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This blog was updated in March 2023.
For organizations with large data estates, hybrid cloud management provides the best of both worlds: the scale and agility of on-demand cloud resources and the dependability of on-premises systems.
For years, Azure has made this kind of hybrid deployment possible through Azure StorSimple, but as of December 2022, both Azure StorSimple Virtual array and Azure StorSimple Physical Array have reached end of life (EOL).
What is your plan to find a hybrid cloud storage solution without Azure StorSimple?
In this blog we’ll explore how users dealing with Azure StorSimple EOL can turn to NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP to support their Azure hybrid architectures. Cloud Volumes ONTAP can replace all the functionalities of StorSimple, plus provide additional benefits.
Azure StorSimple End of Life Solution: Migrate to Cloud Volumes ONTAP
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP for Azure cloud is an alternative to hybrid deployment with StorSimple. It caters to workloads deployed in Azure that need access to cloud storage over NAS and SAN protocols.
Cloud Volumes ONTAP is deployed and managed from NetApp BlueXP, which provides a single pane where users can manage ONTAP systems on-premises, on Azure, and with the other major public clouds, AWS and Google Cloud.
This data fabric architecture approach gives users a unified data management experience across multicloud and hybrid environments, and a host of other features and benefits.
Data protection and recovery
Using NetApp Snapshot™ technology, Cloud Volumes ONTAP provides data protection and point-in-time data recovery:
- Instant snapshot copy creation time
- Schedulable creation process
- Incremental updates
- Space efficiency to reduce storage and transfer costs
Storage economy
Cloud Volumes ONTAP has a range of storage efficiency features to reduce cloud data storage costs:
- Thin provisioning
- Data compression
- Data compaction
- Data deduplication
- Plus, space-efficient snapshots and zero-capacity data cloning via FlexClone®.
Data tiering to low-cost object storage
Cloud Volumes ONTAP can automatically tier infrequently-used data between Azure disk storage and Azure Blob. This gives users more flexibility and costs-savings than the type of tiering used by StorSimple:
- Cost-effective storage for active data that isn’t in frequent use
- Cost-effective storage for disaster recovery, backup and archive data copies
- Seamless and automatic tiering between block storage and object storage that isn’t offered natively
Business continuity and DR
Cloud Volumes ONTAP makes DR failover and failback processes seamless and automatic via SnapMirror data replication, a central part of a disaster recovery strategy.
- SnapMirror keeps data synced and ready in the case of a disaster
- Automatic and seamless failover and failback processes
- Optimized DR copy storage thanks to storage efficiency features
Caching
For users that relied on StorSimple Physical Array to make sure data was as close to users as possible, Cloud Volumes Edge Cache offers a more comprehensive alternative to StorSimple than just using Cloud Volumes ONTAP alone.
- Edge caching through NetApp Global File Cache brings data closer to users in distributed and ROBO workplaces, eliminating latency.
- The central file locking feature locks files that are in use, so if data is being changed by one user, others can’t make changes to the file, ensuring real-time collaboration.
- Eliminates the need for additional on-prem infrastructure by relying on a centralized cloud architecture.
Manageability
Like all of NetApp’s cloud data services, Cloud Volumes ONTAP is accessed through BlueXP, providing users a single-pane view to manage storage volumes on-premises, Azure, or in any other cloud.
- Access all your ONTAP storage systems, on-prem or in any cloud. A seamless management experience across environments
- All functions available through API, providing IAC capabilities for developers
- Schedule all of your storage operations such as snapshots or data cloning
- Easily gain access to other NetApp data services, such as Cloud Backup, Cloud Data Sense, and more
Additional benefits
With Azure StorSimple end of life here, users now have a chance to get more from hybrid deployment than they ever did before. Switching to Cloud Volumes ONTAP can provide hybrid environments features that were never available on StorSimple:
- Dual-node high availability architecture on Azure, ensuring the lowest possible RTO (RTO<60 sec) and RPO (RPO=0).
- Rapid environment data cloning for testing and development through NetApp FlexClone® technology
- Kubernetes and containers platform integration and automatic persistent volume provisioning via NetApp Trident
- SnapMirror® data replication helps with seamless lift and shift data migration and replication from NetApp on-premises environments and the cloud
- Data encryption at rest as well as in transit is available out of the box to ensure data security
Retain the benefits of both the cloud and on-prem worlds and adopt Cloud Volumes ONTAP as your StorSimple replacement today.
In a previous version of this blog we provided additional, in-depth information about StorSimple. Read on if you want to understand how the product was being used in the past, and the functionality users need to replace now that it’s gone.
Learn More About StorSimple
The Enterprise Use Case for StorSimple
Azure StorSimple is designed to simplify hybrid storage, where a SAN storage device is integrated seamlessly with cloud services. It offers a single interface for administrators to manage both cloud and on-premises storage. StorSimple fits into almost all enterprise use cases, be it providing high performance storage for file services, application hosting, database hosting etc. or cost-effective cloud storage for backup, logs, archive, and more.
Let’s explore some of these use cases in detail and see how StorSimple helps customers get the most out of their hybrid storage investment.
Storage tiering for efficient data management: Effective storage management of inactive data is one of the major challenges faced by organizations. Though they aren’t accessed on a daily basis, backup data, monitoring logs, old archives, etc. are still important for BC/DR purposes or to meet regulatory and compliance norms.
