ARChive From Awnix: Policy-Based Backup, DR Arrives for OpenStack Clouds

Awnix, Inc. launched a DR and operations continuity solution for OpenStack clouds.

Called ARChive, the product solves a problem with OpenStack cloud operations in government, or any organization with critical business applications and data, by giving them a policy-based archive solution that meets strict requirements for DR and continuity of operations.

Complete OpenStack with SDN cloud restoration
OpenStack clouds running ARChive can use it to restore individual instances, whole tenants, or all tenants within the cloud, including all software-defined networking (SDN) configurations and security group settings, either locally or at a remote site. This gives clients a more straightforward path to operations continuity in the event of a disruption. In extreme cases an entire cloud and all of its tenants can be restored with one simple command.

OpenStack compatible with multi-site capabilities
ARChive integrates with the company’s Rival cloud or ARC, as well as any cloud that adheres to the OpenStack API and uses OpenStack Keystone authentication. The product supports single- or multi-site architectures, offers site-to-site data replication for off-site data protection and recovery, enables local or remote restores, and integrates with Ceph object storage.

Non-disruptive restores
Additionally, ARChive can perform full restores of tenants or instances alongside the original tenant or instance. This allows for use cases that include performing a non-disruptive DR test or creating an exact copy of a tenant for development. This can be done any time, and at each tenant owner’s own pace, without affecting the original tenant or other tenants within the cloud.

Automation and policy
Backups are automatically scheduled upon creation of instances according to policy, and the space-saving differential backups are all synthetic full backups. Clients can also customize backup schedule policy and backup promotion policies as they see fit. The product also offers a command-line interface for efficiency, suited to the needs of skilled cloud operators.

“OpenStack is finding more and more advocates among both our government and non-government client base,” said Rick Kundiger, CEO, Awnix. “By creating a robust policy-based backup and DR tool, we can now provide a simpler way for clients to use their OpenStack cloud and be confident that their services and data are protected. ARChive is a tool that has been built by cloud operators with the key features and functions that are critical to a product designed with cloud operators in mind.“

About Awnix
Awnix is a Kansas City-based technology and professional services company that specializes in designing and deploying Engineered Systems for OpenStack with SDN. Engineered systems help government and enterprise IT organizations attain the goals all IT organizations face – security, reliability, compliance, and cost efficiency. The firm is led by a team of technology experts with decades of experience serving the government and corporate markets.