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w w w . e g n y t e . c o m
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved. | Revised Dec 30, 2012
Cloud-enable your NetApp Storage with
EgnytePlus™ File Sharing Infrastructure
White Paper
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Cloud Storage 3
File Sharing and Collaboration 3
Email Attachments 3
Consumer Cloud Storage Services 4
File Sharing Infrastructure Requirements 4
Traditional File Sharing Infrastructure 5
Next Generation File Sharing Infrastructure 6
EgnytePlus for NetApp – Next Generation File Sharing 6
EgnytePlus for NetApp – Benefits 8
Expanding the Storage Tiering Model 9
Local Tier 9
Mobile Tier 9
Sharing Tier 10
Replication Tier 10
Archive Tier 10
Additional Features of EgnytePlus for NetApp 11
Complete Control 11
Permission (ACL) Enforcement 11
Synchronization 11
Granular Folder Selection 12
Enterprise-class Security, Data Protection and Compliance 12
EgnytePlus for NetApp Summary 12
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Cloud Storage
Over the past decade, the progress of the cloud storage industry has directly tracked the growth of the
high-technology industry. The maturation of technology, including cost-effective high speed WANs, high
density disk drives, and the standardization of protocols has led to the increasing adoption of the cloud
storage industry.
File Sharing and Collaboration
The advent of Network Attached Storage (NAS) in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s allowed IT departments
to satisfy both user and corporate needs of centralized data storage. The commoditization of cloud
storage services in the last 5 years has enabled IT departments to both change the economics of data
storage as well as change the IT perspective - such that IT departments are now providing storage as a
service, regardless of the storage implementation (internal architecture or cloud).
Users expect their files to be backed-up and archived when stored under IT storage systems. In
addition, various enterprise storage features such as thin provisioning, storage virtualization as well as
cloud storage services make it appear to the end-user that the storage system has infinite capacity. This
leads to a significant level of confidence in the reliability and availability of their data.
However, in today’s business world, employees no longer work individually. Collaboration and team-
work is de-rigueur. Thus, simple file storage is insufficient. In order to facilitate collaboration, the sharing
of and accessibility of data has become a necessity.
Email Attachments
The first and easiest method to share files is through emails. Users routinely attach files to emails as a
means of collaboration. However, this has drastic negative impact on the email system. When a user
attaches a file to an email, the file is stored under the user’s sent mail folder, as well as in the recipient’s
inbox folder. If there are 20 recipients of the attachment, 21 copies of the exact same file are created,
clogging the email system and taking up valuable email storage space.
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Another restriction of email file sharing is file size limitations. Due to the increase in average file sizes,
bandwidth limitations and increased risks of harmful email attachments, administrators are limiting the
size of email attachments. The typical restriction is no more than 5 MB.
Consumer Cloud Storage Services
Consumer cloud storage services offer a limited amount of storage for free, with additional storage
upgrades from subscription or referral. Some of these services directly enable file sharing by providing
publicly accessible links to files stored in their accounts. Users are also able to share files by making
account id and password available to collaborators.
These consumer cloud services bypass corporate controls and business policies. The IT department is
left with zero visibility, auditability or control over what happens to corporate data. Companies are
quickly blocking these services to mitigate their risks.
File Sharing Infrastructure Requirements
To satisfy user demands, enterprises have five key requirements for scalable file sharing infrastructure:
The ability to share many files
The ability to share large files
The ability to share with many collaborators
The ability to share with many offices
The ability to access on multiple devices
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Traditional File Sharing Infrastructure
To satisfy today’s user requirements for file sharing, many IT departments are still implementing
yesterday’s technologies. For basic file sharing between sites, IT often deploys a dedicated site-to-site
VPN, along with storage mirroring or replication software. This implementation is costly, complex to
setup and maintain, and does not scale for large files or large volumes of files.
VPNs are also used to provide employees access to files behind the corporate firewall. However,
employee VPNs require VPN servers, additional per-user provisioning, and do not scale. In addition,
VPNs do not provide the ability for employees to share files with non-employee business partners. For
this requirement, IT departments deploy dedicated FTP servers. However, these servers require IT
administrators to configure user names and passwords every time a file needs to be shared with a new
employee, placing additional burdens on IT.
