CentreStack transforms traditional file servers into cloud file servers

OpenStack Object Storage is cloud storage services created by open source software. For service providers that need a cloud storage service built on commodity hardware and open source software, OpenStack could be an option. One of cloud storage’s primary use case is backup. If you are deploying OpenStack, very likely your first batch of customers will be looking for backup solutions that can take customer’s local data and backup to OpenStack. Gladinet has a suite of products for backing up to OpenStack cloud storage. Before we introduces the suite of products, first review the different backup use cases.

What is your #1 used application on a daily basis? It is probably email and the answer could be universal. What is your #2 used application on a daily basis? It is likely to be Office related applications but the answer could be different based on your job functionality. If you have moved your #1 app and #2 app to the cloud, what is next? Probably your file server and you are looking for cloud storage. Sounds interesting? read on …

As I was explaining Gladinet CloudAFS to a group of IT people as a file server with cloud storage attached, one question I got was:     How much bandwidth you need to run file server with cloud storage? It is very obvious where the concern is coming from. If I had an on-premise file server, with cloud storage attached as tier 2 storage, will the slowness of the Internet (as compared to LAN) slow down the file server activities? Rest assured, Gladinet CloudAFS takes care of this. Specifically, it takes care of two issues. A. Slow Internet to the Cloud Storage – that is why it is tier2 storage. B. There is a glitch, Internet is down. The secret to both maintain local LAN performance and leverage Cloud Storage is to have a tier 1 storage locally on the hard drive (or NAS or SAN). When people read and write to the file server, it is writing to and reading from the tier 1 storage, thus gives you an impression of local storage because it is indeed local storage. Gladi...

It is still early for the cloud-related market. However, cloud related topics are buzzing around and that make people wonder: what exactly is it so exciting? For example, today there is a WSJ article titled “ Google Goes to the Cloud for New Idea in PC System ” that talks about Chrome OS on a laptop. Is this all cloud computing is about or is this just a small piece of it? 3 big use cases about cloud computing To understand the current cloud computing movements, first we need to understand the 3 big categories: 1. Storage – online storage, storage from the web or just “Cloud Storage”. More specifically, it refers to Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud Files, Windows Azure, EMC Atmos, Mezeo, Scality, Nirvanix and a bunch of other companies providing infrastructures that allowing scalable storage to be delivered across the Internet. 2. Application – online applications or web applications More specifically, it refers to applications such as GMail, Salesforce.com, Google Docs, Ever...

Today we got calls from two different customers, all asking about the Google Docs for your file server use case. I thought it is interesting to  have different customers asking the same thing. It could be a popular use case to write about. Both customers are small companies with 5-10 people. Neither wants to maintain an in house server and one even with mobile workers. Both are on Gmail as their email infrastructure. They wanted to use Google Docs to share documents but they don’t want the clumsy web interface to slow down the upload/download process. In another word, they like the ability to share with employees from Google Docs but need direct desktop access for file transfer. As long as Google Docs can serve and share folders and files and integrated into Windows Explorer for drag and drop, it fulfills the file server role as they desire. This is a very good use case for Gladinet Cloud Desktop.

Every SQL Server admin knows how to backup SQL Server. It is a very mature technology since SQL Server 2005 because it has built-in support for Volume Shadow Copy Service. It knows how to take a consistent snapshot of the database and produce the snapshot as files for backup applications to consume and store. With Gladinet Cloud Backup , SQL Server Backup to Amazon S3 or any other supported Cloud Storage Services such as Windows Azure or Open Stack is as easy as set-it-and-forget-it, while restore is as simple as point and click. (check Gladinet’s homepage for supported cloud storage services) Get Cloud Backup You can have cloud backup in two different ways. The first one is a standalone installer package. The second one is an optional add-on for Gladinet Cloud Desktop. This tutorial will use Gladinet Cloud Desktop add-on for illustration purpose.

Year 2010 was a busy year for cloud storage. The buzz reached a whole new level when you saw companies like Microsoft, Google and EMC announcing new service offerings around cloud storage. Event Calendar Date Summary February 1, 2010 Windows Azure out of beta, starts billing. Finally ready for customers. February 8, 2010 Amazon S3 introduce versioning support March 9, 2010 Amazon S3 stores over 1000 billion objects March 24, 2010 Gladinet Cloud Desktop reached 2.0 April 12, 2010 Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 released. Windows Azure support is built-in. April 27, 2010 Gladinet introduced CloudAFS - gateway to cloud storage. May 10, 2010 ...