NAS filer on AWS that is easy to use?

[itperson]

Does anybody have experience with a NAS filer on Amazon Web Services that is easy to use?

 

[Kris404]

Does anybody have experience with a NAS filer on Amazon Web Services that is easy to use?

Try Redhat Storage Server (GlusterFS AMIs) across two AZs.

This might be easier to manage (though I never tried it): SoftNAS VSA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17lc7Qw4BgQ

 

[itperson]

Softnas?

Does anyone have experience using Softnas? Is it easy to use? Does is handle the problems with CIFS & NFS?

 

[itperson]

I haven't gotten a response on SoftNAS yet. Does anyone have experience with it?

 

[stevech]

$50/TB/mo is pricing for pros. And someone with very fast Internet connectivity.
https://www.softnas.com/wp/products/pricing-and-plans/

https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/B00EQE493U
talks about free NAS used with micro instances on AWS. I played with that. It's free for 1st year. Seemed irrelevant for consumers.

For Pros, first order concern is Information Assurance/security.

 

[itperson]

Experience with SoftNAS.

Hi stevech. Thanks for responding.

What's your experience with SoftNAS? Is it easy to use?

 

[stevech]

I looked at SoftNAS.
I won't be using it. Too slow via my 30/5 ISP.
And there's that security issue looming.

I'll continue using my own small Synology NAS and triple backup - with no recurring costs other than negligible cost of electricity for it.

 

[wallard376]

I've used SoftNAS:

-easy to deploy and set up, GUI was easy to use
-It has cross-zone availability and RAID to address failure of underlying hardware
-on demand hourly payment on AWS account
-ability to add storage to the storage pools by just adding more EBS volumes overcomes the 1 TB EBS volume storage limit
-very secure product, when correctly configured​

I have no idea what security problems with SoftNAS stevech is talking about.

 

[Steve_Zadara]

Try Zadara Storage

Why not give Zadara a try, we provide a virtual private storage array on a low latency direct connect to AWS, we provision real drives, dedicate CPU, drives and cache to each customers VPSA, encryption in flight and at rest. have a look at Craig Carls AWS Summit cast here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbuiIwEOCAs#t=1824
We also can setup free trial.
If you want a secure Highly Available NFS / CIFS iSCSI solution that doesn't need to to create 2 EC2 instances to provide the HA and mirroring to AWS workloads then this could be a more cost effective solution and much simpler to implement.

 

[wallard376]

I looked at SaaS products like Zadara and found that they have security problems because of separating the data from the compute workloads into a 3rd party data center on 3rd party hardware and software (the data is stored outside of AWS’ data center across a network connection, which also introduces additional latencies and points of failure, by the way).

And now with AWS built-in encryption for EBS volumes that allow complete control via personal AWS accounts and a VPC, the AWS and SoftNAS combination provides the level of control and security required.

Zadara doesn’t provide a cloud NAS like SoftNAS. It’s 3rd party network storage, not a NAS within AWS (which was the original question that was posted). It’s also a bit like comparing apples and oranges – they’re both fruit but also very different in flavor.

 

[stevech]

I looked at SaaS products like Zadara and found that they have security problems because of separating the data from the compute workloads into a 3rd party data center on 3rd party hardware and software (the data is stored outside of AWS’ data center across a network connection, which also introduces additional latencies and points of failure, by the way).

And now with AWS built-in encryption for EBS volumes that allow complete control via personal AWS accounts and a VPC, the AWS and SoftNAS combination provides the level of control and security required.

Zadara doesn’t provide a cloud NAS like SoftNAS. It’s 3rd party network storage, not a NAS within AWS (which was the original question that was posted). It’s also a bit like comparing apples and oranges – they’re both fruit but also very different in flavor.

So, do you think Amazon is not reencrypting before storage? Using keys that are restricted-eyes within Amazon, but necessary in order to respond to court orders? And can be compromised by an employee/consultant?

The only way to surely protect is for you to encrypt before transmitting, and use encryption that is 100% under your control, and not provided by the on line service. Like TruCrypt or SafeHouse Software - each being independent.

 

[Steve_Zadara]

Comparing Apples with Apples

Some interesting comments let me try and bring some light on a few things.

Zadara provides NFS / CIFS and iSCSI with HA built in, you don't need to stand up an additional EC2 instance to run the NAS or 2 to create HA, we provide access to the physical disks, dedicate CPU, Cache and networking so predictable performance.
We present the storage on a low latency direct connect to AWS typically 1-2ms latency.
This is a true multi-tenant solution, each customer has their VPSA mapped to their AWS account using a VPG in a separate network. We have multiple 10GB interfaces into each AWS facility so redundancy is built in. Our architecture is a scale out so a true multi-tenant cloud scale.
You can use CHAP and IPSEC to secure the data in flight, you can encrypt each volume, the key is not stored on disk by Zadara, neither we, AWS or anyone else but the customer holds this key.
The 3rd Party data centres that you talk about are hosting many of the worlds cloud infrastructures and are ISO 27001 accredited. If you do your research you may be surprised at who is hosting who within these 3rd party DC's.
Interesting the Comment that Zadara does not offer a Cloud NAS like SoftNAS.
To create a HA NAS with SoftNAS do you not need to create multiple EBS volumes and RAID them, then mirror this? So the Cloud NAS in this terminology is the fact that the NAS element is running on EC2 instances on EBS volumes. suppose it depends on how you define Cloud then. I always understood this as a turn up turn down pay for what you use and you don't care what it is running on as long as it meets your SLA after all you cannot dictate your hardware to AWS etc. can you?
Also you need to pick your EC2 instances correctly as you have northbound and southbound traffic through the SoftNAS heads, so you need to ensure you have enough network speed within these two instances to handle the data throughput and the mirroring. I suppose at the end of the day it depends on what you want to achieve and what levels of performance you need, if you want small scale, HA and performance does not matter too much then maybe the cost of SoftNAS on EBS is a better fit for you. If you want Enterprise storage in the cloud on AWS then its probably better to let Zadara customer s do the talking have a look at this case studyhttp://www.marketwatch.com/story/with-800000000-image-files-to-store-at-amazon-web-services-realty-data-uses-zadara-storage-and-rightbrain-networks-to-get-emc-caliber-performance-for-less-2014-06-24
I think the important thing is to decide what you want to achieve and at what cost, running XLarge instances to get a decent I/O performance may hurt the pocket a little after adding SoftNAS, PIOPS and 2 x EBS Storage. why not use the free trial option at Zadara to compare then decide.

 

[wallard376]

For companies who want to keep their data contained within their own control and their AWS account, an additional 3rd party data center outside of AWS is a deal-killer. The Amazon AWS data is trustworthy, and supported well by the EBS volumes plus SSD caching with SoftNAS that provides the IOPS. Picking EC2 instances is easy, and changing instance sizes at any time is just a few mouse clicks away.

SoftNAS's ability to archive data, SQL transaction logs and other backups to cheap, Amazon S3 disks that provide high redundancy mass storage is favorable. So it's certainly not all about EBS volumes at all; SoftNAS provides a complete cloud storage solution on AWS.

SoftNAS offers a free 30-day trial -- I think all serious vendors do today.

 

[stevech]

Contemplating personal use, in lieu of a small NAS, did I read Amazon's pricing correctly...
smallest capacity offering:
$1,450 per year plus hourly use fee.

and my ISP's 30/5Mbps speed constraints.