HubStor Certifies With Microsoft Azure Data Box

HubStor, Inc. announced that its software is certified to work with the Azure Data Box, a convenient method of transferring data to the Azure cloud platform.

The Data Box provides a secure, tamper-resistant method for quick and simple transfer of data to Azure. HubStor performed end-to-end validation testing of the Data Box and published a blog post detailing the evaluation and user experience. In HubStor’s test, 32TB of file data representing 33 million objects was loaded onto the Azure Data Box and archived into HubStor cloud storage platform.

Microsoft process for Azure Data Box

Customers order the Data Box through the Azure portal. The device connects to an existing network, and customers load their data onto the Data Box using standard NAS protocols (SMB/CIFS) where it is automatically protected using 256-AES encryption and then return-shipped to Microsoft for loading into cloud storage. HubStor then ingests the data to provide cloud data management, search, tiering and compliance archiving exclusively on Azure.

“The logistics of seeding unstructured data in the cloud can be a challenge for organizations when their internet connection is too slow or busy to support the transfer of large data sets,” said Brad Janes, VP of product management, HubStor. “With multiple 10Gb/s LAN connections and overnight shipping, the Azure Data Box can move 85TB of data into HubStor in less than 10 days.“

A common shortcoming with drive-shipping is the loss of the information’s original metadata and access rights from the source file system. HubStor can synchronize the source attributes with the data seeded through the Data Box.

After seeding the initial load with the Data Box, HubStor can virtualize the data on-premises after it arrives in the cloud so that the content appears within the original file system and remains accessible without consuming local storage space. HubStor’s software can also deliver active monitoring of file directories going forward in order to capture incremental changes such as new files, changes to existing files, and folder and permission updates.

“HubStor provides intelligent data management and synchronization between customer datacenters and the Microsoft Azure Cloud,” said Dean Paron, director, Azure Data Box team, Microsoft. “We think HubStor is a great match for Azure Data Box which helps IT teams migrate data to the cloud when the network isn’t the right option.“

HubStor is available for use with the Azure Data Box.