Data Recovery Digest

California-based StoneFly, Inc., a division of Dynamic Network Factory, Inc., is one of the world's leaders in network-based storage systems such as RAID, iSCSI, NAS and SAN setups. As such, it should come as no surprise that their most recent offering, the StoneFly DR365, is meant to bolster network architecture through the use of centralized data backup and disaster recovery solutions. Moreover, the device utilizes virtual machines in tandem with the latest IT hardware in order to safeguard critical networks while still offering easy access to critical enterprise resources.

Dubbed the "DR Site-in-a-box," StoneFly DR365 combines the technology seen in StoneFly's own SCVM, which offers virtual IP SAN storage, as well as their StoneFly 365Vault application, which gives users the ability to implement virtual servers as needed. This provides an agentless approach to data backup, thereby eliminating the necessity of maintaining a backup client on every single virtual machine. When it comes to restore data, users can opt to restore an entire virtual machine, several specific files or even a single file from either a Windows or Linux-based virtualization. The merger eliminates the need for multiple applications across multiple virtual platforms, instead allowing the user to control such functionality through one convenient package.

The use of virtualization within StoneFly DR365 lets users drastically reduce power consumption as well as the running temperatures of their hardware, and it even offers on-the-fly resource allocation functionality. This provides users with the exact amount of processing power, available memory and storage space needed while eliminating wasted or unnecessary computing strength.

Another key feature of StoneFly DR365 is the ability to maintain system availability through the use of hot-swappable power modules and battery backup capabilities, thus greatly reducing the possibility of data loss and virtually eliminating system downtime.
Security is provided mainly from the built-in, hardware-enabled AES 256 encryption, although the remote replication process of StoneFly DR365 does provide the option of creating a secondary, off-site recovery scheme.

President and CEO of StoneFly, Mo Tahmasebi, explained the idea behind their new hardware in the product's initial press release. He was quoted as saying: "DR365 has been able to combine the latest in virtualization, software-defined infrastructure, backup, disaster recovery and cloud technology, all in to one easy to use appliance that is sold at just a fraction of the cost to the user."

Available Products

The Stonefly DR365 comes in three distinct varieties: the DR365-1201, DR365-1601 and DR365-2401. As their names suggest, the entry-level model offers support for as many as 12 standard disk drives, the DR-365-1601 provides support for 16 drives and the DR365-2401 provides support for up to 24 standard 3.5" hard drives.

All of these numbers can be increased, however, through the use of the available DR365 expansion units. Available as the DR365-1201E, DR365-1601E and the DR365-2401E, these units can increase hard drive support up to a total of 84 drives in the 1201, 88 drives in the 1601 and 96 drives in the 2401. All of this hardware is supported through the use of a redundant 920W power supply, which offers dual power cords for maximum protection.