Whitepaper: Intel's Overview of ReadyNAS/ReadyDATA Storage

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Putting NETGEAR ReadyDATA to Work in
the Small-to-Medium Enterprise
ReadyDATA is designed for the requirements of small to medium
enterprises. Each device comes standard with technology for
deduplication, thin provisioning, and block-level replication—enabling
data from multiple offices or across a WAN to be available and
manageable from a central location and through the cloud. This
solution also simplifies data tiering using SATA, SAS, or solid-state
drives (SSDs) so that organizations can match data classification
requirements to budgets.
ReadyDATA provides continuous snapshots of the data environment
across OSs, including Microsoft Windows*, Mac OS X*, and Linux*.
For example, if an employee mistakenly deletes critical slides from a
presentation, it’s possible to go back to a specific point in time and
retrieve a previous version of the file, as shown in Figure 1. A network
administrator can establish specific rules and workflows for managing and
storing data, including entire data sets residing at a secondary location.
Advantages of ReadyDATA Block-level Replication
ReadyDATA offers block-level replication technology, which operates
at a sub-file level and replicates only new or changed data. Because
ReadyDATA minimizes the amount of data sent between two
systems, it takes less time to replicate files. Older and less efficient
tools may update entire files—in some cases multi-gigabyte audio and
video files—devouring bandwidth and processing power.
To illustrate this difference, if a video editor updates the final minute
of a movie, ReadyDATA replicates only the changed portion of the
file. File-level replication, however, resends the entire file—even
though most of the movie’s contents did not change. For this reason,
ReadyDATA’s replication technology is beneficial for customers with
large files, such as multimedia, virtual servers (VMware, Hyper-V, and
Citrix), and databases or e-mail data stores.
For businesses with bandwidth constraints between offices, the
ability to replicate only the most granular changes is an important
part of a disaster recovery solution. If a replication job is unable to finish
because a large amount of data is being sent over a slow connection,
the job may not finish, leaving the business exposed to the potential for
data loss. This problem is particularly acute at satellite and small offices—
including those located in countries with slower Internet connectivity.
Combining Replication with Snapshots
In addition to replicating files and data, ReadyDATA replicates
“snapshots”—complete copies of data sets from a specific point in
time. This enables IT administrators to retrieve previous versions of
files in case of corruption or human error. For example, if an employee
“NETGEAR® ReadyDATA™ is an
enterprise-level solution with an SMB
price point. It comes preinstalled with
everything Arafura needs, such as thin
provisioning, block-level replication,
and deduplication. This means our
business can securely store, protect,
and share critical data across our
network.
– Michael Feldbauer, Managing Director, Arafura Connect
ReadyDATA
Snapshots
Past Now (Live)
Server
™
Figure 1. NETGEAR® ReadyDATA™ takes continuous, hourly,
or daily snapshots of data, all of which can be accessed in
case of disaster or human error.