Post Syndicated from Amanda Fesunoff original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hybrid-cloud-and-modern-workflows-for-media-teams/

By any metric, the demands on media workflows are growing at an unprecedented rate. A Coughlin Associates Report of media and entertainment professionals predicts that overall cloud storage capacity for media and entertainment is expected to grow over 13.8 times between 2020 and 2026 (101.1EB to 140EB). It also predicts that, by the next decade, total video captured for a high-end digital production could be hundreds of petabytes, approaching one exabyte.

Businesses in the media and entertainment industry—from creative teams to production houses to agencies—must manage larger and larger stores of data and streamline production workflows that interact with those stores of data. Optimizing data-heavy workflows provides you with time and cost savings you can reinvest to prioritize the creative work that drives your business.

In today’s post, we’ll examine the trends shaping the media storage landscape, walk through each step of the media workflow, and provide strategies and tactics for reducing friction at each step along the way. Read on to learn how to modernize your media workflow to meet today’s data-heavy demands.

Media Technology Trends and Impacts on Media Workflows

Technology is driving changes in media workflows. The media landscape of today looks very different than it did even a few short years ago. If you’re responsible for managing data and workflows for a creative team, understanding the broad trends in the media landscape can help you prepare to optimize your workflows and future-proof your data infrastructure. Here are a few key trends we see driving change across the media storage landscape.

Trend 1: Increased Demand for VR and Higher Resolution 4K and 8K Video Is Driving Workflow Modernization

While VR has been somewhat slow to build steam, demand for VR experiences has grown as the technology evolved. The industry as a whole is growing at a fast pace, with the global VR market size projected to increase from less than $5 billion in 2021 to more than $12 billion by 2024. Today, demands for stereoscopic VR, and VR in general, have increased storage requirements as data sets grow exponentially. Similarly, higher resolution demands more from media workflows, including more storage space, greater standards for compression, and higher performance hardware. All of these files also need to be constantly available and secure. As such, media workflows increasingly value scalable storage, as having to wait for additional storage may cause delays in project momentum/delivery.

Trend 2: Archiving and Content Preservation Needs Are Driving Storage Growth

While the need to digitally convert data from traditional film and tape has slowed, the enormous demand for digital storage for archived content continues to grow. According to the Coughlin Report, more than 174 exabytes of new digital storage will be used for archiving and content conversion and preservation by 2024.

Just as your storage needs for active projects continues to grow as file sizes continue to expand, expect to invest in storage for archival purposes as production continues apace. Furthermore, if you have content conversion or preservation needs, plan for storage needs to house digital copies. The plus side of this surge in archival and preservation demand is that the storage market will continue to be competitive, giving you plenty of choices at competitive rates.

Trend 3: Cloud Adoption Is Playing an Important Role in Enabling Collaboration Across Teams and Geographies

A study by Mesa of nearly 700 decision-makers and managers from media and entertainment companies found that they expect that 50% of their workforce will continue to work remotely. Accessing resources remotely used to be a challenge mired by latency issues, restrictions on file size, and subpar collaboration tools, but cloud adoption has eased these issues and will continue to do so as companies increasingly embrace long-term remote collaboration.

As you think about future-proofing your architecture, one factor to consider is cost, but also designing an architecture that enables your existing workflows to function remotely. A cloud storage provider with predictable pricing can address cost considerations and make cloud adoption even more of a no-brainer. And media workflows can adopt cloud-native solutions or integrate existing on-premises infrastructure with the cloud without additional hardware purchasing and maintenance. The result is that time and money that would have been spent on hardware can be reinvested into adopting new technology, meeting customers’ needs, and differentiating from competitors.

Steps in the Modern Media Workflow

With an understanding of these overarching trends, media and entertainment professionals can evaluate and analyze their workflow to meet future demands. To illustrate that, we’ll walk through an example cloud storage setup within a media workflow, including:

1. Ingest to Local Storage.
2. Video Editing Software.
3. Media Asset Managers.
4. Archive.
5. Backup.
6. Transcoding Software.
7. Content Delivery.
8. Cloud Storage.

Ingest to Local Storage

Creatives doing work in progress need high performance, local access storage such as NAS, SANs, etc. These are often backed up to cloud storage to have an off-site version of the current projects. Some examples include Synology and QNAP NAS devices as well as the OWC Jellyfish system. With Synology, you can use their Cloud Sync application to sync your files directly to your cloud bucket. Synology also offers many built-in integrations to various cloud providers. For QNAP, you can use QNAP Hybrid Backup Sync to archive or back up your content to your cloud account. OWC Jellyfish is optimized for video production workflows, and the Jellyfish lineup is embraced by video production teams for on-prem storage.

Video Editing Software

Video editing software is used to edit, modify, generate, or manipulate a video or movie file. Backblaze has a number of tools we support depending on your workflow. Adobe Premiere Pro and Avid Media Composer are two examples of film and video editing software. They are used to create videos, television shows, films, and commercials.

Media Asset Managers

A media asset manager, or MAM, is software used to add metadata, manage content, store media in a hybrid cloud, and share media. Examples of MAMs include iconik, eMAM, EditShare, and Archiware. You can store your media files directly to the cloud from these and other media asset managers, enabling monetization and quicker content delivery of older content.

Archive

An archive often consists of completed projects and infrequently-used assets that are stored away to keep primary production storage capacities under control. Examples of archive tools include LTO tape, external hard drives, servers, and cloud providers.

Backup

A backup is often used with new projects where raw media files are ingested into their systems and then backed up in case of accidental deletion so that they can be easily restored. Examples include LTO tape, external hard drives, servers, and cloud providers.

Transcoding Software

Transcoding software converts encoded digital files into an alternative digital format so that it can be viewed on the widest possible range of devices.

Content Delivery

Content delivery networks (CDNs) enable easy distribution of your content to customers. Examples include Fastly and Cloudflare. CDNs store content on edge servers closer to end users, speeding performance and reducing latency.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is integrated with all of the above tools, making it easy to store high resolution, native files for backup, active archives, primary storage, and origin stores. The media workflow tools have easy access to the stored content in the cloud via their user interface. Storing content in the cloud allows teams to easily collaborate, share, reuse, and distribute content. Cloud storage is also emerging as the storage of choice for workflows that use cloud-based MAMs.

The Benefits of Using a Hybrid Cloud Model for Media Workflows

Because media teams need both fast access and scalable storage, many adopt a hybrid cloud storage strategy. A hybrid cloud strategy combines a private cloud with a public cloud. For most media teams, the private cloud is typically hosted on on-premises infrastructure, but can be hosted by a third party. The key difference between a private and public cloud is that the infrastructure, hardware, and software for a private cloud are maintained on a private network used exclusively by your business or organization.

In a hybrid cloud workflow, media teams have fast, on-premises storage for active projects combined with the scalability of a public cloud to accommodate the large amounts of data media teams generate. Looking specifically at the cloud storage functions above, it is important to keep your local storage lean and mean so that it is fast and operating at peak performance for your creative team. This achieves two things. First, you don’t have to invest more in local storage which can be expensive and time consuming to maintain. And second, you can offload older projects to the cloud while maintaining easy accessibility.

