Business continuity is a paramount requirement for enterprise organizations. IT teams need to ensure that their data is always available, secure, and easily recoverable. Recognizing this critical need, we’re introducing new functionality in the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex service level enabling storage replication across regions within a geographic area.
Storage replication is the process of copying data from one location to another to ensure that there are multiple copies available. This technique is vital for protecting against data loss, whether due to hardware failures, cyber-attacks, or natural disasters. By replicating data across different regions, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of data unavailability and ensure rapid recovery in case of an outage. Of course, this is nothing new for NetApp and we’ve offered these capabilities to our customers for decades. What’s new is the increase of choice for replication pairing within a geographic region of volume replication in Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.
Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex service level is available in forty Google Cloud regions as a fully managed storage service managed by Google. The new replication feature allows organizations to replicate their data across any two Google Cloud regions within a specific geographic area. These geographic regions are designed to provide regional business continuity while optimizing costs by avoiding long-distance data transitions. These geographic areas include all regions within:
- The Americas
- Europe, Middle East, Africa
- Asia-Pacific
Google Cloud regions in each of these geographic areas can be replicated to any region within that area. Need to replicate from London to Belgium? No problem. Dallas to Columbus? Yes, we offer that too. A full list of regions available in each geographic area is available in the product documentation.
NetApp Volumes customers gain the following advantages by leveraging these capabilities:
Enhanced Data Availability While Meeting Region Preferences
By replicating data across multiple regions within a geographic area, organizations can ensure that their data remains available even if one region experiences an outage or disruption. This high availability is crucial for maintaining seamless operations and minimizing downtime.
Improved Disaster Recovery
In the event of a disaster, having data replicated across regions enables organizations to recover quickly and efficiently. The ability to access data from another region within the same geographic area reduces recovery times and helps maintain business continuity.
Compliance and Data Sovereignty
Many industries are subject to strict data sovereignty and compliance regulations, requiring data to be stored within specific geographic boundaries. With regional replication, Google Cloud NetApp Volumes helps organizations meet these regulatory requirements while still benefiting from the advantages of data replication.
Cost Efficiency
Storing and managing multiple copies of data can be expensive. However, NetApp Volumes' regional replication is designed to be cost-efficient, ensuring that organizations can achieve high levels of data protection without incurring prohibitive costs.
Bringing the advantages of cross-region replication to the Flex service level represents a significant advancement in ensuring business continuity through storage replication. Incorporating regional replication into your business continuity strategy with Google Cloud NetApp Volumes ensures that your critical data is always protected and accessible, no matter what challenges come your way or where you’re leveraging Google Cloud. This new feature underscores our commitment to providing resilient, scalable, and secure cloud storage solutions for businesses of all sizes.
