Datto Network Attached Storage: This Isn’t Your Ordinary NAS

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Tracy Rock

Director of Marketing @ Invenio IT

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How you manage your growing file storage is more important than ever. The Datto Network Attached Storage is a simple, effective solution for keeping data secure, synced to the cloud and accessible from anywhere.

Let’s face it – the concept of sharing and backing up your company files is nothing new. But the threats that your business faces today are constantly evolving. As your storage needs to grow, so do the risks of major losses after a critical event, like a ransomware attack or storage device failure. If you’re stuck in a situation where you can’t rapidly restore your files, then it could have a devastating impact on operations.

The problem with many NAS devices is that they don’t go far enough to protect your business data at all stages of the backup process.

Datto NAS provides a more robust solution that’s scalable, backed up to the cloud and built with snapshotting, so that files can be easily restored from any point in time.

The NAS Challenge

Sound familiar? Your file storage is increasing exponentially. New data is being created by the minute. You need a storage solution that can accommodate this growth—now and in the future—while ensuring that backed-up data can be easily retrieved when needed.

A NAS may be the right fit, but if you’re comparing your options, then here are the questions you need to ask yourself:

  • Can it back up files to the cloud?
    What if something happened to the physical device? How much of your data can you store to the cloud?
  • How flexible is it?
    Can it easily accommodate your future data growth, without requiring additional infrastructure investments?
  • How rapidly can you restore a backup?
    In a disaster scenario, how long will the recovery take?
  • What are your recovery point options?
    How often is data being backed up? What is the most recent recovery point you’ll be able to choose? Minutes? Hours? Days?
  • What if you need to add a drive?
    Are the bays hot-swappable, or will you need to shut the system down for upgrades?

After all of these considerations, you may find that many NAS offerings just don’t cut it. But if you’re going to invest in network attached storage these days, then it needs to excel in each of these areas. That’s true regardless of your business’s size or the complexity of your business continuity infrastructure.

The Solution: Datto Network Attached Storage

As a leader in business continuity, Datto is filling the gaps where other business-grade NAS options have fallen behind.

The Datto Network Attached Storage is a scalable, hybrid cloud solution that backs up your files locally and in the cloud. It uses snapshotting to capture every change to your data, so you can easily restore files from any point in time. Since data is synced to the cloud, it’s available from anywhere, on any device.

If you’re worried about data growth, the Datto NAS has got you covered there. Models are available with up to 36 drive bays, for a max storage capacity of 120 terabytes. The bays are hot-swappable, so you can swap out old drives or scale up without downtime. And unlike other hybrid NAS options, you can back it all up to the cloud with Datto’s unlimited cloud storage plan. So, no need to prioritize which folders to protect or worry about staying under a cloud storage quota. You can store it all.

Not surprisingly, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all device. Datto’s Network Attached Storage devices are available in a range of models to meet the needs of small to enterprise businesses. So you can choose the option that makes sense for your file storage. For added peace of mind, each model features a solid-state operating system drive for superior reliability and RAID for redundancy.

Sounds great—but what does all this look like in a real-world business environment? How does it actually benefit you or the users on your networks?

Let’s take a closer look at the features.

A Single Integrated Platform

Your data storage probably shouldn’t be a Frankenstein mashup of different devices and systems. The Datto Network Attached Storage is a single, integrated product that covers the three essential components to storing files properly:

  • Network addressable storage
  • Local fault tolerance
  • Cloud backup

This three-sided approach provides all-in-one protection from virtually every possible disaster scenario. So even if your entire building was toast, your data would still be protected in the cloud and accessible quickly on other devices.

Time to Go Hybrid: Local & Cloud Storage

When it comes to business continuity today, hybrid is the name of the game.

Datto NAS lets you store and work from data locally, while adding the protective layer of timely backups to the Datto Cloud.

How reliable is the Datto Cloud? Just ask the tens of thousands of businesses that already trust it with 300 petabytes of data. Datto uses two fully redundant, tier-3 rated data centers, located on each coast of the U.S., with a minimum guaranteed uptime of 99.982%.

