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Data Archiving System: Assureon
The Nexsan Assureon™ is an archive system that is ideal for primary storage optimization, regulatory and corporate compliance, and the secure, long-term retention of files. Assureon offloads data from primary storage to free up space for active data and greatly reduces the size, cost and complexity of backups. Security features comply with corporate and governmental regulatory requirements including HIPAA, SOX and SEC-17. Stringent data integrity features like file-fingerprinting ensure the file you save is the file you will retrieve regardless of time. Assureon is easy to administer, operates transparently without disruption to users or applications and can reside on-premise, in the cloud, or both.
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[restab title=”Overview”]
EASY TO MANAGE
Imation’s Nexsan Assureon archive system is a complete, turn-key archiving solution for fixed content data like document archiving, email archiving, medical/PACS archiving and the general archiving of all unstructured data.
All local and remote Assureon online archive systems can be managed from a web browser within a single-pane-of-glass. The web-based GUI makes it easy to create retention rules and associate them with files and folders. Once installed onto the Windows Servers and configured, the Assureon Windows Client copies or moves files onto Assureon leaving a small shortcut file behind, so user access to the file remains the same. Hyper-speed restores are available by using the shortcuts for immediate access as files are restored in the background.
Users are authenticated with Active Directory or with digital certificates to ensure they can only get to files for which they are authorized. Audit trails report on user’s activities such as file accesses and denials. Legal holds can be easily placed on any set of files, overriding their original retention periods.
Individual users do not change how they work as the archiving is transparent to them. Files and folders, though offloaded, appear to be in the same familiar locations thanks to the shortcut files that are left behind. Once archived, prior versions of files are available with the right click of the user’s mouse in Windows Explorer. A web-based GUI makes it easy to search the entire archive with role-based restrictions. All existing applications work unaltered with Assureon because there are no special APIs required.
Each time a file is saved, it is fingerprinted so its history and contents cannot be altered after the fact. This write-once, read many time (WORM) storage architecture is part of how Assureon meets even the strictest regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, SOX and SEC17.
Two copies of all files, along with their fingerprints, are stored on separate RAID disk sets. Two Assureon systems can be replicated to each other to protect against a site failure. Files are continually verified against their fingerprint, automatically repaired by their copies, and safeguarded by RAID disk arrays to ensure the utmost file protection and integrity. Native active/active replication protects against site disasters with automatic failover, while delivering increased performance over active/passive systems.
The Assureon data archive system supports both compliant and non-compliant policies simultaneously while competitors require two systems to be purchased in order to provide both. All files can optionally be encrypted with AES-256. The built-in key manager ensures that all keys are safely stored in 3 locations worldwide. Industry-leading single point deletion technology permits Assureon to effectively delete all copies of a file worldwide by destroying the file’s encryption key.
Multi-tenancy features enable service providers to offer archive-as-a-service. This also allows large organizations to achieve strict separation of departments or projects. An on-premise Assureon disk archive can replicate to a cloud-based archive service, which is powered by Assureon
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[restab title=”Features & Benefits”]
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Features |
Benefits |
|---|---|
|
Assureon Client |
Copies or moves files from Windows onto the Assureon, leaving a small shortcut file behind. |
|
Hyper speed Restores |
Because restores only require the shortcut files to be restored, time is significantly reduced. |
|
CIFS/NFS NAS Interfaces via Assureon Edge |
Easy to use for all Windows and UNIX/Linux users and applications without changes being required. No development or use of special APIs are needed. |
|
Fingerprinting |
When a file or object is archived, it is fingerprinted, so its history and contents cannot be altered after the fact (WORM). |
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Encryption |
Each file can be optionally encrypted with a unique AES-256 encryption key to ensure security. Three copies of the key exist: one onsite and two at separate remote managed locations. |
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File Integrity Checks |
Files are stored twice, and a background process continually scans files and repairs them, using their copies even if they are not being accessed, if necessary. |
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Active / Active Replication |
Replicated Assureons are active/active, meaning that as long as both are healthy, they can service different requests, providing increased utilization of resources over active/passive architectures. |
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Active / Active Ingestion |
Assureon allows for ingestion of data at two sites in a replicated configuration. |
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Cloud-based Archiving |
An Assureon can be configured as a Virtual Assureon. This allows for multiple secure applications, departments or even separate companies to operate with complete physical, logical and encryption separation. It is an ideal cloud platform to offer Archive-as-a-Service. |
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Active Directory Integration |
Assureon uses Active Directory integration to authenticate users |
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Certificate-based Authentication |
Certificate-based authentication can be used as an alternative to Active Directory authentication. |
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Powerful Search |
Assureon Explorer, a web-based GUI permits easy searches of the entire archive with role-based restrictions. The Assureon Explorer also allows end users to restore their own files, if allowed by access and disposition policy. |
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Management Console |
Single-pane-of-glass web-based management with role-based security. |
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Audit Trails |
Track all users that were permitted or denied file access. |
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Retention Policies |
Assureon makes it easy to define retention policies and to associate those policies to folders that are being archived for compliant and non-compliant environments. |
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Single-instance Storage |
Identical files are only stored once, saving disk space and increasing performance. |
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Legal Hold |
Assureon provides legal holds that can override retention policies. |
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File Versioning |
Assureon can support multiple versions of a file and is configuraable by the administrator. |
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AutoMAID® |
AutoMAID is the industry’s most sophisticated power management system. Drives containing infrequently accessed data can be powered down when not being for significant energy savings. For more on AutoMAID. |
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Ingestion Throttling |
The Assureon server has the ability to limit the speed at which the client can ingest data when the server is busy. This prevents the client from using up too much of the Assureon server’s resources. |
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Virtual Shortcuts |
Instead of creating shortcuts on disk the Assureon client has the ability to have the shortcuts reside purely in memory. This facilitates extremely fast recovery time. If the Assureon Client server goes down; you need only bring up another machine, install the Assureon Client on it and the files appear instantaneously. |
|
Virtual Shortcuts with Clustered NAS |
When using virtual shortcuts with clustered NAS, you can set up multiple servers as an active/active cluster configuration. Each server has access to all files. You do not need to deploy Microsoft clustering or Windows Enterprise. |
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Storage Pools |
When you create a file system, Assureon enables you to expand the file system onto multiple disk arrays (volumes). This allows for more efficient use of disk space and simplifies system management for the administrator. |
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[restab title=”Support”]
Next Business Day support provides Monday through Friday, 8:00AM – 5:00PM (your local time excluding Nexsan holidays) on-site service with “Next Business Day” response. Replacement parts are shipped via overnight service and if requested, a service representative will be onsite between 8:00AM – 5:00PM the following business day.
Business day access to the Nexsan technical support is the standard level subscribed for Assureon
On-site 7x24support is available, providing a 4 hour response for customers within a certain distance of a repair center. Replacement parts are hand delivered with a service representative that will be onsite within 4 hours following diagnosis of hardware failure.
For your convenience 24 x7 access to the Nexsan technical support team is available.
You can manage all local and remote Assureons from a single-pane-of-glass with Assureon’s built-in web-based management GUI. Users and administrators are authenticated by Active Directory or via digital certificates to provide easy to use role-based administration.Restores for servers that are being archived are lightening fast as only the shortcut files left behind need to be restored – not the entire file contents.The system can be configured to constantly audit its files and repair them, if necessary, without the need for user intervention. Once Assureon is installed in a replicated configuration, they run continuously to automatically protect from data loss due to a disaster or malicious intent.
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