The current toolset available to corporate IT allows for the delivery of a bare minimum level of file sharing
support. However, these tools do not scale well, are costly to implement and maintain, and, worst of all,
do not support mobile devices.
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Next Generation File Sharing Infrastructure
Corporate IT departments are now tasked with meeting requirements from multiple constituencies:
CIO – ensure data integrity and reliability; prevent data loss or leakage
Corporate IT – easy to implement, easy to monitor, easy to audit and administer; scales instantly
with changes in the business
Finance – low financial impact, especially when scaling
Employees – any time, any place, any device any size file sharing across multiple sites with
multiple users both inside and outside the firewall
To satisfy this diverse constituency requires implementing the next generation file sharing infrastructure.
EgnytePlus for NetApp – Next Generation File Sharing
The EgnytePlus platform is comprised of two components: Cloud File Server and Local Cloud enabled
NetApp storage system.
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
The Cloud File Server is an infinitely scalable file storage and sharing service. Files can be accessed
using any standard web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome). Through the Egnyte
web browser interface, users have access to a wide range of features, such as collaboration, content
management, file sharing and backup. Those same features are available using the Egnyte mobile app
for the iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Mobile, and webOS devices.
Advanced access to Egnyte’s public cloud service is provided on both PC and Mac computers through
mapped drives, which make the public cloud service, appear as a local drive. Users interact with their
files using their native drag-and-drop and click-to-edit interface. Users can use an optional desktop sync
service which provides full access to files even when Internet connectivity isn't available. When Internet
connectivity is restored, files are automatically and seamlessly synchronized between your computer and
the cloud file server.
Egnyte Local Cloud is a thin enablement layer that communicates with local NetApp storage systems
using the NetApp ONTAP API’s. Local Cloud replicates data between local storage and the cloud. It is
uniquely architected to allow direct CIFS access to the NetApp share without intermediation by Egnyte.
There is no proprietary file system or access protocol required by Egnyte. Direct access to NetApp
ensures high performance file serving in your office, preserving the value of your investment. Files on the
Local Cloud are automatically synchronized with the Cloud File Server, providing users with flexible
remote file access or fast local network access
Egnyte Integrates with existing shares & access controls. Not only data but also, access permissions
from existing shares on your NetApp FAS system can be synchronized to the cloud. This lets you cloud
enable existing shares and ensure that users access files locally with the same level of security as they
would on the Cloud File Server. For example, a user who has "read" permissions on a folder would not
be able to modify or delete files in that folder from the NetApp device or the cloud.
Local Cloud is delivered as a VMware virtual storage appliance. Capable of running on either VMware
vSphere 4 and 5 or VMware ESXi 4 and 5 on any existing or new storage system. Local Cloud requires
two VMware virtual disks (vmdk). The first virtual disk contains the core applications, log files, and
synchronization engine. The second virtual disk contains data synchronized to the cloud and exported
locally via CIFS. The virtual disks can reside on any storage that is mountable by VMware, including
locally attached, iSCSI attached, Fibre Channel attached and NFS storage systems.
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Egnyte Local Cloud is provided as an installable OVA file. Once installed, configuration and
management is performed through a simple web interface. Within minutes of installation,
synchronization of files in the cloud begins, and users can mount the Local Cloud data drive via CIFS.
EgnytePlus for NetApp – Benefits
EgnytePlus with cloud-enabled NetApp storage provides:
“In-the-office” experience from anywhere – uninterrupted (online or offline) access, real-time
collaboration across multiple teams and offices
Enterprise-class security – 256 bit AES encryption during transmission and at rest, SSAE 16
compliant data facilities, audit reports, and robust multi-level file access and permissioning
Focus on mobility and reliability – mobile access, VPN -free environments, remote replication,
data redundancy and disaster recovery
Mobile Archive Sharing
Storage (office 1) Storage (office 2)
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Expanding the Storage Tiering Model
Historically, storage tiering was viewed through the lens of access speed, capacity and price. A tiered
storage system contained a small, high performing, high cost tier (tier 1, fast cache), a larger, medium
speed, medium cost tier (tier 2, on-line access), and a large, slow speed, low priced tier (tier 3, near-line
access).
