Note

Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.

Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.

Optimize File Storage with Komprise Intelligent Tiering for Azure

Businesses and public sector enterprises often retain file data for decades as it contains business value such as customer insights, genomic patterns, machine learning training data, and compliance information. Because of its large volume, variety and velocity of its growth, file data can become expensive to store, backup and manage. Most IT organizations spend 30% to 50% of their budgets on file data storage and backups, as shown in the 2023 Komprise State of Unstructured Data Management Report.

When looking at the storage cost of file data, consider that the cost of file data is at least 3X higher than the cost of the file storage itself. File data can't just be stored, it needs to also be protected with backups and replicated for disaster recovery.

Item
Cost

File Storage
1x

Snapshots
0.3x

Mirror for DR (second site copy of FS + Snapshots)
1.3x

2 to 3 backups (cheaper storage + backup software)
1x+

TOTAL
3.6x+

Use the Cloud to Cut File Data Costs: Comparison of Alternatives

As file data growth accelerates, managing data growth while cutting the costs of file data storage and backup has become an enterprise IT priority. Most (typically up to 80%) of file data is cold, meaning infrequently accessed. Therefore, organizations can save significantly by tiering on-premises file data to cost-effective object storage tiers such as Azure Blob, which can be 1/10th to 1/100th the cost of file storage. Here's a breakdown of Azure Blob Archive costs compared to higher performance on-premises and cloud file storage options.

Item
Cost/GB/month
Relative Cost to Azure Blob Archive

On-premises Flash/SSD
$0.12
123x

On-premises Disk
$.066
66x

Azure Blob Cool
$0.015
15x

Azure Blob Archive
$0.00099
1x

Read the Azure Storage blog posts:

• The True Cost of Traditional File Storage

• Leverage the Cloud to Cut File Data Costs: Comparison of Alternatives

Komprise Intelligent Tiering for Azure

Komprise Intelligent Tiering for Azure analyzes data across your file and object storage systems, identifying inactive/cold data. Qualifying files, based on your policies, are moved to Azure Blob. Komprise Transparent Move Technology (TMT™) offloads entire files from the data storage, snapshot, backup and DR footprints without any change to your processes or user behavior. This approach to file tiering maximizes your data storage and backup savings, reduces cloud egress costs by preventing unnecessary rehydration when data is accessed from the cloud, and lets you set different policies for different data types and groups. Users can access the tiered data exactly as before as files from the original location, and they can directly access the objects in Azure Blob without any lock-in. You can also use all the native Azure data services.

Komprise analyzes all your file and object data. You can set policies to transparently tier cold files to Azure and instantly visualize savings based on your costs and policies

Files moved by Komprise TMT appear just as they did before, without users noticing any difference, and open like normal files on the desktop.
No stubs. No agents. The figure shows a PDF file before and after it's tiered by Komprise.

Read the Azure blog post: How to Save 70% on File Data Costs

Getting Started with Komprise Intelligent Tiering for Azure

Your local Komprise team will assist with setting up your Komprise Director console and on-premises grid. It's an easy process that includes a preinstallation review, a deployment phase and initial training. Preparation for the installation should be ~1 hour from power-up to seeing the first analysis results.

Komprise Intelligent Tiering for Azure

Komprise Grid

Komprise software is easy to set up and it runs in virtual environments for complete resource flexibility. The Komprise Grid is configurable for optimum performance, flexibility and cost to meet the needs of each customer’s unique environment. Komprise data managers (Observers) and data movers (Windows Proxies) can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud to fit your requirements.

• Director: The administration console for the Komprise Grid. It's used to configure the environment, set policies, monitor activities, and view reports and graphs.

• Observers: The heart of the system. Observers communicate with the Director, analyze storage systems, summarize reports, execute tiering Plans identifying what data to tier, move data to Azure Blob, then provide continuous transparent end user access to the tiered files.

• Windows Proxies: Scalable data movers that simplify and accelerate SMB/CIFS data flow. It’s easy to add Windows Proxy data movers to meet the changing performance requirements of growing environments or tight timelines.

Share Discovery and Analysis

Adding shares for Komprise Analysis and Tiering

• Start on the Data Stores page.

• Use “Add data store” to identify the storage system and shares for analysis.

• When adding a NAS share, select “Standard” for the “Storage use” and choose the appropriate platform or provider of the storage system to add. Komprise supports standard NAS protocols. Use the “Other NAS” option for storage systems not named in the list.