The vStack platform will support enterprise SRKs

Backup is an important product feature of a virtualization platform, without which industrial operation can be difficult. Therefore, the vStack team has developed for its hyperconverged platform and is preparing to launch an update that includes this functionality in the coming months. A unified approach has been chosen for this, which does not force companies with an established backup infrastructure to migrate to other solutions. The novelty is suitable for any modern backup system, allows you to continue to use existing solutions and save backups from years past.

It’s not all that easy with backups

Before implementing this functionality, the vStack team studied the experience of other developers. In some products, backup is implemented through integration with third-party solutions. vStack consciously rejected this option because third-party solutions can have flaws that are not managed by vStack and result in dependency on their owners. Since achieving technical sovereignty can be a significant factor for a company or a product consumer, the decision was made to take a different route.

vStack considered developing a basic backup solution in-house. In this case, another problem arose. As a rule, large companies with an established IT infrastructure already have their own backup system and an accumulated backup history in it. In addition, enterprise-level backup systems are usually a very expensive solution, which is expected to operate for a very long period of time. In some industries, such as banking, backup retention times are regulated by regulatory requirements. Forcing the consumer to use another backup system is to artificially create unnecessary complexity for them.

Solution #1 – NDMP protocol

To avoid these issues, the vStack team has chosen to support a unified NDMP protocol for backing up infrastructure built with the vStack product. NDMP is a network data management protocol that can be used to transfer data from storage devices to backup devices and vice versa. Its advantage is a higher data transfer speed by not having to transfer data through a backup server.
The NDMP protocol supports most modern enterprise-level backup systems. Therefore, vStack customers do not have to change systems to set up vStack virtual infrastructure backups. Companies can continue to use the existing product or choose the most suitable system on their own.

Solution #2 – Backup Appliance

For those customers who do not yet have their own backup infrastructure, the vStack team is developing the second option – Backup Appliance. It is designed for those who will completely create an infrastructure from scratch or completely replace foreign solutions with Russian analogues. This is a longer and more ambitious task, solving more ambitious goals.

As for the NDMP variant, this project is nearing completion. It will be available in an early adopter release within a few months.