Desktop as a Service (DaaS) built on NetApp, supported by Azure
In a world of hybrid workplaces, rapid changes, and more and more complex security challenges, customers are looking for a Desktop as a service (DaaS) solution which is easy to use, secure by default, and could be managed by themselves.
AOSSIA offers a Desktop as a service (DaaS) solution for customers in France. The platform is secure, reliable, fast, and self-managed. The solution allows end-users to work from anywhere, knowing that their data is available, secure, highly protected, and swiftly recovered in case of data corruption caused by the user or external threats. The solution ensures data sovereignty by not allowing production or backup data to leave France. AOSSIA partnered with ALEF to build a cost-effective solution using NetApp ONTAP, CVO, Azure technologies, and VMware as a virtualization platform for hosting VMs intended to serve the VDI environment (DaaS).
Hybrid Cloud Architecture
The environment is comprised of two sites:
- On-prem Data Center with NetApp All Flash A400 2-node cluster for hosting the VDIs and production data
- Azure environment with BlueXP for tiering data from NetApp A400 systems and offsite backup hosting of the entire environment
How does the system work?
Customers access virtual desktops in a French on-premises data center through a VPN, using NetApp AFF A400 systems to serve data. Data is backed up to Azure using NetApp's Snap Mirror replication software and CVO. Snap Mirror uses 4KB block-level replication and only replicates new data, while NetApp's Cloud Tiering tech moves infrequently accessed data to Azure Blob. CVO has three functions: to mirror data from on-prem systems to Azure, to act as a temporary ONTAP platform in case of disaster recovery, and to save costs by utilizing Azure Blob storage.
How are data secured?
Data is secured through various measures. Users can have full daily backups using NetApp's Snapshots, which can be accessed and restored easily. Backups are immutable, ensuring data remains unaffected by Ransomware attacks. ONTAP constantly checks for unusual user or file behavior and creates system-wide immutable Snapshots to protect all users and data. Complete copies of data are hosted in Azure Blob as an additional backup. In case of a primary on-prem Data Center failure, the entire environment can be restored from Azure quickly.
Permanent savings achieved?
By implementing a solution using ONTAP & Azure technologies, AOSSIA achieved the following savings:
34:1 data reduction
30% of primary data tiered to Azure Blob
20Mbps retrieval rate of data stored in Blob
Least expensive offsite backup
For additional details on this case study, please refer to the PDF provided below.