Cloud questions - post them here

[peluso]

Hi All,

In light of the recent Cloud acitivity, I'd like to open up the discussions--we have experts with which you can discuss your opinions, answer your technology or business related questions about Cloud computing/infrastructure.  I will post a few to break the ice...bring it:)

Terri

[arunah]

Hi  Terri

Intersting to know the essential elements of a Cloud Computing Architectures and also the Key Differentiators among many vendors and positioning of NetApp Cloud among others.

Hope you can have a nice ice breaker on this.

aruna

[john_kougoulos]

What options exist for protecting the data of multiple tenants in virtual environments using a D2D2T solution, especially if there is a requirement for application consistent backups/snapshots?

Thanks,

John

[lyons]

John,

There are several options, all based on a Secure Multi-tenant Architecture that provides secure separation of data throughout an entire infrastructure stack, including virtual and physical servers, network and storage. More information avaialbe at the following link:

http://bit.ly/jm9co3

NetApp customers such as Lockheed Martin use this architecture as the foundation for secure cloud computing services:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2011/BlackCloudSolution.html

One option for bulding you own solution is our recently annouced SnapProtect software:

http://www.netapp.com/us/products/protection-software/snapprotect.html

Another would be to use a solution based on our partnership with Synchsort:

http://www.netapp.com/us/solutions/infrastructure/data-protection/backup-recovery/netapp-syncsort-integrated-backup.html

Some of our Service Provider partners offer secure solutions that eliminate tape completely by offering secure, cloud-based D2D backup. One of several examples is Terremark, which offers FISMA and NIST compliance and encryption up to AES-256  standards for maximum security:

http://www.terremark.com/industry-solutions/government/federal-cloud.aspx

One of our local partners or systems engineers can work with you to identify the options that would be the best fit for your own envirnment.

Thanks,

Jim

[BrendonHiggins]

This post will take my total to 5,000 points so it seam fair {to me} it is an easy post...

What solutions are available to ensure the data is protected, so that the storage owner {customer} can be SURE that the storage manager {cloud provider} has no access to the customers data?

Thinking in terms of Patriot Act vs. EU Data Protection Directive

Cloud is a none starter for my environment until this issue is resolved.

Bren

[peluso]

Great point - security and DP are hot buttons.  and congrats on reaching 5,015!

[BrendonHiggins]

Here is an issue to keep you awake at night if you move to the cloud...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/13/cloud_data/

“More important questions to ask are where exactly is my data located in the cloud and how many others share that same storage? Are the backups of that storage segregated or are they mixed together? Why, you ask? Well all it takes is one warrant for all data, tapes and servers for company XYZ which live on the same infrastructure as yours to ruin your whole company. If they are mixed (and most are, again for cost savings) not only did you lose your servers (easy to replace) and the SANs (a little harder to replace, and will take a while), but your backups as well!

“Possession is 9/10 of the law. In the US the hosting provider owns the servers, the storage, and the backups. In many courts they own your data unless a clear agreement is in place. Even so that agreement will not save you from a shutdown in the scenario above.”

[lyons]

Brendon,

The security of customer-owned data is typically accomplished through strong encryption. NetApp service provider partners currently supply cloud services to government agencies, financial firms and other customers that are extremely sensitive to security issues - please consider working with a local NetApp reseller partner or one of our SEs to contact one of our many partners that offer secure cloud services built on a NetApp storage foundation:

http://www.netapp.com/us/partners/become-a-partner/service-providers/all-service-providers.html

Certainly, many companies with EU data centers prefer to work with local cloud service providers due to privacy regulations. At the same time, there are a number of new technologies that promise to provide the ability for a data center in any geography to comply with privacy regulations by applying business process rules and/or tokenization such that the subset of sensitive data  is stored locally, while the bulk of the (non-sensitive) data is stored with the preferred and/or most economic provider.

Our service provider partners can provide more information on their own security systems and plans for the future.

Thanks,

Jim