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ESG TECHNICAL VALIDATION
Delivering Cost-Effective, Long-Term Retention
Wasabi Technologies And Dell EMC Data Domain Cloud Tier—Better Together
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION:
The CIO Imperative
The Multicloud Opportunity for Partners with Dell APEX
By Craig Ledo, IT Validation Analyst
SEPTEMBER 2022
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Opens in a new window.Introduction
This ESG Technical Validation documents the detailed evaluation of the Wasabi hot cloud storage solution with Dell EMC Data Domain Cloud Tier, including ease of connecting and setup, increased data duplication ratios, and cost-effective, long-term retention.
Background
The need for a robust data protection strategy has increased over the past several years as the value of real-time data access has become more strategic for organizations. The economics of cloud storage have also shown massive adoption. In fact, an ESG research study showed that nearly all survey respondents (95%) said their organization uses public cloud services, and the amount of business applications that organizations run in public cloud infrastructure is expected to increase significantly. Currently, nearly one in five respondents (18%) reported that more than 40% of their organization’s applications reside in the public cloud, including SaaS applications and/or custom applications that run on public cloud infrastructure. However, 44% said they expect their organization to be at that level of public cloud application deployments three years from now (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Extent of Public Cloud Usage Deepens
Does your organization currently use public cloud services (SaaS, IaaS)? (Percent of respondents, N=706)
Of all the business applications used by your organization, approximately what percentage is currently public cloud-resident? How do you expect this to change – if at all – over the next 36 months? (Percent of respondents, N=706)
Source: ESG, a division of TechTarget, Inc.
One early and still important use case for cloud-based infrastructure is the protection of corporate production data across an organization, whether that data originated in the cloud or on-premises. Now, as organizations continue to embrace digital transformation for both their business and IT groups, the use of public cloud infrastructure has become a key driver for that transformation. Organizations are also using cloud infrastructure services and cloud storage to mitigate the capital and operational expenses associated with data protection infrastructures and traditional IT hardware deployments.
Wasabi Technologies Hot Cloud Storage and Dell EMC Data Domain Cloud Tier Overview
Wasabi hot cloud storage is scalable, affordable, and tier-free. Wasabi is a universal, one-size-fits-all cloud object storage service that eliminates confusing storage tiers and satisfies nearly all storage performance requirements. Some key use cases include secure backup and restore and data archiving. With Wasabi hot cloud storage, all data is treated equally and made readily accessible no matter how hot, cool, or cold it is. Wasabi offers low-cost and highly available secure cloud storage with no tier-based latency delays, and it can be purchased as reserved capacity or in a pay-as-you-go model. There are also no ingress, egress, or API fees, which account for additional cost savings, and Wasabi eliminates the cost of testing security and recovery scenarios. With third-party integrations, Wasabi can be an organization’s single S3 storage solution to address multiple cloud workload requirements.
Dell EMC Data Domain Cloud Tier provides cost-effective long-term retention to the cloud. With Data Domain Cloud Tier, data is natively tiered to the public, private, or hybrid cloud for long-term retention. Only unique data is sent directly from Data Domain to the cloud, and data lands on the cloud object storage already deduplicated. With deduplication ratios of 10 – 55x, storage footprint is greatly reduced for cost-effective long-term retention in the cloud. Data Domain Cloud Tier can scale up to 2x the max capacity of the active tier. With Data Domain Encryption, data in the cloud remains secure. A broad ecosystem of backup and enterprise applications and a variety of public and private clouds are supported with Data Domain Cloud Tier, including Wasabi hot cloud storage.
Dell EMC's Data Domain backup and deduplication software is validated by Dell and Wasabi for use with Wasabi. Wasabi is now on Dell’s validated list of cloud providers. Data Domain Cloud Tier allows object storage from Wasabi to be added for long-term retention of data in the cloud. Wasabi fits into the Data Domain reference architecture, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Wasabi Technologies with Dell EMC Data Domain Cloud Tier Overview
Source: ESG, a division of TechTarget, Inc.
Key capabilities and features of Wasabi Technologies with Data Domain Cloud Tier include:
• Account Security: Wasabi supports a comprehensive set of data privacy and security capabilities to prevent unauthorized access and disclosure. Account security includes multifactor authentication (MFA), enterprise single sign-on (SSO) options, and identity and access management (IAM) policies. Strong user authentication features tightly control access to stored data.
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• Encryption: Wasabi encrypts data at rest and data in transit to prevent leakage and ensure privacy. All data stored on Wasabi is encrypted by default to protect data at rest, and all communications with Wasabi are transmitted using HTTPS to protect data in transit.
