Solutions

Metalogix StoragePoint

The Simple Case for BLOB Offloading and Archiving

There's is nothing efficient about storing a document's data stream in a RDBMS table. The name we all give these database-bound streams of data is BLOB, for Binary Large Object. They aren't relational in any way, you can't filter or sort on them, so why are they there?

BLOB I/O consumes a considerable amount of a SQL Server's CPU and Memory resources, leaving the SQL Engine with less resources to perform queries and transactional data operations.

Even if you could overcome the BLOB I/O challenges by investing more in SQL tier hardware, you're still left with the need to make incremental investments in often expensive tier 1 storage to store the content and/or address performance and/or disaster recoverability concerns. Offloading the BLOBs removes SQL Server from the BLOB I/O workflow and saves money if they are placed on a secondary, less expensive (i.e. NAS) storage tier.

While BLOB offloading does provide some level of cost savings, an exponentially larger cost savings can be achieved if BLOBs are archived to even less expensive tiers of storage as they age, become retained versions, or have their state changed.

StoragePoint's Intelligent BLOB Archiving and Tiered Storage capabilities give SharePoint admins and storage architects the tools they need to save money on storage while keeping the content highly findable and retrievable within SharePoint. The content is not removed from SharePoint to some 3rd party repository. It remains managed in SharePoint, with only the BLOB moved to another tier of storage.

With well-defined rules in place, an organization can find themselves only making incremental investments in storage capacity in their least expensive tiers, which will obviously result in significant savings. Watch StoragePoint Overview Video

StoragePoint...Enterprise Storage Management (ESM)

StoragePoint gives SharePoint administrators, SQL DBAs, and storage architects unparalleled flexibility and control over when, where, why, and how SharePoint content BLOBs are stored and managed throughout their lifecycle within SharePoint.

StoragePoint...Enterprise Storage Management (ESM)

When

StoragePoint leverages the SharePoint EBS (WSS3/MOSS 2007/SFS/MSS 2010) and SQL RBS (SFS/MSS2010) provider interfaces to externalize SharePoint content BLOBs in real-time. StoragePoint storage profiles determine when content is externalized and are configured by SharePoint Web Application, Content Database, or Site Collection.

StoragePoint also delivers an Intelligent Archiving capability that allows a SharePoint or site collection admin to define rules for moving BLOBs to less expensive tiers of storage as they age or become less relevant to the day-to-day operation of the business.

Additionally, StoragePoint ships with an Externalization timer job that can be scheduled to handle the offloading of BLOBs in existing environments.

Why
StoragePoint allowed admins to set size and file type filters to determine what size or type of BLOB should be offloaded. StoragePoint 3.0 takes that to a new level with the ability to filter what is offloaded by more granular SharePoint scopes, including site (web), list, and content type.

Admins can also define multiple endpoints per storage profile, so different sizes or types of content can be written to different endpoints within the same SharePoint scope (i.e. site collection) or multiple endpoints can be defined to handle failover conditions.

Where

StoragePoint introduces the concept of an Endpoint. An endpoint in its simplest form is a BLOB store location and has options that determine if the offloaded BLOBs are compressed and/or encrypted.

Endpoints can also be actively monitored within StoragePoint; with warnings generated or endpoints taken offline if they enter an error state or reach a admin-defined freespace threshold.

Generate warning notification

How
StoragePoint also features an asynchronous operations capability, so writes to lesser performing tiers of storage (i.e. the Cloud) can be performed without impacting the end user experience. A SharePoint admin simply sets up a system cache where BLOBs will be temporarily written until they are moved to their final destination.

Additionally, BLOBs can be externalized using the same folder structure and filename used in SharePoint instead of an arbitrary date/time folder structure and GUID for the filename.

Out-of-the-Box vs. Outside-the-Box

Capability	Native SharePoint	With StoragePoint	StoragePoint Notes
Manage Terabytes of Content in a Single Content Database	NOT Recommended	YES	With an average reduction in size of 90-95% you can manage 2TB+ of content in a single 100GB database
BLOB Encryption	NO	YES	Up to 256 bit AES
BLOB Compression	NO	YES	Zip 64/Deflate Out-of-the-box
Implement Tiered Storage/HSM	NO	YES	Try our ROI Calculator
Move content to less expensive tiers of storage as it ages	NO	YES	Intelligent BLOB Archiving
Move content to less expensive tiers of storage as its state changes	NO	YES	Intelligent BLOB Archiving
Move content to less expensive tiers of storage as it retains versions	NO	YES	Intelligent BLOB Archiving
Leverage Less Expensive NAS Storage	NO	YES	File System Adapter can connect to virtually any NAS that is CIFS or NFS compatible
Leverage Inexpensive Cloud Storage	NO	YES	Including Windows Azure (Watch Video)
Store BLOBs on WORM-Compliant Devices	NO	YES	Support for EMC® Centera and Hitachi HCAP Platforms
BLOB/File Shred on Delete	NO	YES	Read File Shred Overview
Use Windows DFS for BLOB Replication	NO	YES	Watch the video or Read the whitepaper