Streams and connections
This topic describes the differences between data streams and application connections.
Streams refer to the number of files written at the same time to QoreStor. QoreStor tracks the number of files being written and assembles the data into 4–MB chunks before processing that section of the data. If the stream count is exceeded, the data is processed out of order and overall deduplication savings can be affected.
Connections are created by applications; and, within a single connection, there can be multiple streams depending on the application and the number backup jobs running in parallel over that single connection.
Secure connect
Secure Connect encompasses a set of client and server components that creates a secure channel for QoreStor communication with WAN-connected clients that is also resilient to WAN outages.
Secure Connect uses the TLS 1.2 standard with a 4096-bit RSA key. Certificates are created automatically for both client and server, but you can use you own certificates if you chose. When using Secure Connect (which is enabled by default when using the latest QoreStor and plug-in versions), the client opens a connection to the QoreStor server over port 9443. The client sends the actual QoreStor port number to the server, which then opens a local connection to that port enabling secure communication with the client. Configuration of Secure Connect ports is done through the client and server configuration file. See Configuring Secure Connect for more information.
Secure Connect also provides a method for resilient WAN connections. Packets processed by Secure Connect clients are assigned a unique identifier and are assigned to a temporary cache before being sent to the QoreStor server. When the packet is successfully delivered to the QoreStor Secure Connect server, the packet identifier is marked as delivered and acknowledged to the Secure Connect client. If the WAN connection is lost, the client and server both continue to cache data packets. When the connection is restored, unacknowledged packets are re-sent and properly processed, avoiding data loss and process interruption.
MultiConnect
QoreStor MultiConnect establishes multiple connections between RDA and OST clients and the QoreStor server. On high-bandwidth networks, these connections can improve backup and replication performance. To obtain the most benefit from MultiConnect, both MultiConnect and SecureConnect should be enabled. Refer to the sections below:
Replication
Replication is the process by which key data is saved from storage locations, with the goal of maintaining consistency between redundant resources in data storage environments. Data replication improves the level of fault-tolerance, which improves the reliability of maintaining saved data and permits accessibility to the same stored data.
QoreStor uses an active form of replication that lets you configure a primary-backup scheme. During replication, the system processes data storage requests from a specified source to a specified replica target, which acts as a replica of the original source data.
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NOTE: QoreStor includes version checking that limits replication only between other QoreStor instances or DR Series systems that run a compatible software release version. If versions are incompatible, the administrator is notified by an event. |
Replicas are read-only and are updated with new or unique data during scheduled or manual replications. QoreStor can be considered to act as a form of a storage replication process in which the backup and deduplication data is replicated in real-time or via a scheduled window in a network environment. In a replication relationship between two or three QoreStor instances or DR Series systems, this means that a relationship exists between a number of systems. One system acts as the source and the other as a replica.
Replication is done at the container level and is one directional from source to replica; however, since replication is done at the container level you can set up various containers to meet your specific replication requirements for your specific workflow. This form of replication is supported for the CIFS, NFS, Rapid CIFS, and Rapid NFS protocols and is fully handled by QoreStor.
While replication of
QoreStor supports replication seeding, which provides the ability to create a local seed and place it in a remote system. The seed backup is a process on the source QoreStor system, which collects all of the unique data chunks from the containers and stores them on the target device. This is helpful if you have a new replication target to set up, the amount of data to be replicated is very large, and the network bandwidth is low.
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NOTE: The storage capacity of the target QoreStor system is directly affected by the number of source systems writing to its containers, and by the amount being written by each of the source systems. |
If the source and target systems are in different Active Directory (AD) domains, then the data that resides on the target system may not be accessible. When AD is used to perform authentication forQoreStor systems, the AD information is saved with the file. This can act to restrict user access to the data based on the type of AD permissions that are in place.
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NOTE: This same authentication information is replicated to the target QoreStor system when you have replication configured. To prevent domain access issues, ensure that both the target and source systems reside in the same Active Directory domain. |