But the cloud alone isn’t what makes this NAS a winner. It’s how the cloud is being leveraged …

Snapshots as Often as Every Five Minutes

Datto NAS takes snapshots of data, stored both locally and in the cloud. These snapshots regularly capture changes to data as users share files, so that you can easily roll back to previous versions when needed. That applies to entire drives’ worth of data or even a single file that someone has accidentally deleted.

You have full control over these snapshots, and they can be scheduled as often as every five minutes. So in the event of a critical event, like a network-wide ransomware infection, your actual data loss would be minimal.

Additionally, restoring a file, folder or large amount of data from those snapshots is literally a snap. A simple web-based wizard makes it easy to restore files rapidly.

ZFS Deduplication for Efficient File Storage

Syncing your data to the cloud shouldn’t be an endless drain on your infrastructure. Without fast, lightweight backups, a speedy recovery would be impossible.

Datto NAS significantly reduces your storage requirements by using ZFS Deduplication to perform block-level deduplication as data is stored. This deduplication happens at the filesystem level, which ultimately means:

  • Less disk space usage on the NAS
  • Smaller snapshots
  • Faster transmission to the cloud
  • Less cloud space usage

Oh Right—Smarter File Sharing Too

No discussion of a NAS is complete without looking at one of its main uses: file sharing.

As Datto says, “In today’s business environment, sharing files among employees is table stakes.” In other words, it’s an essential, bare-minimum requirement for collaborating and getting things done efficiently.

Make no mistake, file sharing is not an afterthought when it comes to the Datto Network Attached Storage. It provides a single storage location that works across operating systems—Windows, Mac and Linux—so there’s never any issues sharing documents across the network. Access Control Lists (ACLs) and other permission controls give administrators total control over collaboration and file access.

And remember: the NAS is taking snapshots as documents are shared, so that previous versions are always available in an emergency. If someone loses a document, you can recover it locally or from the cloud, instantly.

Sync Files to Any Device, Anywhere

Collaboration today extends far beyond the office. Remote workers, travelling personnel and multiple business locations require everywhere-access to critical files.

Cloud syncing and Datto Drive enable users to securely access the latest files on any device, at any time—whether the user is down the street or 3,000 miles away. Syncing files is as simple as installing Datto Drive on the device.

End result: users work smarter, safer and with fewer headaches for IT.

Hot-Swappable Bays for Easy Fixes and Scalability

Accommodating your growing data is as easy as adding more drives.

Multiple drive bays let you expand your file storage as your needs grow. And since the bays are hot-swappable, you won’t need to shut down the system every time you need to make upgrades.

Bad drive? Replacements are just as easy. Take it out, pop in a new one, and get back to work.

Isn’t this how every business NAS should work?

360-Degree Encryption

When you’re sending data to the cloud and back, you don’t want it falling into the wrong hands.

Datto’s NAS offers end-to-end encryption using AES-256: on the device, in transit and in the cloud. Cloud encryption is automatic, and you have the option of enabling local encryption and configuring passphrases for each protected machine.

Ransomware Recovery

Ransomware isn’t going away anytime soon. When investing in any data-backup, DR solution or file storage technology, you need to ask yourself, “Does it offer protection in a ransomware attack?”

Datto NAS’s frequent snapshots and cloud backups make it a smart safeguard for ransomware.

In the event of an infection, you’ll have a clean backup safely stored offsite. Simply roll back to a recovery point before the attack occurred, and poof—the infection is gone, threat eliminated.

Backups that Don’t Fail

Historically, backup recoveries are notorious for high failure rates. But this is another area where Datto excels.

Like all of Datto’s business continuity solutions, the Datto NAS uses the company’s proprietary Inverse Chain Technology. Each backup is a fully bootable virtual machine. This eliminates the problem of broken backup chains, where most issues arise, and makes the backup process ultra-fast.

Final Thoughts

The Datto NAS is a smart file storage solution that can be scaled to meet the needs of virtually any size business. Whether implemented alone or in conjunction with other Datto business-continuity appliances, like the SIRIS 3, Datto’s Network Attached Storage makes sense for organizations looking to increase the speed and reliability of their backups, while adding the protection of synchronized storage in the Cloud.

Take a Closer Look

For a closer look at Datto NAS, talk to our business-continuity experts at Invenio IT. Request more information and pricing, or contact us at (646) 395-1170 or email success@invenioIT.com.

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