Simplifying Cloud Migration with CentreStack

 

Cloud computing is not a new trend for small businesses, although it is a fast-growing one. According to Cisco, Cloud data center traffic is expected to represent 95% of total global data center traffic by 2021. And, as more businesses open up to full cloud migration, many feel the need to engage managed services providers to cater to their IT needs.

These needs differ so it is vital to understand the client’s IT infrastructure and workload requirement in order to deliver on a cloud solution that fully supports their business. 

But cloud migration doesn’t have to be a nightmare for either party. So in this article, we will share ways to eliminate migration complications as well as how MSP partners can completely simplify the process for their SMB clients.

Background

One Drive and SharePoint are two reputable cloud service platforms, however, they do have scalability limitations. For example, the problems below were experienced by an MSP partner reselling both Dropbox and Sharepoint configurations with over 6000 endpoints: 

●      It became difficult to control backup location and retrieval.

●      Required more data capacity per site than the ITB that SharePoint provided.

●      Wasted time and resources dealing with migration complexities.

●      Needed a support partner to handle initial configuration for migration.

●      Needed a centrally managed platform with a single login for multiple tenants.

●      Needed a solution that could easily be managed and maintained by their technical team. 

The Drawbacks Experienced with Dropbox

For this MSP, Dropbox lacked the central control to manage their client’s data; it provided no control or visibility. And, it got really expensive when they tried to incorporate additional tools or services for business management. They also had some challenges with user training.

The Drawbacks with SharePoint

When migrating their clients to the SharePoint, they experienced the following problems : 

●      100, 000 files and folders per library limit to prevent sync issues. 

●      400 characters file or folder URL restriction 

●      Windows 256 Character Path Limit

●      300,000 item limit when using One Drive sync

So they found that data reorganization costs and file limit restrictions are two bottlenecks of SharePoint. With the 1TB limit per site and management overhead costs that arise when other third-party tools are deployed, management can become painful and problematic.

Benefits Of CentreStack's Cloud & File Server Solution For MSPs

For MSPs servicing SMB clients in cities and rural communities with slower connection speeds, file server migration to cloud services like Sharepoint can be daunting. Network issues could occur if clients don't have upstream bandwidth to carry out the migration process, and this could lead to workflow disruption, the worse for large dataset migration. For those clients owning companies in rural areas or communities with lower connection speed, migration could be made seamless with CentreStack. 

CentreStack provides a file server agent that synchronizes existing file shares and permissions to the cloud. This way, users can work with the file servers undisturbed throughout the migration process.

Other benefits include:

Simplified Migration Process

A self-hosted version of CentreStack can be used as a SharePoint alternative. It makes up for data privacy and control lapses of SharePoint during data migration and eliminates the challenges that come with migrating a huge dataset.

After deployment, there is little to no need for an onboarding process as CentreStack's mapped drive is intuitive and familiar. It keeps the drive mapping and file locking experience, so extra resources aren't expended in staff training, as it is with other cloud service platforms. 

NTFS Permission Integration 

Unlike SharePoint, CentreStack preserves NTFT permissions and Active Directory identities when connecting file servers to the cloud. 

Optimized for AEC Industries

For MSP partners catering to customers in the AEC industries where a lot of heavy-duty design applications require custom features not fully supported by the cloud computing services, security is a big issue. Particularly, in the cloud environment where the file locking feature is missing, editing CAD files, for instance, is tortuous and can lead to productivity issues. For this problem, CentreStack’s mapped drive serves as a hybrid solution, whereby it can contain folders that point to both SharePoint
libraries, and on-premise file shares and the files can be worked on with CentreStack's file locking and versioning features intact.

Cost-Effective

Since it allows mapping of network shares from self-hosted file servers without the use of a VPN, MSPs gain a larger profit margin with CentreStack as it eliminates VPN support ticket costs that come with connecting remote devices to on-prem file servers, or the cost that accompanies deploying additional services to the basic functionalities of DropBox. Also, CentreStack bills per user on the platform, rather than per storage. 

Self-hosted Option for Flexibility

With CentreStack's fully brandable, multi-tenant file share platform, MSP partners can create branded versions of CentreStackfile sync and share solutions to enhance their service portfolio. It offers a simple user experience, similar to Dropbox, but with control and visibility.

Data Compliance

Data compliance concerns are more pronounced for industries or businesses dealing with sensitive data. Hence, adhering to the client's data security need is paramount when selecting a cloud storage solution. CentreStack’s Data-At-Rest-Encryption feature ensures data is encrypted at the client end and stored in the cloud in the encrypted form so only the tenant and its user can read the file from the storage. It provides private cloud access that integrates with the current IT infrastructure, granting the organization full control of their data while making it accessible through any device or a web browser.

With CentreStack, MSP partners have a central platform to manage access controls and users. Administrators can easily keep track of data and monitor changes made to individual files. There's no fear of data loss or falling into the wrong hands.

Secure Multi-Tenant Platform

MSPs have complete control and visibility over their client's data environment. The platform enables MSP partners to build a private cloud file server solution based on infrastructure from Amazon, Azure, or Google Cloud. This greatly reduces internal operational costs and facilitates scalability among multiple clients.

Centralized Administration

CentreStack helps reduce the complexity of managing client’s IT infrastructure across multiple cloud providers. It provides an access layer (browser, mobile, desktop, and file server access) around storage service and local file server storage inside the service provider's data center.