Change-based technologies and bandwidth optimization have made features like remote replication a checkbox item on many product spec sheets. But how do you stand up that remote system and get it filled with the data set it’s supposed to maintain? Moving any more than a few files can take more time and bandwidth (and money) than many IT organizations have available. 

A state of denial seems to exist about the potential need to move more data, a lot more data, than gets trickled across the pipes during an update to these off-site devices. When we don’t have a good answer for a question, human nature is to ignore the question. In this case, the reliability of most IT gear usually keeps this question from coming up in the first place. But the fact remains that there really is no good answer for how to get a multi-terabyte data set transferred from one place to another — it has to be carried. For this job, tape has historically been the most appropriate technology, albeit one that’s left a lot to be desired.

In my last blog post, I talked about RDX, the removable disk cartridge technology that’s an interesting solution for data archive. Well, it’s also a great way to transfer data when you have to carry it, physically. RDX drives have capacities comparable to LTO tapes, but they’re random access and much more conducive to these kinds of file transfers than serial devices. Historically, large data transfers with tape meant first backing all that data up and then running a restore on those data sets at the other end. RDX is a random access device, one that can support a file system. So you don’t need to back up data at one end and run a restore on the other end.

When the user doesn’t have a remote replication system that needs to be set up, RDX can provide another solution for off-site data transfer. RDX drives (or ‘“docks,” as they’re called; the disk drives are actually built into the cartridges) are also integrated into appliances, which present themselves as a NAS box to the network. This creates a file server that can easily collect data from anywhere in the environment to be taken off-site.

Aside from being a solution that your customers may need, for a VAR, RDX drives can also be a great tool for your professional services team to use implementing other solutions. After all, when you put in a system that includes some kind of remote replication, the data has to get there somehow — and you might not have a station wagon.

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What is RDX?

RDX is a removable, SATA-connected hard disk drive built into a special cartridge with the same form factor as an LTO tape. The dock that reads this disk drive cartridge is similar in size to a tape drive and can be integrated into appliances that hold multiple docks and cartridges.

The RDX cartridge consists of a 2.5-inch disk drive suspended in a shock-proof case (passing a 1-meter drop test onto a concrete floor). It inserts into the dock like a linear tape cartridge, providing sustained throughput of 45 MB per second (MBps), or more than 100 MB per hour. The RDX drive also has WORM data recording capabilities and complies with multiple industry regulations governing data retention, including authenticity, accessibility, confidentiality, etc. It’s also an approved alternative to optical disk storage.

User appeal

RDX is essentially a recording medium with the reliability and random access of a disk drive combined with the automated handling and portability of a tape cartridge — at a cost that’s comparable to tape. Being disk media, the RDX drive provides a true disk-to-disk backup capability and is compatible with most backup software applications. After backup, the cartridges can be taken off-site, like a tape cartridge, using the same carriers and processes off-site vendors provide for tape.

As an archive, RDX leverages the medium’s WORM and data compliance features for long-term retention. It also supports archive software common in the healthcare, video and document imaging industries. Some manufacturers have appliances that present themselves as a NAS file server, providing storage for backup and archive in the same device. This fits the small/medium enterprise use case described in above, where the appliance format and consolidation of storage devices is appealing. Users can have a single storage target for both applications, which generate data to be taken off-site and which tend to overlap somewhat in many organizations anyway. 

VAR appeal

The RDX drive is a very interesting technology, one that may provide a solution you need to fill a hole in your line card. While the target for this technology has been mostly medium- sized and smaller enterprises and remote offices, the value proposition is very unique and should be a good topic for generating appointments in general. For VARs interested in this technology, visit the RDX Storage Alliance website. It tells more about the market segments that fit this solution and gives the names of member vendors that manufacture RDX products.

RDX drives have some other characteristics that may appeal to VARs as well. We’ll look at those in the next post.

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