According to a survey of IT decision makers who adopted a hybrid cloud approach: 26% of them said faster innovation was the most important benefit their business gained. 25% said it allowed them to have faster responses to their customers. 22% said it provided their business with better collaboration. Benefits of a hybrid cloud approach for media teams include:

1. Affordability: Cloud storage can be lower cost versus expanding your own physical infrastructure.
2. Accessibility: A hybrid cloud provides increased collaboration for a remote workforce.
3. Scalability: Cloud scalability provides ease and control with scaling up or down.
4. Innovation: Media teams have an increased ability to quickly test and launch new products or projects, when not bogged down by physical infrastructure.
5. Data Protection & Security: Media teams benefit from reduced downtime and can bounce back quicker from events, failures, or disasters.
6. Flexibility: Hybrid solutions allow media teams to maintain control of sensitive or frequently used data on-premises while providing the flexibility to scale in the cloud.

Want to learn more about hybrid clouds? Download our free e-book, “Optimizing Media Workflows in the Cloud,” today.

The post Hybrid Cloud and Modern Workflows for Media Teams appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Jeremy Milk original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/lets-be-honest-retention-minimums-are-delete-penalties/

People often think of “retention” as a good thing when it comes to cloud and object storage—after all, the point of storing data is to retain it. But retention’s only a good thing when you actually want to retain data—that nuance is sometimes hidden from people, and yes, I say hidden intentionally.

A number of cloud storage providers from big to small are doing their best to hide the darker side of retention—retention minimums. They loudly promote attractive storage tier rates while making little mention of their data retention minimums that allow them to charge those rates for as many as 90 or 180 days after bytes uploaded have been deleted.

We don’t believe in charging you for data you deleted. Today, we’re explaining more about what that means for you, and highlighting some real-world stories of discovering these hidden fees.

Our Stance on Retention Minimums aka Delete Penalties

First, let’s call retention minimums what they really are: delete penalties. We stand against delete penalties. We don’t charge them. We see them as the enemy of every use case in which data is intentionally replaced or deprecated in hours, days, or weeks instead of months. Delete penalties go against agility and flexibility. We also think it’s despicable when a vendor shouts about how they don’t charge fees for things like data egress, while quietly padding their topline with hidden retention penalties.

At Backblaze, our pricing has nothing to hide. When you delete data, you stop paying for it within the hour. End of story.

Retention Minimums: The Fine Print or the Finer Print

Obviously, cloud providers aren’t going to advertise that they charge you for deleted data, but some are more transparent than others. AWS with its S3 Glacier services, for example, at least acknowledges these products are meant primarily for longer term storage. They disclose minimum retention details in the footnotes on their pricing page—the information is less prominent, but to their credit, it’s disclosed on the page. It may seem unusual for us to praise AWS, but by comparison, they’re actually a lesser evil in this regard.

Others? Let’s just say you really need a magnifying glass to dig through the fine print. Their minimum retention requirements are buried deep in their terms of service or FAQs. Unless you have an eagle eye and/or click through many pages of their website, you’re left to find out just how much you’re paying for deleted data when you get your bill. What’s more, the disappointment and disillusionment from budget surprises like that can turn people off from the many gains they can derive from leveraging cloud storage.

Delete Penalties in the Wild: Testimonials

Here’s what we’ve heard from folks who experienced delete penalties for themselves…

“Initially, I was worried about egress, so I went with [name redacted]. But I was misled. My egress was nominal. Meanwhile, I found that one-third or more of my bill was for backup I had deleted. That’s not how I want to do business.”
—MSP Leader

“I looked at an up-and-coming provider called [name redacted] because their whole thing is they’ve got great prices. I soured on them when I realized that they don’t really tell you that they bill you for a minimum of 90 days of object duration. There’s little I need to store for 90 days for my application. All of my cursory research seemed okay, and the pricing calculator on the pricing page made no mention of any of this. I’m not a fan of using a vendor that buries something that important.”
—Brian, Software Developer

“We got burned by [name redacted] with regard to their deletion and how we do our backups. I deleted data off their system, and they’re billing me for data they’re not storing? And what’s more, they’re irritated by the fact that their hard drives had to delete data? I don’t understand that level of…I’m not even going to say the word, but it’s just stupid.”
—Joe Valentine, Software Engineer II, Webjogger

Delete the Delete Penalties

To be sure, compared to the high costs of on-premises infrastructure, cloud storage delete penalties may go unnoticed or be characterized as a cost of saving money. But that’s exactly what companies who levy these penalties want you to think. Don’t let them misrepresent their true costs or mislead you. It’s not right. It’s not aligned with their messaging. It’s not what you deserve. And it’s not going to support your business growth especially when fees add up fast for many terabytes and petabytes.

It’s time to delete the delete penalties. Full stop.

If you’ve been hit with unexpected penalties after deleting data, share your experience below with the broader community or reach out to us to learn more about how you can eliminate them.

The post Let’s Be Honest—Retention Minimums Are Delete Penalties appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Natasha Rabinov original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/announcing-kubernetes-backup-and-ransomware-protection-via-kasten-and-backblaze/

According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s annual survey, Kubernetes use in production has increased 300% since 2016 to 83% of respondents. There’s no doubt that a fundamental shift has taken place over the past few years—applications are being deployed in container environments and those deployments are being managed by Kubernetes.

But customers that are deploying Kubernetes environments need a new tool to protect all of that data. Purpose-built for Kubernetes, Kasten by Veeam is that tool.

Now, through a new partnership, joint Kasten and Backblaze customers will be able to name Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage as a storage destination where they can store and protect copies of their applications affordably.

This partnership enables developers to:

• Back up and restore production stateful Kubernetes applications.
• Safeguard application data from ransomware encryption with Object Lock for immutability.
• Support regulatory compliance and corporate disaster recovery mandates.

“Kubernetes containers are the standard for many organizations building, deploying, and scaling applications with portability and efficiency. Backblaze and Kasten together offer a compelling solution to support these organizations’ business continuity needs with set-and-forget-it ease and cost effectiveness.”
—Nilay Patel, VP of Sales and Partnerships, Backblaze

The joint solution is fully scalable at enterprise grade. What’s more, organizations only pay for storage used, with no data retention penalties for deleting past backups.

About Kasten

Owned by Veeam, Kasten is an award-winning market leader in Kubernetes backup. Their product was built natively for containers, and the software-only solution runs directly on your cluster within its own namespace.

Together, Kasten and Backblaze provide a simple, seamless integration for shared customers, focusing on ease of use.

“Backup and protection are paramount in a world in which data is everything and cyberattacks continue to rise. The Backblaze-Kasten partnership offers the application protection and disaster recovery support companies seek, with flexibility and freedom to choose their preferred storage partner.”
—Gaurav Rishi, VP of Product, Kasten by Veeam

How to Get Started With Backblaze B2 + Kasten

After creating your Backblaze B2 account, check out our Quickstart Guide for Kasten K10 and Backblaze B2 to create a Kasten namespace in your cluster and configure Backblaze B2 as a storage destination.

Customers can test the Kasten solution for free with clusters made up of 10 nodes or less. And Backblaze covers the first 10GB stored.

Data Protection That Scales With You

Kubernetes was built to provide scalability, giving businesses the flexibility to manage and optimize resources. Through this partnership, customers now have storage that matches that flexibility in Backblaze B2. With Backblaze, customers are able to scale their application backups as their applications scale.

Interested in learning more? Join us for a webinar on February 2, 2022 at 10 a.m. PST to discover how to add seamless ransomware protection to your Kubernetes environments—stay tuned for more details and a link to register. Or, if you are ready to future-proof your application, click here to get started today.

The post Announcing Kubernetes Backup and Ransomware Protection via Kasten and Backblaze appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/five-ways-to-use-object-lock-immutability/

If you want to understand how Object Lock immutability works, think of a valuable necklace sitting behind a window. If someone really wants that necklace, they will find a way to break that window. Reinforce the glass, add a silent alarm, none of it will change the fact that thieves can find a way.