EgnytePlus expands the tiering model of enterprise storage. Rather than considering speed of access
as the main differentiator of the tiers, EgnytePlus considers the use of the tier as the major differentiator
of storage tiers. The new tiering model then includes:
Local Tier – local access to the storage system from behind the corporate firewall (subdivided
into speed of access)
Mobile Tier – sharing of files with mobile devices
Sharing Tier – sharing files within teams, both behind and outside the corporate firewall
Replication Tier – multiple site-to-site replication
Archive Tier – file backup and archiving for historical use and regulatory compliance
Local Tier
The EgnytePlus platform maintains the Local Tier via Local Cloud. Local storage such as NetApp FAS
can be single-tiered or multi-tiered, which Local Cloud will interoperate appropriately.
Mobile Tier
The EgnytePlus platform delivers the Mobile Tier, enabling mobile device to access corporate data. All
data that resides on Egnyte’s Cloud File Server can be accessed by mobile devices through the Internet.
Egnyte currently supports Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad), Google Android devices (Phones, Xoom,
Galaxy, Nook, Kindle, etc.), Microsoft Windows Mobile devices and HP WebOS (Touchpad). As new
mobile devices are released, or mobile operating systems are revised, Egnyte’s expert mobile device
team keeps the mobile device apps up-to-date, eliminating the need for IT departments to limit mobile
support to specific devices and versions.
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
Egnyte also has partnered with leading mobile app developers such as QuickOffice, Office2 Plus,
Readdle, GoodReader, and Apple to integrate Egnyte’s cloud file sharing service with mobile apps.
Users can share files, download files directly to the mobile device, edit and print office and other
documents as well as upload files from the mobile device to the cloud.
Sharing Tier
The EgnytePlus platform delivers the Sharing Tier, enabling employees to share files among themselves
or with business partners. Employees can share links to any file and folders they have permission over.
Links can be expired by time or number of clicks, preventing inadvertent data leak. Users of Microsoft
Outlook can use an extension that automatically captures email attachments, transferring the attachment
to the cloud and sending the email recipient a link to the file.
Replication Tier
Implementing Egnyte Local Cloud at two sites automatically delivers site-to-site replication, enabling the
Replication Tier. No additional VPN configuration, mirroring or replication software is required. Each
Local Cloud instance synchronizes to Egnyte’s Cloud File Server. The Cloud File Server becomes the
master, and each instance can synchronize only the subset of files necessary at that site.
Archive Tier
The EgnytePlus platform automatically enables both backup and archive in the Cloud File Server.
Egnyte's Cloud File Server is hosted in world-class SSAE 16 compliant data centers. All data is
encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption over SSL during transfer and at rest. Egnyte's architecture has
built-in redundancy, maintaining multiple copies of your data to protect against hardware failures and
disasters. In the case of disaster recovery, all your files, including past versions, can be instantly
retrieved from the cloud. In addition, with Local Cloud, files are replicated to local storage, and are
available even in the absence of Internet connectivity.
The Cloud File Server never overwrites files. Instead, whenever a file is modified, a new version is
stored on the Cloud File Server. Previous versions of files are easily retrieved, and system
administrators can control versioning and data retention policies. With the EgnytePlus platform, the IT
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
department never has to implement a separate backup and archive system. Instead, IT can rely on the
Archive Tier delivered by EgnytePlus.
Additional Features of EgnytePlus for NetApp
Complete Control
EgnytePlus for NetApp enables the administrator to control user access levels and monitor file usage
with real-time audit reports. User permissions and authentication are synced locally and in the cloud,
ensuring that only the right users have access to the right files. For organizations with Single Sign-on
(SSO) authentication, Egnyte integrates with VMware Horizon, OneLogin, Ping Identity, and Citrix
CloudGateway. SAML 2.0 compliance enables integration with SSO solutions that utilize this standard.
E gnyte also enables directory service integration with Active Directory and LDAP for centralized
authentication management behind the firewall.
