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Up until recently, BlueXP backup and recovery supported storing ONTAP backup data to four destinations, including AWS S3, Azure Blob, GCP Cloud Storage, and NetApp StorageGRID®. In this release, we're excited to introduce ONTAP S3 as a new storage destination for ONTAP backup data. Designed to integrate seamlessly with your existing ONTAP environment, ONTAP S3 serves as a powerful on-premises object storage solution for users of the Cloud Backup service.
In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of ONTAP S3, examine its unique use cases as an ONTAP backup destination, and discuss how it extends ONTAP’s data management capabilities to backed up data.
Jump ahead to a topic in this post:
- What Is ONTAP S3?
- Enhancing BlueXP Backup Capabilities With the New ONTAP S3 Backup Destination
- Benefits of ONTAP S3 as a Backup Destination
- Expanding Backup Possibilities with ONTAP S3: What It Means
What Is ONTAP S3?
With the growing demand for S3-compatible storage, ONTAP extended its support to include an additional scale-out storage option for S3. Capitalizing on ONTAP's robust data management framework, ONTAP S3 provides S3-compatible object storage capabilities, allowing data to be represented as objects within ONTAP-powered systems, including AFF, FAS, and ONTAP Select.
What Is the Difference Between ONTAP S3 and StorageGRID?
ONTAP S3 complements NetApp's flagship object storage solution, StorageGRID, by providing an ingest and preprocessing point at the edge. While ONTAP S3 is a virtual object storage capability within the ONTAP ecosystem, StorageGRID is a dedicated appliance for object storage. By leveraging ONTAP S3, you can utilize the existing ONTAP appliance capacity without requiring additional hardware or cloud storage buckets. In contrast, StorageGRID is tailored for large-scale, multi-site deployments and long-term data retention, requiring a dedicated appliance.
Enhancing BlueXP Backup Capabilities With the New ONTAP S3 Backup Destination
Integrating ONTAP S3 as a new on-premises backup destination for BlueXP backup and recovery allows users to perform backups directly to their existing ONTAP infrastructure. This addition streamlines backup workflows with direct-to-destination backup processes, eliminating intermediary storage systems and reducing the steps needed to complete a backup.
With ONTAP S3 as a backup destination, BlueXP backup and recovery users can also better utilize ONTAP's advanced data management capabilities. Users can employ data tiering to automatically move infrequently accessed data to cost-effective storage tiers, reducing storage costs and optimizing capacity usage. ONTAP storage efficiency features, mainly data compression and deduplication, can be further utilized to minimize the backup storage footprint, ultimately reducing backup costs and improving storage efficiency. Currently, the S3 destination is only supported through the API with UI support to follow in future releases.
Benefits of ONTAP S3 as a Backup Destination
Utilizing ONTAP S3 as a new destination for BlueXP backup and recovery helps organizations safeguard against accidental deletions or modifications by maintaining multiple versions of objects. The feature also allows you to establish granular control over data access and optimize data management by setting up bucket policies that define specific permissions for users and groups.
Beyond providing robust data protection and security, ONTAP S3 offers numerous features that help enhance your overall data management experience.
- Reduce storage costs with storage tiering
Utilize intelligent storage tiering to automatically move infrequently accessed data to cost-effective object storage tiers for optimal capacity utilization and cost savings. - Scale your storage seamlessly
ONTAP S3 delivers enhanced scalability, allowing you to easily expand your storage resources as your data grows, without compromising performance or efficiency. - Streamline data management processes
ONTAP S3 simplifies data management by consolidating your primary and backup data into a single, easy-to-manage platform, streamlining operations and reducing complexity. - Make the most of your ONTAP capacity
With ONTAP S3 as your backup destination, you can maximize the utilization of existing ONTAP resources while creating an effective yet cost-efficient data protection strategy.
Use Cases for Storing ONTAP Backup Data on ONTAP S3
The introduction of ONTAP S3 as a backup destination for ONTAP data supports various use cases. Some of these include:
- On-premises ONTAP backup
ONTAP S3 acts as a powerful backup destination for your ONTAP data and facilitates the creation of a secure and readily accessible copy within the ONTAP ecosystem. By harnessing ONTAP's advanced features, including storage efficiency, compression, and deduplication, organizations can optimize storage utilization while adhering to data sovereignty and security requirements. Irrespective of whether data is stored on-premises or remotely, the approach also delivers enhanced recovery times and ensures comprehensive data protection. - DevOps and analytics backups
Backing up ONTAP data to ONTAP S3 facilitates efficient development and testing workflows. With easily accessible backups via an S3-compliant object storage system, ONTAP's advanced data management features such as cloning and snapshotting enable you to easily create isolated environments for development, testing, or analysis. This separation essentially ensures that production workloads remain unaffected, promoting agility and faster innovation cycles. - POC testing
Leveraging ONTAP S3 as a backup destination during proof-of-concept (POC) testing can help you easily evaluate BlueXP backup and recovery capabilities for the ONTAP environment without the need to provision additional backup destination storage. Doing so allows you to evaluate backup and recovery scenarios using BlueXP backup and recovery while using the free capacity of existing ONTAP deployments. This enables you to assess the solution's performance and compatibility before committing to a full-scale implementation.
Expanding Backup Possibilities with ONTAP S3: What It Means
BlueXP backup and recovery provides comprehensive protection and long-term archiving for your enterprise ONTAP data, regardless of its location. Expanding its capabilities with ONTAP S3 as a new on-premises destination for ONTAP backup not only showcases NetApp's industry-leading expertise but also demonstrates a continuous commitment to strengthening its powerful data management features.
What does this mean for users? A seamless and powerful solution that allows backup copies to be stored in your preferred object storage backup system, whether it's a hyperscaler-based storage solution, on NetApp StorageGRID, or on the newly introduced ONTAP S3. This addition to BlueXP backup and recovery bolsters your data protection strategy by offering greater flexibility in storage options, enabling you to choose the most suitable solution for your specific needs. Taking advantage of on-premises object storage also helps you enhance data security and simplify data management.