With Object Lock immutability, there is no window. Instead, picture a fully realistic holographic representation of the necklace. You can still see your necklace, you can still enjoy its sparkle, but nothing anyone does to that hologram can alter the actual physical necklace.

Object Lock immutability works in a similar fashion, at least metaphorically speaking. (Object Lock doesn’t create a facsimile, per se, but it does protect objects from being manipulated, copied, encrypted, changed, or deleted for as long as the lock is set.) And it protects something far more valuable than some trinket: It protects your data.

In this post, learn about five different ways you can use Object Lock as well as some tips for using Object Lock effectively.

What Is Object Lock Immutability?

In functional programming, immutability is a characteristic of an object whose state cannot be changed after it has been created. Conversely, mutable objects are variable. But what does all that mean when it comes to Object Lock? By creating a model in which an individual object (i.e., a unit of data that contains all of the bytes that constitute what you would typically think of as a “file”) remains static and unchangeable, Object Lock immutability prevents important files from being deleted, corrupted, or otherwise damaged. Your files can, however, be freely accessed, giving you free rein to view important documents. This Write Once, Read Many (WORM) model is the cornerstone of Object Lock immutability.

Those of us above a certain age may recall the days when data was regularly transferred via floppy disc. Back in those dark days of dial-up, there was a simple plastic switch on each floppy disc that marked the disc as read-only or read-and-write. If the switch was flipped, the data on the disc could be read or transferred at will, but it was a one-way street. You were unable to alter the original data stored on the disc.

Object Lock Immutability serves the same function as that plastic switch, only it operates entirely within the code of your storage software. You can view, share, and open files at will. But the contents of that file cannot be changed.

Object Lock Immutability Use Cases

With the right approach, Object Lock immutability can be used to solve a few problems, including:

• Aiding recovery from ransomware attacks.
• Migrating from an LTO tape system.
• Supporting records retention requirements.
• Protecting your company during lawsuits.
• Enhancing version control during software development.

Aid Recovery From Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware attacks are a major challenge for many businesses. In our research on the true cost of ransomware, we found that the cost of these incidents can exceed $1 million! That’s the bad news.

The good news is advanced planning can make it easier to recover from attacks. Specifically, preserving data backups with Object Lock is a helpful way to speed up your recovery from ransomware attacks. For example, you might decide to make daily backups of your most critical files and retain those backups for three months. In this case, you would have plenty of options for how to recover from an attack.

To achieve consistent security protection, we recommend integrating Object Lock into your IT security policy. For further guidance on how to do this, see our post, “How to Add Object Lock to Your IT Security Policy.”

Migrating From an LTO Tape System

Until recently, the most common way to protect data from being overwritten, corrupted, or deleted was by creating an “air gap” by way of LTO tapes. Under this system, sensitive files would be backed up to a tape and then physically removed from the drive. This created an effective shield of literal, physical air around the data by removing it entirely from your network, but it came at a cost.

Tape systems require an up-front investment and require ongoing maintenance, management, and eventual replacement. With Object Lock immutability as part of your cloud backup solution, the entire process of creating an air gap happens virtually, saving time and money while accomplishing the same goal. You can calculate the savings between cloud storage and tape yourself.

Support Records Retention Requirements

Your company probably has a variety of records retention requirements to fulfill. For example, the finance department likely has to retain records in case you are audited by tax authorities. In addition, your contracts with customers may expect you to retain records for a specific project for a set period. Once you determine which records need to be retained, Object Lock can preserve the records so they cannot be modified or deleted for the required duration. Object Lock means accidental deletion of records is much less likely.

Protect the Company’s Interests During Lawsuits

Lawsuits and disputes are a fact of life in today’s environment, but there are steps you can take to reduce the impact and expense associated with them.

By applying Object Lock, your company will be better able to navigate the challenges of a lawsuit. You can focus on the substance of the dispute rather than spending endless hours answering questions about your data integrity.

Enhance Version Control During Software Development

New versions of files are created on a nearly constant basis during software development projects. Some software projects release new versions every day or every week. With many different software versions on your plate, there is a risk your team might get disorganized. Now, imagine if a new release of your software ends up having a serious security or performance flaw. In that case, rolling back to the previous version may save a tremendous amount of time and energy.

By using Object Lock on previous versions of your software, you can have confidence in your ability to access previous versions. For companies that produce custom software for clients, enhancing version control through Object Lock may be helpful for other reasons. In the event of a problem, a client might ask for access to earlier versions of the software. Preserving earlier versions of your software development with Object Lock makes it easier to respond to such requests.

Tips for Using Object Lock Immutability Effectively

As with any technology, achieving optimal results from Object Lock requires a thoughtful, guided approach. From a technical standpoint, there is no limit to how much data you can protect with Object Lock. However, excessive use of Object Lock may consume a significant amount of your data storage resources, negating any time and cost savings you’ve achieved.

Altering the amount of time an object is placed in Object Lock is just one way to ensure you’re getting the most out of this technology. Others include:

• Reviewing Older Object Lock Files: You might find that you rarely need to access Object Lock-protected data that is older than six months. Obviously, this amount of time will vary greatly depending on your needs, but it’s important to make sure you’re not spending resources protecting files that don’t need the extra protection. Depending on what you find, you may want to adjust guidance to employees accordingly.
• Ensuring Consistency: To achieve more consistent usage of Object Lock immutability, start by clarifying your expectations in a company policy. This could be as simple as a checklist document explaining when and how to use Object Lock or an appendix to your IT security policy. In addition, ask managers to periodically review (e.g., every six months) how Object Lock is used in their departments and provide feedback to employees as needed.

As a concept, Object Lock immutability is fairly easy to understand and even easier to use in protecting your vital data from incursion, corruption or deletion. Beyond simply protecting valuable data from cyber threats, it can create a clear timeline in case of litigation or simplify complicated development projects. By understanding how this tool works and how best to use it, you can secure your data, increase your efficiency, and improve the operation of your cloud storage.

The post Five Ways to Use Object Lock Immutability appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/what-is-the-public-cloud/

The wonderful thing about technology is that it’s always changing. This, of course, is also the frustrating thing about technology. We think we understand it, or at least have a basic grasp of it, and then the rules get completely rewritten. What seemed simple and straightforward is suddenly a morass of technical terms and jargon. Such is the case with cloud concepts.

If you’re looking for a data storage solution, it’s sometimes helpful to revisit the fundamentals to ensure you find the solution that works best for you. Today, we’re sharing a few helpful guidelines to cut through any confusion around the public cloud, including how it’s different from a private cloud, when it makes sense to use one or both, and how to go about choosing a cloud provider.

What Is the Public Cloud?

Essentially, public cloud storage operates like a self-storage unit, only one that holds your personal files instead of old lamps that you’re sure you’re going to donate or part with in a garage sale someday. The difference being (apart, obviously, from cloud storage being virtual) that cloud storage lets you pay as you go, so you only pay for the amount of storage you need.

In researching public cloud storage, you may come across other data storage terms such as “private cloud” and “on-premises.” We’ll briefly define these terms to help you navigate the options available to you.

