Do you feel at a loss when looking at the dazzling array of cloud storage services? No worries, QNAP’s technology and products will easily resolve the issue for you.

As enterprise data continues to grow in scale, data access requirements are becoming more complex as well. Traditional local storage systems and single cloud services can no longer meet modern enterprises’ demands for efficiency, flexibility, and security in data management. Effectively integrating diverse cloud services to achieve the efficiency of near-local access while enabling easy disaster recovery planning is an indispensable responsibility of QNAP as a professional NAS provider.

For such purpose, QNAP has developed four core hybrid cloud technologies: HybridMount, VJBOD Cloud, QuTScloud with SnapSync functionality, Hybrid Backup Sync (HBS), and myQNAPcloud Storage. These technologies and services complement each other to form a comprehensive and flexible hybrid cloud solution to meet the diverse application needs of enterprises.

Through these technologies, QNAP provides enterprises with a safer, more flexible, and scalable data management framework by leveraging synergy to optimize various business functions, thus ultimately achieving higher data utilization efficiency and enhanced protection.

Tip #1: Maximize Utilization Efficiency of Cloud Storage Resources with Caching Technology

If you have already purchased cloud storage services, you will be happy to know that QNAP’s cloud mounting technology not only integrates cloud storage into local NAS space management but also uses QNAP’s caching technology to ensure that frequently used cloud data is free from cloud access delays so that cloud data can be accessed as quickly as local data.

HybridMount: Seamless integration of cloud and local access

HybridMount is a hybrid cloud mounting solution launched by QNAP. It can mount multiple cloud storage services (such as AWS S3, Google Drive and Dropbox) directly to the local NAS and use NAS’s local caching technology to enhance cloud data access speed. For multi-location offices and cross-region teams, HybridMount not only provides flexible cloud data access but also enables enterprises to integrate various cloud services according to their needs so that they can achieve optimal resource allocation and have the flexibility of cloud mounting while ensuring the convenience of global business operations.

HybridMount also provides a more efficient way to manage cloud storage. Users can not only mount cloud storage services to the local NAS but also use the caching feature to store frequently accessed cloud data locally, thus reducing cloud bandwidth requirements and minimizing network latency. This design not only improves the access efficiency of cloud data but also helps enterprises achieve greater flexibility in cost management.

For enterprises distributed across regions, users can use HybridMount to implement cloud mounting on NAS in multiple locations, and teams in various locations can quickly access shared data through local caching technology. This is extremely useful for business scenarios that require high-frequency data access. This way, the data usage needs of the enterprise in different geographical locations are met, thus achieving highly efficient collaboration.

VJBOD Cloud: Flexible and secure cloud backup solution

VJBOD Cloud is a block-based cloud gateway feature provided by QNAP, designed to offer enterprises a flexible and cost-effective cloud backup solution through flexible backup configurations and enhanced security. It supports various cloud object storage services and features efficient block-level backup.

VJBOD Cloud supports a variety of mainstream cloud object storage services, so enterprises can select the most suitable cloud service based on their needs and back up data to remote locations. Enterprise data is encrypted during transmission to effectively safeguard the security of sensitive information. This is especially critical for industries handling confidential data (such as finance and healthcare). VJBOD Cloud utilizes block-level backup technology, backing up only the data blocks updated since the last transfer. This significantly reduces the time and storage space required for backups. This backup approach allows QNAP’s hybrid cloud technology to strike a balance between cost control and efficient data management.

Dual-engine advantage: efficient access and data protection solutions in hybrid cloud environments

When used together, HybridMount ensures fast access and utilization of cloud data, while VJBOD Cloud provides a secure and efficient backup solution. Thus, HybridMount can be used for quick data retrieval and sharing in daily work while important data requiring long-term storage or protection can be backed up to the cloud via VJBOD Cloud to safeguard it against accidental loss. For example, within an enterprise, the development team can use HybridMount to access and share cloud data in real-time, while the backup management team can utilize VJBOD Cloud to regularly back up and protect these data. This combination meets the dual needs of real-time access and efficient backup, and enables enterprises to be more flexible and efficient in cloud resource utilization and data protection.

Tip #2: Create a Cloud NAS to Build a Cloud-Local Disaster Recovery Solution with Your On-Premise NAS

If you already have a NAS, in addition to regularly backing up NAS data to the cloud, you can also directly activate another Cloud NAS in the cloud as a “replica”. This creates real-time synchronization between your local NAS and the Cloud NAS and offers you a disaster recovery alternative.

QuTScloud: Virtualized NAS operating system

QuTScloud is a virtualized NAS solution developed by QNAP that enables users to deploy a complete QNAP NAS operating system (QTS or QuTS hero) in a public cloud environment (such as AWS, Azure) as Cloud NAS. With QuTScloud, enterprises can seamlessly extend their NAS environment to the cloud and centrally manage, share and protect data on multiple cloud platforms in different geographical locations. This provides great convenience and flexibility for users who need to store and manage data in different regions or cloud platforms.