StorSimple has an automated storage tiering feature that keeps the active data in high performance on-prem SSD drives, while data that is accessed less frequently is tiered to HDDs and archival data is tiered to Azure Cloud object storage. The data is moved based on the usage pattern and does not need any user intervention. When data stored in the cloud is accessed, it is moved back to local storage, without affecting the user experience.
Data protection through snapshots: StorSimple devices support scheduled and on-demand backups through VSS-integrated snapshots. These snapshots help to recover critical applications in the event of data corruption or accidental data loss. As the snapshot technology is natively integrated with VSS, the resulting backups are application consistent.
Since these snapshots are incremental, they are very cost effective. The time required for the backup is minimal and only the data that has changed since the last backup is considered for subsequent backups, which minimizes storage usage and costs.
Achieve storage economy: StorSimple uses thin provisioning technology, where only the storage resources needed to meet data requirements are allocated, as opposed to allocating the full size of a volume in advance. Cloud storage is leveraged to increase capacity when required and the available storage would appear to be greater than the physical resources available.
StorSimple also uses deduplication and compression technologies to reduce the storage footprint. Duplicate copies of data are not saved, and the system is intelligent to identity and store the changed data only. Data is stored in a compressed format to reduce the use of storage. While used for applications that handle extremely large data sets, thin provisioning, deduplication and compression collectively helps in achieving storage economy.
Business continuity and DR: StorSimple offers cloud snapshots, where the copy of data is stored in the cloud which can be used for setting up a secondary site during DR scenarios. Cloud snapshots help organizations eliminate tape-based backups and other tools to implement an operational BC/DR process. The on-prem environment can also be recovered in Azure, thus eliminating the need of investing in a separate physical DR environment.
CAPEX to OPEX conversion and agility: StorSimple helps organizations be more agile in the IT deployment process as they can easily spin up environments from snapshots. The data available in Azure StorSimple cloud appliances can be easily accessed by other VMs in Azure and hence users are not restricted by the location of the data. StorSimple also eliminates huge upfront investments to increase storage capacity. It can effectively use cloud storage as an extension of on-premise storage, thereby converting CAPEX to OPEX.
StorSimple Deployment Options
Azure StorSimple devices are available in three deployment options that can be leveraged by customers based on the architecture required: StorSimple Physical Array, Virtual Array, and Cloud Appliance. All devices are managed centrally from the Azure cloud portal through the StorSimple Device manager service, thus providing a single pane of management for on-premises as well as cloud storage.
StorSimple Physical Array (will reach EOL in 2022): Microsoft Azure StorSimple 8000 series physical array comprises both SSDs and HDDs and is deployed in customer data centers. It can be accessed over iSCSI protocol by supported devices. StorSimple Physical Array is shipped with built-in dual storage controllers configured in active-passive mode to ensure high availability for the device. The processor and storage are shared among the controllers for easy takeovers during failovers. The device is also integrated seamlessly with Azure cloud storage for tiering cold data as well as for cloud snapshots.
The two models in the 8000 series are 8100 and 8600. 8100 series is a 2U series device with local usable capacity of ~15 TB and the total storage capacity scalable to 200 TB including cloud storage. 8600 is a 4U device that includes an Extended Bunch of Device (EBOD) enclosure that provides a local capacity of ~38 TB and the total capacity can be increased to 500 TB by leveraging cloud storage.
With EOL approaching, Physical Array users face the choice of either replacing their on-prem components or moving entirely to the cloud.
StorSimple Virtual Array (support ends in December 2020): Organizations that do not have the infrastructure to deploy a physical device can deploy the StorSimple Virtual array in supported virtualized platforms, i.e., Hyper-V and VMware. It is best suited for small-scale environments such as a data room in a branch office. Virtual Array supports a maximum local capacity of 6.4 TB, which is expandable to 64 TB by leveraging Cloud Storage. Volumes can be exposed to other Microsoft Azure Services as iSCSI or SMB targets.
StorSimple Virtual Array offers all the features of physical device, such as data tiering, snapshots, backup, and DR, without any additional costs of procuring and deploying a physical storage device. However, considering the lower storage capacity when compared to physical devices, it is best suited for backup and archival data use cases, where the majority of the data would be tiered to cloud storage.
StorSimple Cloud Appliance (as part of the 8000 series, support ends 2022): The StorSimple cloud appliance is an add-on capability that is available for customers who have purchased StorSimple Physical devices. As the name indicates, it is deployed in Azure in a single-node VM and serves the purpose of backup and DR in the cloud.
If the physical device is not available during a DR scenario, the data can be failed over to StorSimple Cloud Appliance. The data can be accessed by VMs in Azure through iSCSI connections. Cloud appliance is available in two models: 8010 and 8020 series. Premium disk storage is supported in 8020 series and hence can be used for high performance workloads.
Conclusion: A New Way to Extend the Hybrid Cloud Storage Landscape
Enterprise data management, migration, and synchronization are the most important features for a hybrid cloud storage solution, along with other capabilities like BC/DR and storage economy. For a while, Azure StorSimple offered a way to address them, but EOL means users will have to find different solutions.
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP for Azure cloud is an alternative to hybrid deployment with StorSimple that can be leveraged by enterprises in hybrid architectures. It caters to workloads deployed in Azure that need access to cloud storage over NAS and SAN protocols.
Cloud Volumes ONTAP not only replaces essential hybrid deployment features offered by StorSimple, but enhances them with additional capabilities, without compromising on data security, availability and integrity.
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