QStar Data Director Technology Overview

QStar extends the boundaries of hierarchical storage management (HSM) by adding data protection in the form of real-time mirroring to provide solutions to the most challenging network storage issues with QStar Data Director. By taking the security of a transaction logging cache, a system independent disk format and adding event based mirroring, QStar Data Director provides the means to both manage and protect your corporate archives.

Data Director supports all the functionality of QStar HSM and adds synchronous data mirroring continuously at a transaction level, both the primary and the secondary logical volumes are always exact duplicates. The logical volumes may be in different jukeboxes, libraries or arrays and in different locations on a LAN or even a worldwide WAN, and may even be of different archival media types.

In a mirror set, one volume automatically becomes a hot-standby for the other volume. QStar software will sense if a volume becomes unavailable and continue to service read and write requests to and from the remaining volume. The result is increased productivity through reduced storage down time. In the unlikely event of a jukebox or library failure, data migration to the remaining volume is still available to ensure continued data security. When returned online, the previously unavailable volume is automatically re-synchronized ensuring both volumes continue to accurately mirror the data. In environments where user requests exceed the throughput capability of the jukebox or library, and where multiple jukeboxes or libraries are available, QStar software automatically services read requests from both mirrored devices. With load balancing, users maintain fast access to data during peak periods.

Like QStar HSM, Data Director is designed to manage all forms of archive media for long-term data retention without regard for hardware platform or operating system support. By adding the data protection functionality to our archive product, Data Director is ideal for disaster prevention for critical applications where data is mirrored to a secondary location for environmental protection. The data remains on-line and available for access and is in a secure tamper free environment. Data Director eliminates lost tapes, and shipping costs to remote sites, and it eliminates any scheduled backup windows as well as restore down time, keeping your business up and running with less operational overhead.

Connectivity

QStar Data Director is available for Linux, UNIX and Windows operating system environments and supports local magnetic disk, RAID, NAS, CAS, Optical (standalone, auto-changer, library) and Tape (standalone, auto-changer, library) storage systems.

What Environment Best fits QStar Data Director?

QStar Data Director is a natural choice for a tiered storage architecture requiring real-time mirroring of data for business continuity and disaster recovery in an archival storage data environment. in a wide variety of archival storage and regulatory compliance applications. QStar Data Director meets a wide variety of long-term storage and regulatory compliance requirements such as backup/business continuity, digital asset management, disaster recovery, email archive, imaging and records management, 21-CFR, HIPAA, SOX and more. Markets segments include, but are not limited to A/V Broadcast, Communication, Finance, Government, Healthcare, Hospitality, Insurance, Life Sciences, Military, Space, Transportation and more.

Configuration Overview

Product Datasheets:

Qstar Data Director Datasheet

Product whitepapers:

Qstar Whitepaper

Contact CUC to discuss your specific needs.