Permission (ACL) Enforcement
With the EgnytePlus for NetApp infrastructure, it is crucial that permissions are uniformly enforced both in
the cloud and through local storage. All EgnytePlus solutions offer strict permission enforcement from
any user access point, a capability unique to Egnyte. Permissions set in the cloud are enforced locally
by the synchronization engine.
All permissions rules allowed in the cloud (inheritance, exclusion, user and group level access) are
seamlessly mirrored to the local storage. EgnytePlus effects permission changes in the cloud by
receiving and processing change events (e.g. a permission level was changed from read/write to read
only). ACL enforcement is achieved by a patented permission enforcement module that traps all file
system access.
Synchronization
The synchronization engine selectively compresses files based on type and size to minimize bandwidth.
The amount of reduction is based on the compression ratio (e.g. 50-60% with Office documents) and
overhead incurred to compress the file. After the initial sync, all subsequent synchronizations process
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
only the events that have occurred since the prior synchronization. Since event processing is
proportional to the number of outstanding events, the synchronization time is independent of the data set
size.
Administrators have the ability to configure the synchronization frequency of each Local Cloud instance.
This allows every office to customize the sync rate according to their needs. The synchronization
frequency can be set at a defined schedule such as after business hours to optimize bandwidth, or at
intervals ranging from several minutes to real time.
Granular Folder Selection
Egnyte provides administrators with the ability to select which folders are synced with the local storage at
each office location (each Local Cloud instance). This allows for efficient file sync of folders and sub-
folders at any level of data hierarchy, so only the important files are replicated for online and offline use.
Enterprise-class Security, Data Protection and Compliance
Egnyte is focused on complete end-to-end data protection through the five stages of security: Physical,
Network, Transmission, Access, and Data. In addition to providing maximum security under each
category, Egnyte continually maintains state-of-the-art technology and performs ongoing threat
management.
Regardless of the access method, all users must go through the authentication process before accessing
their files. Once authenticated and authorized, user permissions are granularly enforced at every folder
and sub-folder level, ensuring only the right users have access to the right files.
Egnyte has adopted the transmission practices of the most secure institutions in the world by using 256-
bit AES encryption to encode data during transmission and at rest. In order to police traffic between
public networks and the servers where company data resides, Egnyte employs ICSA-certified firewalls
and a Network Intrusion Detection System that monitors and blocks hackers, worms, phishing, and other
infiltration methods.
Egnyte offers FINRA compliant online storage solution with complete end-to-end data protection. Egnyte
enables full compliance under SEC 17a, 31a, 204 Recordkeeping regulations for confidential data
storage, retention, digitalization and accessibility. Egnyte understands the importance of the
EgnytePlus™ for NetApp
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2012 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.
confidentiality and protection of an individual's Protected Health Information (PHI). Egnyte's
comprehensive data security enables HIPAA compliance for healthcare, pharmaceutical and biomedical
businesses. Egnyte complies with the EU Safe Harbor framework as set forth by the Department of
Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union.
EgnytePlus for NetApp Summary
EgnytePlus for NetApp is the next generation file sharing infrastructure that delivers these requirements,
combining the accessibility and flexibility of cloud storage with the "in-the-office" experience and
performance of local storage. With this "best of both worlds" approach, files on local storage are made
available for sharing. Files can be stored, shared, and accessed from anywhere, with any computer or
mobile device. EgnytePlus transforms local storage into a central collaboration hub, allowing multiple
teams, offices and business partners to easily work together as if they’re in one location, and delivers file
sharing at scale.
About Egnyte
Over 1 billion files are shared daily by businesses using Egnyte. Egnyte’s unique technology provides
the speed and security of local storage with the accessibility of the cloud. Users can easily store, share,
access and backup files, while IT has the centralized administration and control to enforce business
policies. Egnyte, founded 2007, is based in Mountain View, California and is a privately held company
backed by venture capital firms Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Floodgate Fund, and
Polaris Venture Partners. For more information, please visit www.egnyte.com or call 1-877-7EGNYTE.
Contact us to learn more about EgnytePlus.