Snap-to-object
This page describes the Snap-To-Object feature, which enables the movement of all the data of a specific snapshot to an object store.
The Snap-To-Object feature enables the committing of all the data of a specific snapshot, including file system metadata, every file, and all associated data to an object store. You can use the full snapshot data to restore the data on the Content Software for File cluster or another cluster.
Snap-To-Object feature use cases
- On-premises and cloud use cases
- Cloud-only use cases
External backup of data
Suppose it is required to recover data stored on a Content Software for File filesystem due to a complete or partial loss of the data within it. You can use a data snapshot saved to an object store to recreate the same data in the snapshot on the same or another Content Software for File cluster.
This use case supports backup in any of the following Content Software for File system deployment modes:
Local Object Store
The Content Software for File cluster and object store are close to each other and will be highly performant during data recovery operations. The Content Software for File cluster can recover a filesystem from any snapshot on the object store for which it has a reference locator.
Remote Object Store
The Content Software for File cluster and object store are located in different geographic locations, typically with longer latencies between them. In such a deployment, you can send snapshots to both local and remote object stores.
Local Object Store Replicating to a Remote Object Store
A local object store in one datacenter replicates data to another object store using the object store system features, such as AWS S3 cross-region replication.
This deployment provides both integrated tiering and Snap-To-Object local high performance between the Weka object store and the additional object store. The object store manages the data replication, enabling data survival in multiple regions.
Archiving data
The periodic creation of snapshots and uploading of the snapshots to an object store generates an archive, allowing the accessing of past copies of data.
When any compliance or application requirement occurs, it is possible to make the relevant snapshot available on a Content Software for File cluster and view the content of past versions of data.
Asynchronous data replication
Combining a local cluster with a replicated object store in another data center allows for the following use cases:
- Disaster recovery: where you can take the replicated data and make it available to applications in the destination location.
- Backup: where you can take multiple snapshots and create point-in-time images of the data that can be mounted and specific files may be restored.
Cloud pause/restart
In a public cloud, with a Content Software for File cluster running on compute instances with local SSDs, sometimes the data needs to be retained, even though ongoing access to the Content Software for File cluster is unnecessary. In such cases, using Snap-To-Object can save the costs of compute instances running the Content Software for File system.
To pause a cluster, you need to take a snapshot of the data and then use Snap-To-Object to upload the snapshot to an S3 compliant object store. When the upload process is complete, the Content Software for File cluster instances can be stopped, and the data is safe on the object store.
To re-enable access to the data, you need to form a new cluster or use an existing one and download the snapshot from the object store.
Data protection against cloud availability zone failures
This use case ensures data protection against cloud availability zone failures in the various clouds: AWS Availability Zones, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Zones, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Availability Domains.
In AWS, for example, the Content Software for File cluster can run on a single availability zone, providing the best performance and no cross-AZ bandwidth charges. Using Snap-To-Object, you can take and upload snapshots of the cluster to S3 (which is a cross-AZ service). In this way, if an AZ failure occurs, a new Content Software for File cluster can be created on another AZ, and the last snapshot uploaded to S3 can be downloaded to this new cluster.
Migration of filesystems to another region
Using Content Software for File snapshots uploaded to S3 combined with S3 cross-region replication enables the migration of a filesystem from one region to another.