• Private cloud. As the name implies, a private cloud is similar to a public cloud, but specifically designed for a single user or business. Think of a private cloud like one of those restaurant booths that’s permanently reserved for a VIP—no other customer can use that space. As a result, private cloud services can be more expensive than public clouds. Private clouds are typically, but not always, on-premises. Some companies choose to outsource their private cloud infrastructure to a data center, but the key defining factor is that the servers and network are dedicated to one company or “tenant” rather than shared with other tenants as in a public cloud.
• On-premises data storage. Before cloud services were created, many organizations stored their data in corporate data centers built on location or “on-premises.” Since these facilities are owned and controlled by the company that built them, they offer a very high level of security. On-premises data storage is also sometimes referred to as a private cloud, but private clouds don’t necessarily have to be on-premises anymore—they can be anywhere as long as they’re dedicated to one tenant.

There are several advantages to using a public cloud service for data storage. You generally only pay for the storage you use. Unlike an on-premises data center, there are usually no significant up-front costs to purchase hardware and plan for ongoing administration. In addition, a public cloud data storage solution does not take up physical space in your office.

Private Cloud vs. Public Cloud: When Does It Make Sense to Use Them?

To help you decide between public vs. private cloud data storage, let’s recap the critical differences first. A public cloud service is usually open to any customer, while a private cloud is dedicated to select users. In addition, a private cloud service is usually operated on-premises.

There are three significant differences between private cloud and public cloud.

• Tenancy. A private cloud is dedicated to one tenant whereas a public cloud is open to many tenants. In a public cloud, tenants share the same physical hardware resources as other tenants, and their individual instances are virtually separated so that one tenant can’t access another’s data.
• Approach to security. A private cloud is dedicated exclusively to your needs. You own and manage it. As such, you have more control over the physical security of your servers as well as your private networks. In a public cloud, you trust the provider to handle some of the security for you.
• Affordability. A public cloud service is defined to achieve mass economies of scale in order to offer affordable prices. A private cloud requires up-front investment in hardware and networking equipment and ongoing maintenance and upgrade costs.

Ultimately, it comes down to the solution that best fits your company’s needs for privacy and security balanced against your budgetary constraints. The benefit of a private cloud is more important in some industries than others. For example, in instances where there might be national security concerns—like national defense or government contractors—or a greater need for privacy like healthcare or financial services, a firm may opt to use a private cloud service located on-site for certain sensitive data.

Sometimes, however, your needs will extend beyond simply using either a private or a public cloud service. When that happens, you need a hybrid cloud.

Hybrid Cloud: When Does It Make Sense to Use Both?

As we noted, depending on your data storage needs and industry, you may decide to use a mix of public cloud and private cloud providers, otherwise known as a hybrid cloud. For example, in data-heavy industries like media and entertainment, a hybrid cloud approach offers a powerful solution. Using a hybrid solution means staff have fast access to large files for day-to-day work on a private, on-premises cloud, combined with scalable, affordable storage in a public cloud for archives and remote collaboration. Similarly, in industries that handle sensitive data, a private cloud could be used to have more control over security, while less sensitive data could be stored in a more affordable public cloud.

Using a combination of public cloud and private cloud data storage gives you the best of both worlds. Private, on-premises storage provides greater ease of access to files and enhanced security, but with the financial trade-off of fixed costs for maintenance and IT assistance. Public storage is more affordable and makes sharing files with outside vendors, subcontractors, and clients simpler.

How to Compare Public Cloud Providers

If you’ve decided a public cloud or a hybrid cloud approach is right for you, your next step is choosing a cloud provider as your trusted partner. As you evaluate different cloud providers, it is helpful to use some standard criteria to measure each provider. Use the following points of comparison to inform your selection process.

• Ease of use. As with most technology, the more customization you need, the less user-friendly your cloud storage is generally going to be. The end goal of cloud storage is to make your life easier, and if you’re having to stack new skill sets just to make it work, then you’ve officially moved beyond “easy.”
• Customer support. The insufferable thing about tech headaches is that they have no respect for your schedule. As such, it’s important to check the support package offered by the provider. How easy is it to reach an actual person, not a bot or autoresponder? Will they be able to respond to issues that may arise from your particular setup? The wrong answer could be costly.
• Data egress. Check the costs and speed of data egress if and when you need to pull all of your data out from the cloud provider. You don’t want to feel locked into a cloud provider because they charge high data transfer fees.
• Pricing tiers. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to cloud storage, so make sure you’re not throwing money out the window. Or, into the cloud. Double check that you won’t get locked into a price structure that charges for storage you don’t need. Keep an eye out for things like minimum retention requirements where you’re essentially charged for deleted data for a period of time after you delete it.
• Security. Lost or compromised data goes far beyond a mere inconvenience. In the worst-case scenario, it can represent a serious security breach and possible legal issue. Some cloud providers offer more security features than others. For example, check if the provider offers Object Lock, a feature that prevents data from being modified, copied, encrypted, changed, or deleted during a set period of time. If a bad actor somehow got access to your account, they wouldn’t be able to tamper with your data. (Even you can’t modify it before the lock period ends!)

Assess Public Cloud Storage for Your Organization

Cloud computing has had a transformative impact on the way we do business. Between the cost savings and the flexibility it gives us in handling our data, it can play a tremendous role in your company’s growth. Now that you’ve learned the basics of public cloud data storage and how it can potentially impact your business, you can make a more informed decision about how you set up your infrastructure and manage your company’s important data.

Are you using a private cloud, a public cloud, or some combination of the two? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear how it’s going.

The post What Is the Public Cloud? appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/getting-the-most-out-of-your-nas/

Who has the original copy of that report on their machine? Which hard drive has the footage from that shoot a few years ago? Are those photos from our vacation on the laptop, the external hard drive, or the sync service? If you’ve ever asked yourself a question like these, you have felt the pain of digital scatter. In today’s world, with as many devices as we use, it’s almost unavoidable.

Almost. When you start to feel the pain of digital scatter, either at work or at home, take it as a sign that it’s time to look into upgrading your data storage systems. One of the best ways to do that is investing in a NAS device.

As you start exploring more sophisticated data storage options than juggling external drives or managing sync services, understanding what you can do with a NAS system can help your decision making. This post explains what NAS is and all the different ways you can use NAS to supercharge your business or home office setup.

What Is NAS?

Network attached storage, or NAS, is a computer connected to a network that provides file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. It’s primarily used to expand storage capacity and enable file sharing across an organization or across devices in a home.

The primary strength of NAS is how simple it is to set up and deploy. NAS volumes appear to the user as network mounted volumes. The files to be served are typically contained on one or more hard drives in the system, often arranged in a RAID scheme. Generally, the more drive bays available within the NAS, the larger and more flexible storage options you have. The device itself is a network node—much like computers and other TCP/IP devices, all of which maintain their own IP address—and the NAS file service uses the Ethernet network to send and receive files.

NAS devices offer an easy way for multiple users in diverse locations to access data, which is valuable when users are collaborating on projects or sharing information. NAS provides good access controls and security to support collaboration, while also enabling someone who is not an IT professional to administer and manage access to the data via an onboard web server. It also offers good fundamental data resiliency through the use of redundant data structures—often RAID—making multiple drives appear like a single, large volume that can tolerate failure of a few of its individual drives.

Getting the Most Out of Your NAS: NAS Use Cases

The first two NAS use cases are fairly straightforward. They are exactly what NAS was built for:

1. File storage and file sharing: NAS is ideal for centralizing data storage for your home or business and making files available to multiple users. The primary benefits of a NAS system are the added storage capacity and file sharing compared to relying on workstations and hard drives.
2. Local backups and data protection: NAS can serve as a storage repository for local backups of machines on your network. Most NAS systems have built-in software where you can configure automatic backups, including what you back up and when. Furthermore, the RAID configuration in a NAS system ensures that the data you store can survive the failure of one or more of its hard drives. Hard drives fail. NAS helps to make that statement of fact less scary.

