Panasas ActiveStor vs Rubrik NAS Cloud Direct comparison

In our most recent product, the ActiveStor Ultra, Panasas has developed a new approach called Dynamic Data Acceleration Technology. It uses a carefully balanced set of HDDs, SATA SSD, NVMe SSD, NVDIMM, and DRAM to provide a combination of excellent performance and low cost per terabyte.

• HDDs will provide high bandwidth data storage if they are never asked to store anything small and only asked to do large sequential transfers. Therefore, we only store large Component Objects on our low-cost HDDs.

• SATA SSDs provide cost-effective and highbandwidth storage as a result of not having any seek times, so that’s where we keep our small Component Objects.

• NVMe SSDs are built for very low latency accesses, so we store all our metadata in a database and keep that database on an NVMe SSD. Metadata accesses are very sensitive to latency, whether it is POSIX metadata for the files being stored or metadata for the internal operations of the OSD.

• An NVDIMM (a storage class memory device) is the lowest latency type of persistent storage device available, and we use one to store our transaction logs: user data and metadata being written by the application to the OSD, plus our internal metadata. That allows PanFS to provide very low latency commits back to the application.

• We use the DRAM in each OSD as an extremely low latency cache of the most recently read or written data and metadata.

To gain the most benefit from the SATA SSD’s performance, we try to keep the SATA SSD about 80% full. If it falls below that, we will (transparently and in the background) pick the smallest Component Objects in the HDD pool and move them to the SSD until it is about 80% full. If the SSD is too full, we will move the largest Component Objects on the SSD to the HDD pool. Every ActiveStor Ultra Storage Node performs this optimization independently and continuously. It’s easy for an ActiveStor Ultra to pick which Component Objects to move, it just needs to look in its local NVMe-based database.

Rubrik NAS Cloud Direct offers an efficient way to manage data storage and backups in cloud environments. It combines robust security, scalability, and performance to optimize data protection efforts.

Rubrik NAS Cloud Direct enhances data management by providing seamless integration with cloud storage. It enables streamlined data transfer and protection while reducing operational complexity. Particularly suited for enterprise environments, Rubrik ensures data is both secure and readily accessible, adapting to the specific demands of businesses handling large datasets.

• Rapid Data Transfer: Achieves quick data migration to the cloud with minimal disruption.
• Scalability: Easily adapts to growing data requirements while maintaining performance.
• Direct Integration: Works seamlessly with cloud services to streamline processes.
• Enhanced Security: Offers advanced security measures to protect sensitive data.

• Cost Efficiency: Reduces storage costs by optimizing data transfer and storage methods.
• Time Savings: Automates repetitive tasks to focus time on strategic initiatives.
• Improved Resilience: Ensures data availability and disaster recovery readiness.

In industries like healthcare, finance, and technology, Rubrik NAS Cloud Direct is implemented to protect and manage large-scale data. Its ability to securely store sensitive information makes it a preferred choice for organizations needing compliance and reliability in data management.