Inside ShadowXafe: A Look behind the Curtain at the Industry’s Most Powerful Data Protection and DRaaS Solution

Sophisticated MSPs know that trading basic backups for SLA-driven disaster recovery as service (DRaaS) offers outstanding profitability. But for many, DRaaS isn’t the easy-to-manage cash-cow it should be. To provide high availability and maximum data protection, MSPs may have to work with a complex array of vendors, solutions, and (sometimes messy) integrations, resulting in unnecessary management burden. The good news is that StorageCraft® ShadowXafe™ can change this—read on. In another post, we explore how ShadowXafe helps MSPs maximize profits and streamline management. It’s worth taking a deep-dive into the technology that makes it all possible. Outside of the unmatched business benefits of ShadowXafe, including simplified solution management, focused vendor relationships, and industry-leading data protection, here’s a look at the key technologies that make ShadowXafe unique.

ShadowXafe’s Advanced Architecture

We designed ShadowXafe with simplicity and effectiveness in mind. It provides simple ways for MSPs to manage DRaaS for both small and large clients. In order to support flexibility and scalability, ShadowXafe is built with a microservices-based architecture. This gives MSPs the ability to rapidly deploy service nodes to an unlimited number of sites, so endpoints can immediately benefit from data protection and industry-leading recovery tech. These are the main components of the ShadowXafe architecture:OneSystem® orchestrates the activities within Data Protection Services and provides real-time monitoring, reporting, and visibility from anywhere. [caption id="attachment_28864" align="alignright" width="250"] In order to support flexibility and scalability, ShadowXafe is built with a microservices-based architecture.[/caption]Data Protection MicroServices allow you to protect physical servers and virtual machines (VMs) and to back up, restore, replicate, and store data.

Instant Recovery with VirtualBoot

Because downtime is so costly for your clients, one of the most valuable services an MSP can offer is to get their clients’ business systems back online as quickly as possible, should there ever be an issue. Our patented VirtualBoot technology has been a mainstay for MSPs with the most aggressive recovery objectives. It allows a user to instantly spin up a backup as a VM in milliseconds so the business can continue using applications and systems literally just seconds after a downtime event. VirtualBoot can restore backup images whether they’re stored in a public cloud, a private cloud, or StorageCraft Cloud Services. This gives MSPs full control of where backups are stored, managed, and recovered. Outside of the lightning-quick recovery capabilities, VirtualBoot can also:

• Validate recovery points proactively and directly on primary storage, without degraded performance
• Act as a temporary solution to minimize downtime during server migration
• Test software packages
• Test application/kernel updates before production deployment
• Access applications from a specific point in time to export data from applications

Total Business Continuity

Because it tightly integrates with StorageCraft Cloud Services, ShadowXafe delivers complete protection in a cloud purpose-built for disaster recovery. MSPs can pre-stage site-wide failover processes so they can test or execute a failover with the click of a single button. Cloud Services features:

• One-click orchestrated failover so machines and services come up in a certain order
• The option to spin up the whole environment for up to 720 hours (30 days) per year free, meaning MSPs can test once per month and have hours left for an emergency failover
• Self-service portal so that no support from StorageCraft is required to test or restore

[caption id="attachment_28860" align="alignleft" width="300"] OneSystem is a management platform that makes it easy to deploy, manage, and create policies for all the ShadowXafe services.[/caption]

Burden-Free Management with OneSystem

OneSystem is a management platform that makes it incredibly easy to deploy, manage, and create policies for all the ShadowXafe services. What if you could instantly see the status of any client’s backup in one place? What if you could remotely recover a down server with VirtualBoot with a single click? What if you could seamlessly restore backups in VMware vCenter® or Hyper-V? OneSystem does all of this and more. Through one console, you can monitor a system’s health and create policies that account for SLA requirements like backup frequency, retention, target locations, and replication for offsite disaster recovery. Best of all, you can apply policies across any combination of virtual and physical machines through this single pane of glass.

Conclusion

For effective SLA-based data protection and DRaaS, it’s smart to use one seamless solution instead of a patchwork of point solutions. With simpler management, powerful backup and DR tech, as well as a team of talented professionals to support you, ShadowXafe is the most-effective, profitable way to provide data protection and DRaaS. Curious where ShadowXafe can roll into a killer DR offering? Get a custom demo from one of our sales engineers.