But that’s not all NAS can do. With large storage capacity and a whole host of add-ons, NAS offers a lot of versatility. Here are a few additional use cases that you can take advantage of.

Host Business Applications on NAS

Small to medium-sized businesses find NAS useful for running shared business applications like customer relationship management software, human resources management software, messaging, and even office suites. Compared to expensive, server-based versions of these applications, companies can install and run open-source versions quickly and easily on NAS. Some NAS devices may have these features built in or available on a proprietary app store.

Create a Private Cloud With NAS

Most NAS devices give you the ability to access your data over the public internet in addition to accessing it through your private network, essentially functioning as a cloud service. If a NAS device manufacturer doesn’t already have a cloud application built in, there are a number of open-source cloud applications like Nextcloud or ownCloud.

Use NAS to Run Virtual Machines

Virtualization software providers, like VMware, support running their products on NAS. With proper configuration, including potentially adding RAM to your device, you can easily spin up virtual machines using NAS.

Develop and Test Applications on NAS

Many NAS devices offer developer packages, including apps for different programming languages and tools like Docker and Git Server. With these add-ons, you can turn your NAS into your own private lab for developing and testing applications before moving them to a server for production.

Use NAS as a File Server

Although a NAS device is usually not designed to be a general-purpose server (it’s underpowered compared to a file server and comes with less robust access management capabilities), NAS vendors and third parties are increasingly offering other software to provide server-like functionality. For home use or for a small team, higher-end NAS devices can function as a file server.

Manage Security Cameras on NAS

Apps like Synology’s Surveillance Station allow you to set up a security camera system yourself using IP cameras rather than paying for a more expensive enterprise or home system. With a large storage capacity, NAS is perfect for storing large amounts of video footage.

Stream Media With NAS

NAS is a great place to store large media files, and apps like Plex allow you to stream directly to a device or smart TV in your home or business. You can consolidate video or audio files from your devices into one place and stream them anywhere.

Ready to Get Started With NAS?

Understanding the many use cases can help you see where NAS might fit into your business or make file sharing at home easier. There are many ways to make your NAS device work for you and ensure you get the most out of it in the process.

Do you have more questions about shopping for or buying a NAS? Check out our Complete NAS Guide. It provides comprehensive information on NAS and what it can do for your business, how to evaluate and purchase a NAS system, and how to deploy your NAS.

The post Getting the Most Out of Your NAS appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-and-the-hybrid-cloud/

Upgrading to network attached storage (NAS) can be a game changer for your business. When you invest in NAS, you get easier collaboration, faster restores, 24/7 file availability, and added redundancy. But you can get an even bigger return on your investment by pairing it with cloud storage. When you combine NAS with a trusted cloud storage provider in a hybrid cloud strategy, you gain access to features that complement the security of your data and your ability to share files both locally and remotely.

In this post, we’ll look at how you can achieve a hybrid cloud strategy with NAS and cloud storage.

What Is Hybrid Cloud?

A hybrid cloud strategy uses a private cloud and public cloud in combination. To expand on that a bit, we can say that the hybrid cloud refers to a cloud environment made up of a mixture of typically on-premises, private cloud resources combined with third-party public cloud resources that use some kind of orchestration between them. A private cloud doesn’t necessarily need to live on-premises—some companies rent space in a data center to host the infrastructure for their private cloud—the important defining factor is that a private cloud is dedicated to only one “tenant” or organization.

In this case, your NAS device serves as the on-premises private cloud, as it’s dedicated to only you or your organization, and then you connect it to the public cloud.

What Are the Benefits of Hybrid Cloud?

A hybrid cloud model offers a number of benefits, including:

• Off-site backup protection.
• Added security features.
• Remote sync capabilities.
• Flexibility and cost savings.

Hybrid Cloud Benefit 1: Off-site Backup Protection

To start with, cloud storage provides off-site backup protection. This aligns your NAS setup with the industry standard for data protection: a 3-2-1 backup strategy—which ensures that you have three copies of your data on two different media (read: devices) with one stored off-site. When using NAS and the cloud in a hybrid strategy, you have three copies of your data—the source data and two backups. One of those backups lives on your NAS and one is stored off-site in the cloud. In the event of data loss, you can restore your systems directly from the cloud even if all the systems in your office are knocked out or destroyed.

Hybrid Cloud Benefit 2: Added Security Features

Data sent to the cloud is encrypted in-flight via SSL, and you can also encrypt your backups so that they are only openable with your team’s encryption key. The cloud can also give you advanced storage options for your backup files, like Object Lock. Object Lock allows you to store data using a Write Once, Read Many (WORM) model. Once you set Object Lock and the retention timeframe, your data stored with Object Lock is unchangeable for a defined period of time. You can also set custom data lifecycle rules at the bucket level to help match your ideal backup workflow.

Hybrid Cloud Benefit 3: Remote Sync Capabilities

Cloud storage provides valuable access to your data and documents from your NAS through sync capabilities. In case anyone on your team needs to access a file when they are away from the office, or as is more common now, when your entire team is working from home, they’ll be able to access the files that have been synced to the cloud through your NAS’s secure sync program. You can even sync across multiple locations using the cloud as a two-way sync to quickly replicate data across locations. For employees collaborating remotely, this helps to ensure they’re not waiting on the internet to deliver critical files: They’re already on-site.

Hybrid Cloud Benefit 4: Flexibility and Cost Savings

Additionally, two of the biggest advantages of the hybrid cloud are flexibility and cost savings. Provisioning an additional device to store backups and physically separating it from your production data is time consuming and costly. The cloud eliminates the need to provision and maintain additional hardware while keeping your data protected with a 3-2-1 strategy, and it can be scaled up or down flexibly as needed.

With NAS on-site for fast, local access combined with the cloud for off-site backups and storage of less frequently used files, you get the best of both worlds.

How to Set Up a Hybrid Cloud With NAS

Some cloud providers are already integrated with NAS systems. (Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is integrated with NAS systems from Synology and QNAP, for example.) Check if your preferred NAS system is already integrated with a cloud storage provider to ensure setting up cloud backup, storage, and sync is as easy as possible.

Your NAS should come with a built-in backup manager, like Hyper Backup from Synology or Hybrid Backup Sync from QNAP. Once you download and install the appropriate backup manager app, you can configure it to send backups to your preferred cloud provider. You can also fine-tune the behavior of the backup jobs, including what gets backed up and how often.

Now, you can send backups to the cloud as a third, off-site backup and use your cloud instance to access files anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Wondering If NAS Is Right for You?

Our Complete NAS Guide provides comprehensive information on NAS and what it can do for your business, how to evaluate and purchase a NAS system, and how to deploy your NAS. Download the guide today for more on all things NAS.

The post NAS and the Hybrid Cloud appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/will-containers-replace-virtual-machines/

Virtualization fundamentally changed the way the data center operates, and it wasn’t all that long ago. VMware released the ESX Server 1.5, its first hypervisor and arguably launched mainstream adoption of VMs in the enterprise, in 2002. To this elder millennial, it feels like just yesterday(ish).

The technology revolutionized infrastructure utilization—you could run multiple operating systems on the same hardware, maximizing your hardware resources. Then, containers—VMs’ younger, sleeker Gen Z cousin—came on the scene in a big way with Docker’s release in 2013, arguably the product that spurred mainstream adoption of containers. Containers allow multiple, isolated applications to share the same operating system kernel.

