A new software-as-a-service available from CopperEgg, RevealStorage can be deployed in minutes and avoid the hardware and software build-outs necessary with other performance management products. Users deploying CopperEgg’s RevealStorage pay on a subscription-based model based on the number of NFS servers they use. And like other software-as-a-service offerings such as SalesForce, expenditures are operational (OPEX) rather than capital expenses.
Unlike other NAS performance management packages, the RevealStorage service monitors and collects data in realtime, allowing IT administrators to see an aggregated view of capacity and utilization across all attached filers and to view spikes in activity that indicate a filer is overloaded. With RevealStorage, the administrator is able to view aggregate performance and user activity in realtime and identify hot spots in individual filers or the performance demand characteristics of applications or users as a whole.
IT administrators are able to identify the storage clients and people who are causing high usage. And RevealStorage is able to view the entire network of filers, activity generated by every user and client.
To run the RevealStorage service, IT needs to install a software-based agent on each filer or on a dedicated workstation that is connected to a network tap, mirror/SPAN port or switch port. The agent captures storage traffic, discards data, analyzes headers and tracks transactions, while concurrently and securely communicating them to the CopperEgg system running in the cloud.
CopperEgg’s road map for RevealStorage is to add Common Internet File System (CIFS) support for Windows-based NAS systems. CopperEgg projects that this much-needed capability will be available in the second quarter of this year.