SnapSync: Real-time synchronization and data protection

SnapSync is a disaster recovery solution based on the advanced ZFS file system of the QuTS hero operating system. It provides enterprises with fast data backup and disaster recovery solutions through scheduled data snapshots and off-site synchronization. SnapSync supports cross-region redundancy and can instantly synchronize data to devices in another location when data changes to ensure data integrity without any loss.

Cloud-local collaboration, remote backup, and rapid business recovery

Enterprises can deploy QuTS hero NAS on-premises and pair it with QuTScloud hero on the cloud (coming soon), enable scheduled SnapSync to achieve data synchronization between the local and cloud, with complete synchronization and backup of critical data. When a disaster occurs, enterprises can activate QuTScloud hero in the shortest time and restore operations quickly, with minimal downtime. This combination enables enterprises to maintain data consistency and version updates across multiple locations globally, and ensure quick data recovery when needed, thus effectively safeguarding business continuity and data security.

Secret Tip #3: A Cloud Offsite Backup Solution That Saves Storage Space and Time

QNAP NAS not only supports backup to various mainstream cloud storage, its native backup software HBS also supports “source-side deduplication”. This allows duplicate data to be removed on the NAS, making cloud backups more streamlined. Combined with QNAP’s TCP BBR congestion control algorithm, it significantly accelerates cloud backup efficiency. Since the actual backup files are smaller, it is easier for you to back up more versions.

HBS’s diversified backup options

Hybrid Backup Sync (HBS) is a comprehensive data protection solution that supports multiple modes of data backup, synchronization and restoration. HBS supports a wide range of backup destinations, including local NAS, remote NAS, cloud storage services (such as AWS S3 and Google Cloud), FTP servers, and more. In addition, HBS offers modes such as incremental backup, scheduled backup, one-way synchronization, and two-way synchronization to meet various data protection needs and ensure data synchronization across different devices and storage locations.

Multiple data protection to ensure business operations

HBS can meet multiple data protection needs of enterprises, such as backing up local data to multiple remote QNAP NAS devices or cloud platforms to achieve distributed redundancy and data access flexibility. Enterprise users can also leverage HBS’s real-time synchronization feature to maintain data consistency across multiple locations to ensure business continuity and data integrity.

Saving space also means saving time

Too many files to back up and excessively long backup time, such recurring issues may turn into a troublesome vicious cycle over time. QNAP QuDedup deduplication technology performs deduplication at the source, streamlining backup files by removing redundant data. This significantly saves actual storage capacity, with an average space reduction of up to 75%. The initial deduplication process may take longer, but once the files are streamlined, all subsequent backup tasks will be extremely fast. With TCP BBR congestion control algorithm, external data transfer speeds are significantly improved, making cloud backups much more efficient. In the event of an incident, it can also help users quickly restore files, making it particularly useful in network environments threatened by ransomware.

Collaborate with other technologies to create a comprehensive protection system

HBS, HybridMount and QuTScloud are highly synergic. HBS can directly use the multi-cloud storage mounted by HybridMount as a backup destination for tiered data redundancy. In addition, HBS can back up data on QuTScloud to other clouds or local devices to create a comprehensive data protection system.

Tip #4: Need Cloud Space? Try the Most Cost-effective myQNAPcloud Storage

myQNAPcloud Storage is a cloud space created by QNAP. It is the best cloud backup destination for QNAP NAS, making it easy to create disaster recovery plans. It is even cheaper than Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. myQNAPcloud only charges for storage space, data transfer is completely free. It can also be combined with QNAP NAS or cloud NAS to create flexible mounting applications. In addition, with full support for immutability, including WORM (Write Once, Read Many) and Object Lock, data protection is highly reliable. It meets regulatory compliance requirements for long-term storage and helps protect against ransomware attacks.

myQNAPcloud Storage combined with HBS: Achieving offsite redundancy and centralized cloud data management

myQNAPcloud Storage can be used in conjunction with HBS to provide offsite data backup and restoration features for enterprises. When restoring data from myQNAPcloud Storage, in addition to restoring it to the local NAS, you can also choose to restore it to a QuTScloud Cloud NAS. myQNAPcloud Storage can also serve a shared cloud folder and be mounted via HybridMount to NAS devices at different locations, making it easier for cross-regional team members to access data.

All-around Complementary QNAP Hybrid Cloud Technology Brings Immeasurable Value to Enterprise Applications

QNAP’s four main hybrid cloud technologies create a multi-layered synergistic effect, meeting the various needs of businesses and individual users in data access, management, backup, and protection.

• HybridMount: Allows businesses to flexibly integrate multi-cloud data and achieve high-efficiency access similar to a local area network (LAN).
• VJBOD Cloud: Provides block-level cloud gateway functionality to achieve flexible backup configuration and enhanced security.
• QuTScloud hero and SnapSync: Create offsite redundancy by synchronizing data between on-premise NAS and Cloud NAS deployments to ensure data consistency and business continuity.
• HBS and myQNAPcloud Storage: A comprehensive solution for NAS data backup/restore, offsite access, and centralized management.

QNAP’s hybrid cloud solution provides enterprises with a powerful foundation for data security, management flexibility, and efficiency. It not only adapts to the trends of modern data management, but also serves as an indispensable partner in the digital transformation process.