While they work differently, the two technologies share enough similarities that it begs the question—will containers replace virtual machines?

Today, we’re weighing in on the debate.

VMs vs. Containers: A Recap

VMs are software-defined computers. They run atop hypervisor software that allows multiple operating systems to share the same underlying physical hardware and operate in isolation from each other. The hypervisor virtualizes the underlying hardware, and each VM runs its own operating system (OS).

Before VMs, a single server could only support a single OS. If you wanted to run business applications with different OS requirements on the same server, or you wanted to run those applications without them interfering with each other, well, you couldn’t. Each business application you wanted to run—say, email or your CRM—had to have its own (usually over-provisioned, underutilized) set of hardware. After VMs, a single server could host multiple operating systems and run multiple applications. They drastically reduced the amount companies had to spend on hardware and hardware management.

Containers are also software-defined computing instances, but they run atop a shared, host OS. They package software into portable, executable units with all of the necessary dependencies to run anywhere—on a laptop, on a server, in the cloud, etc. The table below outlines the differences between VMs and containers.

Without having to lug around all that OS code, containers are lighter weight (megabytes vs. VMs’ gigabytes) and start up faster than VMs. You can run two to three times as many applications on a single server with containers than you can with VMs.

Based on that alone, one could make the case that containers are the future and VMs are old news.

So, Will Containers Replace VMs?

The case seemed too easy, and we weren’t satisfied with basing a prediction on that alone. It’s just not that simple. To present a structured debate, we’ll look at the arguments for and against. In one corner: the case for VMs. In the other corner: the case for containers.

The Case for VMs

Even though containers are smaller and faster, it still might be a bridge too far to predict they’ll kill VMs forever. Here’s why:

1. Familiarity and Maturity: While the tech industry is often fast to adopt the next, new thing, VMs are well-established in many organizations. Most businesses have entrenched processes, procedures, and teams in place to manage VM deployments, including backups and monitoring. “The way we’ve always done it” isn’t always the best reason to keep doing something, but there’s the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” argument to contend with as well. If a monolithic application works well in a VM environment, there has to be a good reason to go through the effort of refactoring it to work in a container environment and sometimes, the effort isn’t worth the reward.
2. Need for Full OS Capabilities: Using a VM with all OS services working together as one machine is sometimes preferable to a more orchestrated “Docker compose” or Kubernetes cluster with unnecessary complexity, especially for some complex applications.
3. Heterogenous Environments: Need to run more than one OS? That’s what VMs are made for. Containers share the same OS kernel, and thus require a homogenous environment. There’s an argument to be made that enterprise data centers are moving toward more homogenous environments to standardize for more operational efficiency, but it hasn’t happened yet, broadly speaking. Many organizations still need to run more than one OS and will for the foreseeable future.
4. Security: Container security is a flag that VM loyalists like to fly. The argument is that containers are more vulnerable because they share host OS resources whereas VMs include the OS within their virtual walls. If a container is attacked, it could infect other containers that share the host OS. If a VM is attacked, there’s an additional barrier between the VM, the host server, and other VMs on it.
5. It’s Not an Either/or, But a Both/and: You can run containers on VMs, thus allowing companies with established VM procedures to adopt containers. They can take advantage of containers’ speed and agility without abandoning VMs wholesale.

The Case for Containers

But, containers have a lot of advantages in their favor. What makes them contenders to replace VMs? Here are a few counterpoints:

1. Speed and Portability: Containers start up in just seconds compared to minutes for VMs, but the speed advantages containers bring go beyond start-up time. Because they solve the problem of environment consistency, developers spend far less time configuring environments and dealing with bugs. Container engines like Docker also have libraries of container images developers can use to speed up their work. And projects like the Open Container Initiative have been established to standards for containers, streamlining deployment.
2. Scalability: With container orchestrators like Kubernetes or Cycle.io, containers scale automatically based on traffic demands. They can replicate container images when needed and spin them down when not. Containers’ small size and startup speed means they can scale faster than VMs.
3. Modularity: Containers revolutionized application development such that applications could be developed as individual microservices loosely coupled together. This development approach enabled DevOps and Ci/CD practices, substantially speeding up application delivery. As one of our senior software engineers put it, the ability to lego-stack an entire environment is really powerful. Containers’ small size and portability mean applications can be built in small component parts and those parts can be stacked together to build a complete application.
4. Ease of Updates: Updating and redeploying one small part of your application built as a microservice in a container is much easier to manage than a full-featured OS with update and downtime needs.
5. OS Abstraction: Because containers abstract the operating system, they solve some virtualization problems more easily than VMs. Virtualization can be tricky in MacOS and M1 operating systems, and containers get virtual environments running easily on those operating systems.

The Last Word

Will containers replace VMs in development environments? They already have. But will containers replace VMs wholesale? We’d argue no.

Developers aren’t going back to building monolithic applications any time soon. Containers enable them to leave environment inconsistencies in the past and focus more on building code, creating better software, and creating it faster. With more pressure than ever to do just that, containers are firmly cemented as the dominant virtualization technology for developers.

But, it’s important to differentiate between containers as an application delivery mechanism versus an infrastructure mechanism. VMs are slower, less portable, and heavy, but they are still the go-to technology when it comes to provisioning infrastructure in an enterprise and running legacy, monolithic applications. For example, while containers have become the technology of choice in app development, it’s less likely that IT teams in other industries, say education, will be as interested in spending the time to refactor their custom-made student information system into a microservices architecture. Nor could they feasibly substitute containers for the thousands of VMs they assign to students.

Final answer? Both containers and VMs have a place in the modern data center.

Do you disagree? Have at it in the comments.

The post Will Containers Replace Virtual Machines? appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/what-are-microservices/

Back in 2008, Netflix was facing scaling challenges: service outages, database corruption, a three-day lapse in DVD shipments. (Remember when Netflix still shipped DVDs?) Netflix solved these problems by refactoring their monolithic application to avoid the single points of failure that caused these issues. They implemented a microservices architecture before the term “microservices” even existed, making them pioneers in the field.

Today, almost all of the most popular applications—Uber, Amazon, Etsy—run in a microservices environment. If you’ve ever wondered what that means, you’re not alone. In this post, we’re digging into this popular method for developing web applications: the benefits, drawbacks, and considerations for choosing a cloud provider to support your microservices approach.

First, Some History: Monolithic Software Development

How would you develop a large, complex software system before the age of microservices? For developers who learned their craft in the dot com boom, it meant a large and complex development process, with tightly interlocking subsystems, a waterfall development model, and an extensive QA phase. Most of the code was built from scratch. There was a lot of focus on developing extremely reliable code, since it was very difficult and expensive to update products in the field. This is how software was developed for many years. The approach works, but it has some major issues. It’s slower, and it tends to produce complex software monoliths that are tough to maintain and upgrade.

What Are Microservices?

Current software engineering practices encourage a DevOps model using small, reusable units of functionality, or microservices. Microservices run essentially as a standalone process, carrying whatever information or intelligence they need to do their job. Their interfaces are limited and standardized to encourage reuse. This restricted access to internal logic very effectively implements the information-hiding practices that prevent other code from “peeking inside” your modules and making internal tweaks that destabilize your code. The result is (hopefully) an assortment of tools (databases, web servers, etc.) that can be snapped together like Legos to greatly reduce the development effort.