• Object Lock: Wasabi supports data immutability through “Object Lock,” which protects data against administrative mishaps or malicious attacks. Wasabi data immutability protects against the most common causes of data loss and tampering, including accidental file deletions, viruses, and ransomware. It also meets regulatory and compliance data retention management requirements.
• Wasabi Account Control Manager: The Wasabi Account Control Manager includes cloud storage account creation, management, and user billing with a secure, easy-to-use, centralized management interface. Multiple storage accounts are securely managed in one place, and implementation time is dramatically reduced.
ESG Technical Validation
ESG performed a technical validation of the Wasabi hot cloud storage solution and its interoperability with Data Domain Cloud Tier, with a focus on ease of connecting and setup, increased data duplication ratios, and cost-effective, long-term retention.
Ease of Connecting and Setting Up Wasabi with Data Domain Cloud Tier
To get started, admins will need an active Wasabi cloud storage account, any Dell EMC Data Domain product suite with the Cloud Tier feature, and a Cloud Tier license on Data Domain.
The steps to connect and set up are as follows:
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1. Enable Cloud Tier.
2. Import CA certificate.
3. Add Cloud Unit.
4. Add Data Movement.
5. Set up Wasabi Storage.
The Data Domain Cloud Tier functionality creates 3 buckets in the Wasabi storage account automatically when the Cloud Unit is added successfully (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Connect and Set Up
Source: ESG, a division of TechTarget, Inc.
WHY THIS
MATTERS
According to ESG research, when asked if their IT organization currently had a problematic shortage of existing skills, more than half (54%) of the research survey respondents said their organization has a shortage of cloud/IT architecture skills. In addition, 29% stated they have a shortage of data protection skills. Therefore, having a solution like Wasabi hot cloud storage and Data Domain Cloud Tier that is easy to connect and setup is quite beneficial.
Increased Data Duplication Ratios
Wasabi with Data Domain Cloud Tier extends deduplication to the cloud while freeing up space on a local appliance. Specifically, deduplicated data is sent from the Data Domain system to the cloud or is retrieved from the cloud. This ensures that the data being sent to the cloud occupies as little space as possible and provides increased deduplication ratios of 10x to 55x (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Wasabi Summary – Before and After
Source: ESG, a division of TechTarget, Inc.
WHY THIS
MATTERS
As IT continues to streamline operations through hyperconvergence and transition to cost-saving cloud-like infrastructures and services, investments that support data protection technologies and initiatives will help propel a significant portion of IT spending through 2022 and beyond. Wasabi with Data Domain Cloud Tier helps extend deduplication to the cloud while freeing up space. The money an organization saves can, in turn, be moved to their IT spending budget for further data protection technologies.
Cost-effective, Long-term Retention
Wasabi hot cloud storage provides a universal, one-size-fits-all cloud object storage service that eliminates storage tiers, costs less than traditional cold storage service, and is faster than traditional frequent access storage services. With Wasabi, all data is treated equally and made readily accessible no matter how you classify it. The Wasabi solution is a low-cost, durable, and highly available secure cloud storage solution with no tier-based latency delays. The goals of Wasabi are to make cloud storage a reliable commodity-based utility and to provide low-cost storage without compromising performance. Wasabi with Data Domain Cloud Tier provides simple and efficient long-term retention to a public, private, or hybrid cloud (See Figure 5).
Figure 5. Space Usage – Data Movement Complete
Source: ESG, a division of TechTarget, Inc.
WHY THIS
MATTERS
Protecting, managing, and retaining company data is crucial for meeting data security regulations. Data is a company’s most valuable asset, so it’s best to protect it with a robust, cost-effective solution. Wasabi with Data Domain Cloud Tier allows organizations to implement a lower cost, long-term retention solution to a public, private, or hybrid cloud.
The Bigger Truth
ESG’s analysis of Wasabi hot cloud storage, combined with Data Domain Cloud Tier, demonstrated the solution’s capabilities to easily connect and set up, increase data duplication ratios, and provide cost-effective, long-term retention.
The combination of Wasabi with Data Domain Cloud Tier helps make it easier to manage and operationally support data deduplication and retention. This combination also helps optimize the cost of long-term data retention according to an organization’s budgetary and availability needs. In addition, the combined solution also enforces the retention policies of the business.
All of these benefits free up significant time, staff, and budgets that can then be put to use on future-focused data protection and digital transformation efforts. The combination of Wasabi hot cloud storage and Data Domain Cloud Tier is a true integrated partnership designed to deliver measurable results.
This ESG Technical Validation was commissioned by Wasabi Technologies and is distributed under license from TechTarget, Inc.
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