Cloudian HyperStore object storage is now integrated with Kasten by Veeam’s K10 Kubernetes backup software, providing customers with an on-premises object storage backup target.
Cloudian HyperStore provides scalable S3-compatible storage for Kubernetes backup data. The storage platform has some built-in anti-ransomware features, including a firewall, encryption, immutability via AWS S3 Object Lock and role-based access controls. HyperStore also costs up to 70% less than storing backups in a public cloud, the vendor claimed.
Kasten K10 is a Kubernetes backup platform. It is one of the earliest products in the Kubernetes data protection space alongside TrilioVault for Kubernetes and Portworx PX-Backup, and it supports a range of databases, Kubernetes distributions and container storage interface (CSI)-compatible storage infrastructure. Kasten was acquired by Veeam in October 2020.
Customers could already use HyperStore as a backup target for Kasten K10, but the integration between the two enables backup administrators to create an immutability workflow, said Amit Rawlani, director of technology alliances, product and solution marketing at Cloudian. They can initiate S3 Object Lock through Kasten and point at a Cloudian storage bucket to lock it down without having to configure immutability through Cloudian.
Cloudian customers are increasingly interested in containers and have been asking for data protection for Kubernetes, Rawlani said. Cloudian has an established relationship with Veeam, so partnering up and developing some software-level integration with Kasten by Veeam made sense, he said.
Cloudian is investigating similar integration with other data protection vendors, according to Rawlani. He declined to name them.
Standardizing storage
The integration with Kasten is part of Cloudian’s larger push to increase support for containers. Earlier this month, Cloudian added support for Red Hat OpenShift, and the storage platform already supports VMware Tanzu.
Cloudian HyperStore provides S3-compatible storage so that applications developed on those container platforms can be ported between the cloud and on premises, said Jon Toor, chief marketing officer at Cloudian. Additionally, standardized storage lowers the skillset burden, as fewer storage systems means less of a learning curve and less training for IT departments, he added.
“One big objective of IT right now is to have a common operating environment, whether on prem or cloud,” Toor said. “But to do that, you need a common storage environment.”
Red Hat OpenShift was the most commonly requested container management platform Cloudian customers wanted support for, according to Toor. SUSE Rancher support is next on Cloudian’s roadmap.
Object storage is expanding usage beyond the large content repository to primary storage for cloud-native applications.Randy KernsSenior analyst, Evaluator Group
On-premises object storage may seem antithetical to cloud-native applications, but cloud-first applications don’t necessarily stay in the cloud, said Randy Kerns, a senior analyst at Evaluator Group. When applications are ready to move into production scale, the cloud may no longer be the best place for them, as organizations need to consider factors such as cost, bandwidth and security.
“Most cloud-native apps developed are for containers and use object storage as primary storage,” Kerns said. “IT operations can choose to deploy these new apps on prem or in the public cloud, or even move them at some point. They want that flexibility.”
The original role of object storage was largely as scalable storage for unstructured and secondary data, but the cloud and Kubernetes have shifted its use toward primary storage, Kerns said. He pointed out that Cloudian HyperStore isn’t the first to embrace object storage’s new, container-focused purpose — Scality’s Artesca and Dell EMC’s ObjectScale also provide object storage for Kubernetes.
“Object storage is expanding usage beyond the large content repository to primary storage for cloud-native applications,” Kerns said.
Johnny Yu covers enterprise data protection news for TechTarget’s Storage sites SearchDataBackup and SearchDisasterRecovery. Before joining TechTarget in June 2018, he wrote for USA Today’s consumer product review site Reviewed.com.