Microservices: Pros and Cons

This newer approach has many advantages:

• It encourages and supports code reuse. Developers usually have access to an extensive library of microservices that can easily be plugged into their application.
• It enforces logical module isolation to simplify the architecture and improve reliability. This makes initial design, implementation, product updates, enhancements, and bug fixes much easier and less error-prone.
• It enables much more nimble development and delivery techniques, like DevOps and Agile. It’s much easier to add new functionality when you can just tweak a small piece of code (not worrying about potential invisible linkages to other modules), and then instantly push out an update to your users. You can improve your time to market by getting a “good enough” solution out there, and improve it to “ultimate” through ongoing updates.
• It’s inherently scalable. By implementing microservices with containers, you can use an orchestration tool like Kubernetes or Cycle.io to handle scaling, failover, and load balancing. Each microservice component is independently scalable—if one part of your application experiences high load, it can respond to that demand without impacting other components.

However, like anything else, there are drawbacks. For one, moving from a monolithic architecture to a microservices architecture requires not just a change to the way your software is built but also the way your software team functions. And while a microservices architecture is more nimble, it also introduces complexity where none may have existed before in a monolithic deployment.

Microservices Use Cases

Microservices, and especially the containers and orchestration used to structure them, enable a number of different use cases that could benefit your organization, including:

• Making a legacy application cloud-ready. If you want to modernize a legacy application and move it to the cloud, taking a microservices approach to your architecture is helpful. Refactoring a monolithic application and moving it to the cloud allows you to achieve the cost savings associated with the cloud’s pay-as-you-go model.
• Cloud-native development. Similarly, if you want to take a cloud-first approach, it can help to start with a microservices architecture as it will serve you well later as your application scales.
• Moving to DevOps. Microservices as an architectural model lend themselves to, and in many cases require, a change to a DevOps or Agile operational model. If you’re interested in moving from Waterfall to Agile development, microservices go hand in hand.
• Running big data applications. Applications that ingest and process large amounts of data benefit from being broken down into microservices where each step in the data processing pipeline is handled independently.

When NOT to Use Microservices

The microservices model can introduce unnecessary complexity into an otherwise simple solution. If you have a simple or monolithic implementation and it’s meeting your needs just fine, then there is no need to throw it away and microservice-ize it. But if (when) it becomes difficult to update or maintain it, or when you’re planning new development, consider a more modular architecture for the new implementation.

Microservices + Cloud Storage: Considerations for Choosing a Cloud Provider

One impact of moving to a containerized, microservices model is the need for persistent storage. The state of a container can be lost at any time due to situations like hardware/software crashes or spinning down excess containers when load drops. The application running in the container should store its state in external (usually cloud) storage, and read the current state when it starts up.

Thus, administrators should carefully consider different providers before selecting one to trust with their data. Consider the following factors in an evaluation of any cloud provider:

• Integrations/partner network: One of the risks of moving to the cloud is vendor lock-in. Avoid getting stuck in one cloud ecosystem by researching the providers’ partner network and integrations. Does the provider already work with software you have in place? Will it be easy to change vendors should you need to? Consider the provider’s egress fees both in general and between partners, especially if you have a high-bandwidth use case.
• Interoperability and API compatibility: Similarly, make sure the cloud provider you’re considering favors an open ecosystem and offers APIs that are compatible with your architecture.
• Security: What protections does the provider have against ransomware and other data corruption? Does the provider include features like Object Lock to make data immutable? Protection like this is recommended considering the rising threat of ransomware attacks.
• Infrastructure as Code capability: Does the provider enable you to use infrastructure as code (IaC) to provision storage automatically? Using IaC to provision storage enables you to scale your storage without manually managing the process.
• Pricing transparency: With varying data retention requirements, transparent pricing tiers will help you budget more easily. Understand how the provider prices their service including fees for things like egress, retention minimums, and other fine print. Look for backup providers that offer pricing compatible with your organization’s needs.

Are You Using Microservices?

Are you using microservices to build your applications? According to a TechRepublic survey, 73% of organizations have integrated microservices into their application architectures. If you’re one of them, we’d love to know how it’s going. Let us know in the comments.

The post What Are Microservices? appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/what-is-kubernetes/

Do you remember when “Pokémon Go” came out in 2016? Suddenly it was everywhere. It was a world-wide obsession, with over 10 million downloads in its first week and 500 million downloads in six months. System load rapidly escalated to 50 times the anticipated demand. How could the game architecture support such out-of-control hypergrowth?

The answer: At release time, Pokémon Go was “The largest Kubernetes deployment on Google Container Engine.” Kubernetes is a container orchestration tool that manages resources for dynamic web-scale applications, like “Pokémon Go.”

In this post, we’ll take a look at what Kubernetes does, how it works, and how it could be applicable in your environment.

What Is Kubernetes?

You may be familiar with containers. They’re conceptually similar to lightweight virtual machines. Instead of simulating computer hardware and running an entire operating system (OS) on that simulated computer, the container runs applications under a parent OS with almost no overhead. Containers allow developers and system administrators to develop, test, and deploy software and applications much faster than VMs, and most applications today are built with them.

But what happens if one of your containers goes down, or your ecommerce store experiences high demand, or if you release a viral sensation like “Pokémon Go”? You don’t want your application to crash, and you definitely don’t want your store to go down during the Christmas crush. Unfortunately, containers don’t solve those problems. You could implement intelligence in your application to scale as needed, but that would make your application a lot more complex and expensive to implement. It would be simpler and faster if you could use a drop-in layer of management—a “fleet manager” of sorts—to coordinate your swarm of containers. That’s Kubernetes.

Kubernetes Architecture: How Does Kubernetes Work?

Kubernetes implements a fairly straightforward hierarchy of components and concepts:

• Containers: Virtualized environments where the application code runs.
• Pods: “Logical hosts” that contain and manage containers, and potentially local storage.
• Nodes: The physical or virtual compute resources that run the container code.
• Cluster: A grouping of one or more nodes.
• Control Plane: Manages the worker nodes and Pods in the cluster.

You have a few options to run Kubernetes. The minikube utility launches and runs a small single-node cluster locally for testing purposes. And you can control Kubernetes with any of several control interfaces: the kubectl command provides a command-line interface, and library APIs and REST endpoints provide programmable interfaces.

What Does Kubernetes Do?

Modern web-based applications are commonly implemented with “microservices,” each of which embodies one part of the desired application behavior. Kubernetes distributes the microservices across Pods. Pods can be used two ways—to run a single container (the most common use case) or to run multiple containers (like a pod of peas or a pod of whales—a more advanced use case). Kubernetes operates on the Pods, which act as a sort of wrapper around the container(s) rather than the containers themselves. As the microservices run, Kubernetes is responsible for managing the application’s execution. Kubernetes “orchestrates” the Pods, including:

• Autoscaling: As more users connect to the application’s website, Kubernetes can start up additional Pods to handle the load.
• Self-healing: If the code in a Pod crashes, or if there is a hardware failure, Kubernetes will detect it and restart the code in a new Pod.
• Parallel worker processes: Kubernetes distributes the Pods across multiple nodes to benefit from parallelism.
• Load balancing: If one server gets overloaded, Kubernetes can balance the load by migrating Pods to other nodes.
• Storage orchestration: Kubernetes lets you automatically mount persistent storage, say a local device or cloud-based object storage.

The beauty of this model is that the applications don’t have to know about the Kubernetes management. You don’t have to write load-balancing functionality into every application, or autoscaling, or other orchestration logic. The applications just run simplified microservices in a simple environment, and Kubernetes handles all the management complexity.

