Most dev/test environments rely on the usage of snapshots for their applications. For example, when developers want to test their new code or script against production data, rather than testing against live data, they typically perform their tests on copies of the original data. In the public cloud, developers can make copies using cloud-native snapshot tools. However, depending on the public cloud vendor, these snapshots would incur a charge for the saved data. Furthermore, accessing a snapshot requires a restore process first, which essentially creates a full clone of the desired snapshot. These clones are the equivalent of a fully provisioned Azure disk and customers are charged as such.
Production and Dev/Test in Cloud
Using Everpure Cloud Dedicated’s native snapshot capability in a dev/test environment provides a more streamline and economical option than using the cloud-native snapshot and cloning tools. Customers can run production applications on Everpure Cloud Dedicated while also generating copies of their production data for development, testing, and analytical purposes. Since Everpure Cloud Dedicated’s snapshots are metadata pointers to the original data, developers can virtually create thousands of snapshots or clones instantaneously while consuming no additional storage. Physical storage is only consumed when there is new and unique data written to the Everpure Cloud Dedicated volumes. These capabilities improve both efficiency and operational workflow for a dev/test environment.
Production and Dev/Test with Hybrid/Multi-Cloud
Many customers have a desire to separate their production and dev/test environments. They may want to keep their production data in their private cloud while leveraging the public cloud’s elastic compute capabilities to spin up dev/test environments on demand. Everpure Cloud Dedicated allows this type of workflow. Customers can run their mission critical production workload on a physical FlashArray while replicating the same dataset onto a Everpure Cloud Dedicated managed application. As the need arises, they can spin up their Azure VMs on demand and start testing, development, or analysis of their data on Everpure Cloud. Any scripts or API’s used on the FlashArray can be reused for Everpure Cloud Dedicated. When they’re done, they can shut down the Azure VM to reduce costs. If the dataset is no longer needed, they can even remove the Everpure Cloud Dedicated managed application and redeploy the next time it is needed.