Looking for STaaS in a Private Data center without Internet? NetApp Keystone has you covered

The surge in evolving threats and cybercrimes makes cybersecurity and data protection more important than ever. A recent survey shows that 87% of C-suite and board-level executives consider cybersecurity to be a top priority for their organization. In this pursuit, many organizations are looking to hybrid cloud storage as a service (STaaS) for the extra protection and ongoing security innovation that they need to more effectively shelter their critical business data. 

Now, imagine that you have a critical branch office or remote facility in the defense, finance, or healthcare sector, and it can’t be exposed to the internet directly. These setups are often referred to as dark sites. Dark sites maintain the security and regulatory compliance of an organization’s most sensitive data (government classified materials, financial information, patient records) by isolating it from the potential of unauthorized access, tampering, or destruction. They also safeguard an organization’s business continuity by allowing restricted access to critical sites if a cyberattack, natural disaster, or power outage occurs.  

This dark-site scenario can pose a challenge for cloud and as-a-service‒based resources and applications. This challenge also applies to STaaS offerings, which require an internet connection to monitor subscription usage and to handle billing processes.  

But what if there is a way to handle this challenge?  

The NetApp Keystone® offering comes to the rescue! Keystone offers a consumption-based subscription model that delivers a seamless hybrid cloud experience—even in offline and remote environments—helping you overcome dark-site STaaS challenges. 

Effortless setup and management 

Traditional as-a-service management tools often rely on constant online connectivity, making remote setup and configuration difficult. With Keystone STaaS, you own the process of integrating a Keystone dark site with your private infrastructure, which is a simple two-step procedure: 

1. Deploy the Keystone Collector server by installing the package. 
2. Select the Dark Site configuration and enter the details of your NetApp® systems.  

Find out more about the setup and management of Keystone for dark sites in the Keystone documentation. 

Keeping storage healthy in the dark: Proactive monitoring and maintenance 

STaaS providers typically offer online dashboards to monitor storage health, capacity, and performance. In dark sites, these tools become inaccessible, making it hard to track and to fix issues during outages. 

Keystone STaaS enables real-time monitoring of all your dark-site components. With a simple UI, you can generate the support bundles and NetApp ONTAP® logs in a local directory to share with NetApp transparently. You can also easily maintain and upgrade ONTAP and even restart the Collector service if you need to. 

Offline usage tracking and insights, just a click away 

Traditional STaaS billing often relies on online usage tracking. In dark sites, accurately measuring data storage consumption and the associated costs becomes a challenge when there’s limited or no network connectivity. 

Keystone STaaS helps you record, aggregate, and manage usage data on your premises. You can export the usage data into a clear and encrypted file in one click. After the data is exported, you can review this information and send it to NetApp by email to facilitate the monthly billing process.  

When you implement NetApp Keystone for dark sites, you unlock a multitude of other advantages:

• Unparalleled performance with the most secure storage on the planet NetApp delivers the most secure storage on the planet, featuring robust data security and protection capabilities, and it’s now also available as a service with Keystone. With the dark-site features, your data remains secure within the isolated environment, safeguarding against online threats while still enabling you to use the industry-leading high-performance NetApp portfolio. 

• Freedom from worry about regulatory compliance The advanced encryption, secure access controls, and detailed auditing capabilities of Keystone take over the burden of meeting data security regulations and compliance for typical dark-site deployments. You can now focus more on your core business and leave the headache of complex regulations to NetApp. What a relief! 

• Paying only for what you use with dedicated infrastructure on your premises The Keystone STaaS pay-as-you-go subscription model offers: 

• Predictable billing and pay-per-use for variable capacity usage 
• Among the industry’s largest selection of performance service tiers 
• Flexible terms for services and payment, as low as 12 months or 25TiB per site 
• A single invoice for powering all your block, file, and object workloads, including cloud storage services 

With Keystone, you get the flexibility of using burst capacity in disconnected environments and scaling when you need to.

So, are you ready to harness the power of NetApp Keystone for dark sites? Here’s how you can get started: 

1. Evaluate your needs. Assess your data storage requirements and the desired level of functionality at your dark site. Take advantage of NetApp’s free consultation for optimal storage sizing and workload analysis. 
2. Deploy and configure. When your assessment and the preparations are complete, NetApp handles the deployment of the Keystone appliances and configures them for optimal performance in your environment, while you sit back and relax.

By implementing NetApp Keystone for dark sites, you can bridge the connectivity gap and unlock the full potential of the cloud for your remote locations. Embrace secure data storage, streamlined management, and cost-effective scalability, all while maintaining the security of your critical data. 

When you’re ready to unlock the true potential of your data with Keystone, just get in touch.