reputational damage. By investing in a robust backup and disaster recovery solution like StorONE, organizations can achieve these goals, providing a solid foundation for data protection and peace of mind.

What To Do Next

Data backup and recovery are not just optional practices; they are essential components of a robust data management strategy. By implementing reliable backup solutions, adhering to the 3-2-1 backup rule, and embracing immutable backups, organizations can protect their data and ensure seamless recovery when faced with adversity. Prioritizing data protection is a proactive step towards building resilience and ensuring uninterrupted operations in an increasingly data-driven world.

In today’s data-centric world, ensuring comprehensive data protection is paramount for any organization. StorONE’s 360-degree data protection backup strategy offers a cutting-edge solution that aligns perfectly with the principles discussed above. By combining advanced technologies such as immutable backups, vReplicate, and optimized data placement, StorONE empowers organizations to take their data protection to the next level.

Learn more about how StorONE can help you create a 360° Ransomware Recovery Plan that will keep your data safe and get you back up and running in no time. 

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