As an example: You write a small reusable application (say, a simple database) on a Debian Linux system. Then you could transfer that code to an Ubuntu system and run it, without any changes, in a Debian container. (Or, maybe you just download a database container from the Docker library.) Then you create a new application that calls the database application. When you wrote the original database on Debian, you might not have anticipated it would be used on an Ubuntu system. You might not have known that the database would be interacting with other application components. Fortunately, you didn’t have to anticipate the new usage paradigm. Kubernetes and containers isolate your code from the messy details.

Keep in mind, Kubernetes is not the only orchestration solution—there’s Docker Swarm, Hashicorp’s Nomad, and others. Cycle.io, for example, offers a simple container orchestration solution that focuses on ease for the most common container use cases.

Implementing Kubernetes: External Storage Required

Kubernetes spins up and spins down Pods as needed. Each Pod can host its own internal storage (as shown in the diagram above), but that’s not often used. A Pod might get discarded because the load has dropped, or the process crashed, or for other reasons. The Pods (and their enclosed containers and volumes) are ephemeral, meaning that their state is lost when they are destroyed. But most applications are stateful. They couldn’t function in a transitory environment like this. In order to work in a Kubernetes environment, the application must store its state information externally, outside the Pod. A new instance (a new Pod) must fetch the current state from the external storage when it starts up, and update the external storage as it executes.

You can specify the external storage when you create the Pod, essentially mounting the external volume in the container. The container running in the Pod accesses the external storage transparently, like any other local storage. Unlike local storage, though, cloud-based object storage is designed to scale almost infinitely right alongside your Kubernetes deployment. That’s what makes object storage an ideal match for applications running Kubernetes.

When you start up a Pod, you can specify the location of the external storage. Any container in the Pod can then access the external storage like any other mounted file system.

Kubernetes in Your Environment

While there’s no doubt a learning curve involved (Kubernetes has sometimes been described as “not for normal humans”), container orchestrators like Kubernetes, Cycle.io, and others can greatly simplify the management of your applications. If you use a microservice model, or if you work with similar cloud-based architectures, a container orchestrator can help you prepare for success from day one by setting your application up to scale seamlessly.

The post What Is Kubernetes? appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Post Syndicated from Jeremy Milk original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/should-i-hire-a-msp/

Every business faces an ongoing IT question—when to manage some or all IT services or projects in-house and when to outsource them. Maybe you’re facing a new challenge, be it safeguarding against next-gen threats or deploying a new tech stack. Maybe a windfall of growth makes small IT problems bigger. Maybe your IT manager leaves suddenly, and you’re left in the lurch (true story). Or it may just be a desire to focus headcount elsewhere, difficulty finding the right talent, or a push for more efficiency.

If you’re nodding your head yes to any of the above, the answer may be to consider outsourcing a part of the project, or all of it, to a managed service provider. Especially as technologies and threats evolve, how you manage IT resources matters.

In this post, we explain why businesses should be thinking about IT management early on, and when and why hiring a managed service provider (MSP) makes sense when you don’t want to resource IT in-house.

What Is a MSP?

MSPs are companies that provide outsourced IT services to businesses. These services can range from offering light support as needed to installing and running new workflows and scalable systems ongoing. They can even help by leading technical build-outs as companies grow and move into new facilities.

A business can hire a MSP to provide help with one task that they would prefer not to be handled in-house, like data backup or disaster recovery, or they can outsource to an MSP to run their entire IT infrastructure.

When You Need More Than a Band-aid to Fix the Problem

Back to that true story I hinted at above, here’s a personal example from my past when I decided to hire a MSP: Many years ago, I was director of strategy and operations for a boutique management consulting firm when our sole IT manager rather abruptly decided to exit the organization. Before leaving, he emailed me—a fairly non-technical person at the time—instructions for maintaining on-premises servers and laptops in various states of readiness, along with advice that I shouldn’t let company leadership switch from PCs to Macs because it would wreak havoc. At this time, we had also recently deployed Microsoft Sharepoint for document management and storage, but the team hadn’t gotten used to it yet—they still relied on hard drives and emailing copies of important documents to themselves to back them up. What could we do?

My first thought had been to backfill IT management. Yet the team and I didn’t feel we had the knowledge to effectively assess candidates’ skills. We also saw the need and skillset evolving over time, so calling upon a trusted advisor to help vet candidates likely wasn’t the solution. Here were our key criteria:

• Competence to solve immediate problems.
• Vision to plan and execute for the future.
• Internal customer orientation.
• Cultural fit.
• Willingness to be called upon nights and weekends.

It was a big ask.

And we also weren’t sure if we needed a full-time resource forever. So instead of going that route, I started to explore outsourcing our IT infrastructure management and was happy to find MSPs that could effectively handle the organization’s requirements. The MSP that we ultimately chose brought executional excellence, strategic thinking, and high-quality service. I heard nothing but positive feedback from the greater consulting team—team members felt more supported and confident in using technology solutions. As a bonus, choosing a MSP to handle our IT management yielded around 25% IT budget savings compared to hiring a full-time employee and buying or deploying tools ourselves.

The MSP support model is a great choice both in the short or long term depending on a company’s needs, but it might not be right for every business. How do you know if hiring a MSP is right for you?

What to Consider When Hiring a MSP

There are a number of reasons that a company could outsource their IT management to a MSP. When weighing the options, consider the following:

• What services do you need?
• What skills do you have or wish to have in-house?
• How important are the services and skills you need (e.g. security versus less consequential services)?
• How long will you need support for these services and skills (e.g. ongoing versus one time)?
• What are your other considerations (e.g. budget, headcount, etc.)?

Services and Skills

MSPs offer a wide range of services and specialties, from isolated tasks like disaster recovery to ongoing projects like IT infrastructure management. The scope of your needs can help you decide whether hiring or relying on internal support can provide you with appropriate coverage, or whether outsourcing to a MSP will provide the necessary expertise. Some MSPs also specialize in specific industries with specific IT needs.

Security

Data security has never been more important, and the consequences of recovering from a cybersecurity attack are costly. If you already have a ransomware protection and disaster recovery system covered in-house, then you’re all set. On the other hand, if you’re not entirely confident that there is a system in place protecting your company data and backing it up, or if you feel that you or your team aren’t able to keep up with threats as they are evolving, a MSP can help take over that effort for you.

A MSP can identify any preventative or maintenance issues and address them before any data loss occurs. MSPs can also offer ongoing security monitoring and scan for vulnerabilities in your network, keeping your business ahead of a possible attack. Additionally, MSPs can help with regularly maintaining a company’s network so these important security measures don’t fall to the wayside.

Support Duration

A MSP can provide one-time assistance or setup for a specific service you need, or longer-term management depending on the scope of the project. If your business requires 24/7 support, some remote MSP services are available for continuous assistance. Many MSPs offer real-time monitoring and management to ensure that any issues can be identified and fixed before they pose a threat to business operations.

Budget

Hiring an expert to handle IT management in-house can be costly—not to mention building and maintaining a team. Hiring a MSP can free up resources and save money in the long run with predictable, fixed prices.

Another important budgetary factor to consider is the cost of downtime in the case of a ransomware attack. While ransom payments continue to be one of the highest costs to businesses, the true cost of ransomware includes downtime, people hours, device costs, network costs, lost opportunities, and more. MSPs that provide business continuity services can help minimize these costs and ensure they’re avoided in the future.

Is a MSP Right for Your Business?

Are you considering getting help from a MSP with your IT management, or have you turned to one in the past? Comment with your questions or experience working with a MSP below.

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