Tuxera Brings SMB Compression Feature to Linux Environments

Tuxera, Inc. announced that its SMB server implementation, Fusion File Share, offers transparent compression to platforms outside of Windows.

Compression is being adopted in the storage industry as a feature in memory hardware, file system implementations, and also networking protocols such as Microsoft Corp.‘s server messaging block technology (SMB). The ability to compress files inline during transfer can reduce bandwidth and transfer time. Microsoft released the transparent compression feature to their SMB protocol spec in early 2019. However, Tuxera implemented SMB compression outside of Windows, bringing this in-demand feature to Linux environments in enterprises.

Remote working, virtualization, and large datasets burden networks
SMB is a ubiquitously used protocol for sharing files over a network. Migrating or copying large or many files over networks, including VPNs, can place strains on network performance, cause bottlenecks, and take valuable time to wait for the transfers to complete.

Remote working, data-driven applications with volumes of data, and the growing use of virtualization technologies are all placing demands on networks around the globe. This is especially challenging for organizations or hosting-solution vendors that transfer data over long distances with many remote locations and in potentially high-latency conditions. The ability to do inline compression during data transfers using the SMB protocol will substantially alleviate these challenges. The feature is especially beneficial when moving large files or big data over networks – such as VM images, raw media files, devops, engineering, and life science data, or other applications with large files.

Compression  ‘game-changer’ to SMB protocol development
In March 2020, Microsoft Principal Program Manager Ned Pyle, called compression a ‘game changer’ for SMB. Additionally, he presented the feature as ‘long-awaited’- with substantially less network congestion, low CPU usage, and drastically reduced file transfer time.

“We’re really excited to be the first to deliver SMB compression to enterprise customers,” says Heinrich von Keler, director, enterprise solutions. “Windows is a dominant force in the market, though the enterprise world is heavily reliant on Linux as well and is adopting Linux at an exceeding rate. By bringing SMB compression to Linux, we can open up entirely new use cases for enterprise customers – especially for hosted storage and SDS vendors. Operations that were typically done through other protocols can now be done in a cost-saving, time-saving manner using the widely-adopted SMB protocol instead.“

Optimization and virtualization two main use cases for compression
“SMB compression is best put to use when network conditions are not optimal, or higher overall system efficiency is required, or hardware and power cost saving is a major factor. If the network is a bottleneck, then compression can speed up file transfers and reduce waiting time. After compression, there is less data during the transfer over the network,” says Szabolcs Szakacsits, CTO. “This feature is also highly useful in Hyper-V or virtual environments, where there are large disk images containing lots of repeated byte patterns. Those repeating bytes are easy to compress and can be moved rapidly over the network. So very large containers or disk images used by VMs can be migrated to another server with minimal downtime in between.“

Tests reveal that Fusion File Share by Tuxera performs compression on par with Microsoft.‘s implementation, with transfer speed-ups between 30-300% and network bandwidth savings between 20-70%, depending on the data pattern.

More data, more Microsoft, and more virtualization bring SMB to center stage
Tuxera’s implementation of the SMB compression feature comes in context of a report from IDC on the State of the Global Datasphere. The analyst firm estimates the world will create, capture, copy, and consume 59ZB of data in 2020. This number will continue to grow rapidly, as the world will create more than 3x the data over the next 5 years than in the previous five. Moreover, the IDC notes that the growth of the Global DataSphere is driven more by data consumed and analyzed, rather than data created. This particular insight ties in closely with the sharing of data and files over networks for multiple users and applications, which is the main use for the SMB protocol.

Concurrently, Microsoft solutions, where the SMB protocol was born, are becoming more dominant in the enterprise market as a whole. A recent survey by IT-marketplace Spiceworks revealed that 79% of respondents said their business primarily runs both Windows client and server OSs. Moreover, Spiceworks indicates that business adoption of server virtualization will grow to 97% until 2022, with a 60% of businesses using or considering using Hyper-V as their preferred solution.

Company‘s SMB roadmap focused on performance, scalability, and advanced features
The roadmap for Fusion File Share SMB implementation is to keep pace with Microsoft’s latest features, including enterprise-grade ones such as compression. The company has a long-standing technical, business, and legal relationship with Microsoft and are part of their licensing program for the exFAT file system and SMB technology.

Fusion File Share’s transparent SMB compression feature has been built based on Microsoft’s documentation, ensuring compatibility between Windows, Mac, and Linux environments. The ‘transparent’ aspect of this feature is beneficial to end users, as no interaction is required on their part to compress or decompress files. Transparent compression is ready for deployment with Fusion File Share to any interested parties.

Resources:
Microsoft, 2020, SMB Compression: Deflate your IO    
IDC, 2020, IDC’s Global DataSphere Forecast Shows Continued Steady Growth in the Creation and Consumption of Data    
Spiceworks, 2020, Storage Trends in 2020 and Beyond     
Spiceworks, 2020 The 2020 State of Virtualization Technology    
Video: Fusion File Share by Tuxera failover and recovery in Kubernetes

Read also:
From Tuxera, Reliance EdgeNAND Integrated Flash File System for Managing Decision-Quality Data in Reliability Devices
Combines optimal fail-safety with rapid responsiveness and cost-efficiency, providing compact and complete storage solution for systems with NAND flash.
March 6, 2020 | Press Release
Collaboration of Tuxera and Microsoft Through exFAT File System Licensing
Customizable to suit high-capacity flash storage needs
August 20, 2019 | Press Release
Tuxera Agrees to Acquire Datalight
In embedded file systems, and flash management and acceleration software
June 6, 2019 | Press Release