The Enterprise File Sync and Share (EFSS) EasiShare presence is growing rapidly in the region, as enterprises and organizations are quickly redefining the boundaries of the new workspace. Work files and folders are no longer confined to the shared network drives within the local area network. It is going beyond to the “Work from Anywhere” phenomenon that is quickly becoming the way of life. Breaking away from the usual IT security protection creates a new challenge, but EasiShare was conceived with security baked into its DNA. With the recent release, Version 10, file sharing security and resiliency are stronger than ever.
[ Note: I have blogged about EasiShare previously. Check out the 2 links below ]
Public clouds are the obvious choice but for organizations to protect their work files, and keep data secure, services like Dropbox for Business, Microsoft® Office 365 with OneDrive and Google® Workspace are not exactly the kind of file sharing with security as their top priority. A case in point was the 13-hour disruption to Wasabi Cloud last week, where the public cloud storage provider’s domain name, wasabisys.com, was suspended by their domain name registrar because of malware discrepancy at one of its endpoints. There were other high profile cases too.
- [ Dec 2020 ] Wasabi Cloud Storage knocked offline for hosting malware
- [ Dec 2020 ] Google® outage shows Public Cloud Computing is not “Invincible”
- [ Sep 2020 ] Microsoft® outage brings down Azure, Office 365 and Teams
- [ Nov 2020 ] Prolonged AWS outage takes down a big chunk of the Internet
- [ Aug 2020 ] Zoom apologizes after partial global outage
This is where EasiShare shines, because it is a secure, private EFSS solution for the enterprise and beyond, because business resiliency is in the hands and control of the organization that owns it, not the public cloud service providers.
EasiShare unifies with TrueNAS for secure business resiliency
EasiShare is just one several key business solutions iXsystems™ in Asia Pacific Japan is working closely with, and there is a strong, symbiotic integration with the TrueNAS® platform. Both have strong security features that fortify business resiliency, especially when facing the rampant ransomware scourge.
Value of a Single Unified Data Services Platform
A storage array is not a solution. It is just a box that most vendors push to sell. A storage must be a Data Services Platform. Readers of my blog would know that I have spoken about the Data Services Platform 3 years ago and you can read about it:
There are schools of thoughts about having dedicated SAN storage arrays and dedicated NAS arrays. Likewise for Object Storage. A few will have the combination of SAN and NAS or NAS and object but not many will have all 3 – SAN, NAS, Object – on a single data services platform.
The Unification of the all 3 storage delivery protocols – SAN, NAS Object – is important to consolidate not just for the storage and data management aspects, but also for tightening and fine-tuning cyber security controls as well.
iXsystems™ TrueNAS® is one of the most affordable Unified Data Services Platforms for Enterprises, Small Medium Businesses and soon, into the High Performance Computing segment as well.
Symbiotic Integration for Business Resiliency
Each technology cannot stand alone. The tight integration of both EasiShare and TrueNAS® fortifies business resiliency, where organizations can recover quickly and restore the data and file services to serve their respective business objectives. Business resiliency is a critical component in every organization’s digital transformation initiative.
EasiShare is a 3-tier architecture which runs on the Microsoft® SQL Server database. Its business logic is defined by the Application Server .NET framework developed by Inspire Tech, the company behind EasiShare. The front facing file services part is served via Microsoft® IIS, which can be further replicated in the organization’s DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) for seamless remote access with laptops, tablets and mobile devices.
The high level network architecture of the EasiShare 3-tier technology is shown below.
The deep integration of EasiShare with the TrueNAS Unified Data Services Platform – SAN, NAS, Object
The TrueNAS® Unified Data Services Platform fits in perfectly into the EasiShare architecture. The SQL Server high performance SAN storage is served via iSCSI or Fibre Channel, while the App Server and Web Server files can be stored into NAS folders from TrueNAS®. Lastly, the user files and folders can be consolidated via NAS folders or the Object Storage buckets of the TrueNAS®.
This single platform consolidation, as mentioned, truly tightens the security measures and policies, reduces cyber security gaps and enhances the resiliency of the enterprise file services.
TrueNAS 1-2-3 Approach to File Services Resiliency
TrueNAS® has 3 key features (among many) that enhance the security of EasiShare at the data services layer.
- Snapshots for file and folder level recovery
- Object storage for immutable content
- Replication for Disaster Recovery
Ransomware disrupts file services. The threat is getting more rampant, and organizations have to be diligent to design and implement business resiliency into its architecture. EasiShare in itself already has strong security features but these security measures are at the user and application layer.
[ 1. One ]: TrueNAS® enhances EasiShare security resiliency with storage security technology at the data layer. Snapshots, which I have described in my earlier blog, help to recover from infected files by reverting to previous uncontaminated versions. And the recovery time can be in seconds or minutes, depending on the size of the recovery and the number of files involved.
[ 2. Two ]: EasiShare user files and folders also can be stored in Object Storage buckets in TrueNAS®. Because of its inherent immutable nature, object storage is a strong deterrent to ransomware. The content of the object cannot be tampered with, and thus suitable as a secure data construct against ransomware infection. TrueNAS® S3 buckets are powered by MinIO.
[ 3. Three ]: To protect against site disaster, the SQL Server can be configured with HA capability and AAG (Always On Availability Group). HA and AAG offer resiliency at the application layer. This is strengthened at the data services layer with TrueNAS© cross-site ZFS Replication. With dual replication, at the application layer as well as the data services layer, the EasiShare+TrueNAS® combo helps organizations construct a well-architected business resiliency solution for continuous file services.
Security and Resilience – Both are a must
We cannot just have cyber security measures without including cyber resilience measures as well. The digital world has become such a dangerous realm where both have to be in place to ensure continuity of business and the services that it provide.
Thus, the Enterprise File Services security measures of EasiShare are further intensified and improved with the tight integration of TrueNAS® Data Services Platform. It is something many organizations should start to consider attentively and carefully in this whole new world.
