Why Glacier for Data Archiving?

Low Cost per GB

Glacier charges $0.007 per GegaByte (GB) of data per year. This means archiving one TeraByte (TB) of data for a year costs $70. Compared to other service providers, who charge approximately $20 to $22 thousand per year for a TB of data, Glacier is astronomically cheaper. These prices are beneficial for enterprises and domestic consumers alike. For enterprises, it’s beneficial on a grander scale dictated by their utilization of the service.

Consider an enterprise that employs IP video surveillance. Continuous video surveillance piles up a lot of video footage. Due to compliance regulations, there’s a need to store all this footage. For enterprises to store this data through traditional means, they have to spend thousands of dollars. Instead of using traditional means, enterprises can use appliances capable of connecting to the cloud, and archive video footage into Glacier.

DNF security’s appliances support cloud connection. Enterprises employing DNF security’s products can use their cloud connect services to archive their data into Glacier.

 Durability: Data loss chances of less than 0.00000000001%

Amazon expresses the durability of all its storage services (S3, S3-IA, Glacier etc) as a series of 11 nines: 99.99999999999%. This means that if you have one hundred billion objects, then the chances of losing an object is one per year. Comparing this to traditional means of tape storage, the user acquires an archive storage service that is seven times more durable.

No hardware required: Zero Infrastructure Investment

For enterprises that need archiving storage for their software data or operational data, they do not need to invest in any infrastructure to use Glacier’s services.  If you’re an enterprise needing IP video storage, then you will not need to acquire infrastructure to enable your network video recorded (NVR) to connect to the cloud. This is also subject to whether or not your NVR supports cloud connect.

If you are using DNF security’s products, then your devices can connect to Glacier using StoneFly’s SCVM (Storage Concentrator Virtual Machine).

Scalability without Limitations

There are no limitations imposed on the storage space your data may take up. You can use as much as you want and you only pay for what you use. You do not have to purchase a fixed amount of storage space. Glacier charges you for what you consume, as you consume it. The storage space doesn’t just scale up, it also scales down. So if you choose to delete some data or if some data becomes redundant; then the total storage space consumed is reduced. You aren’t charged for the previously consumed space but instead for the currently consumed storage space.

On-demand Access to Archived Data

Glacier is specifically designed for data archiving, which means this data is not meant to be accessed immediately. Therefore, this data is provided on an on-demand basis. The request to access archived data takes about four to five hours to process. You can configure notifications which will tell you when your archived data is available for download.

As it is obvious, Glacier is not meant for situations where you need recovery time objects (RTOs) less than four or five hours.

Glacier: The Best Option for IP Video Archiving

Any enterprise using IP video surveillance for compliance reasons has to archive video footage and store it. Glacier is the best choice to archive data. The cost for using Glacier’s services is astronomically less than those incurred through traditional means. The data stored in Glacier is so durable that you barely lose any of it in years. It’s secure from malware and is managed through access control options, only authorized personnel can access it. Glacier’s archiving services don’t require any investment in backup appliances or any backup infrastructure; this adds to its cost efficiency and floor footprint savings.

Glacier provides unlimited amount of storage space. You pay for the storage space you use, not for a certain amount of storage space. Glacier also provides scalability options, where storage space scales up or down as per your requirements.  These features make Glacier the best option for enterprises searching for data archiving options.

All of these appealing features provided by Glacier are easily accessible using DNF cloud connection. All of DNF security’s products are capable of connecting to the cloud and storing your data in Glacier.