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Sharing data with WAFS

Toms Mathew on WAFS, the technology that permits access to file services across a WAN at near-LAN speeds

The boundary between networking and storage used to be thin, but even that thin line has started disappearing with the evolution of Wide Area File Services (WAFS). This technology offers access to file services across a Wide Area Network (WAN) at near-LAN speeds, and lets users access a remote data centre as though it were local.

The latency issue

With approximately 60 to 75 percent of enterprise data residing in remote data centres, faster access to such data is a given. The implications of this fact compounded by the attendant need for security and compliance on backup data bring WAFS into the limelight.

Data travels in bits, and data stored on a remote computer takes longer to arrive than data on a local machine. The deciding factor that comes into play is network latency. It may take several seconds, or even minutes, to access data through a WAN. The delay in data transportation depends on several factors such as the distance to be traversed, the data, and the packet size. Network latency cannot be wished away unless data is stored locally. WAFS aims at providing access to remote data as if it is stored locally.

The possibility of accessing data from remote places at near-LAN speeds promises to provide efficient data usage and connectivity. “WAFS offers enterprises and organisations with multiple branch offices the benefits of centralised storage with local file services,” explains Sanjay Kharade, Principal Consultant, Cisco Systems, India & SAARC. “WAFS enables companies to consolidate servers and storage, centralise backup and disaster recovery processes, and provide fast, near-LAN file access across the WAN.”

Adds Manish Bapat, Business Director (India & SAARC), Emerging Solutions, EMC: “Enterprise data continues to grow at the rate of more than 50 percent per year, and as much as 60 percent of a corporation's data resides outside its managed servers.”

Through WAFS, the network is becoming indistinguishable from storage as the boundary between them fades. “WAFS technology employs techniques including protocol optimisations, intelligent caching and optimised transport to minimise the amount of data transmitted across the WAN; it also speeds up the transmission of data that is sent,” says Soumitra Agarwal, Marketing Director, Network Appliance. “Taken collectively, these capabilities enable remote branch users to access centralised NAS storage as if it were on the local LAN.”

The next big thing

Storage vendors have already sensed WAFS’ potential. This is clear from the fact that storage majors such as NetApp, Cisco and EMC are all coming out with WAFS products.

Cisco has acquired Actona Technologies for this purpose. NetApp has entered into a tie-up with Cisco for technology inter-operability and support processes. “NetApp and Cisco have a shared focus on solving new and emerging enterprise data management challenges, not only at corporate headquarters or data centres but also at remote customer locations,” says Agarwal. “The relationship validates technology inter-operability and co-operative support processes for Cisco’s WAFS solution with NetApp fabric-attached storage systems, NetApp NearStore nearline storage systems, and NetApp V-Series virtualisation systems.”

Through its alliances with NetApp and EMC, Cisco aims to enhance its offerings. “By combining Cisco’s WAFS technology with EMC’s NAS solutions, we offer an integrated solution to consolidate branch office data into the data centre, allowing enterprise-wide data to be centrally stored and managed,” says Kharade. The NetApp-Cisco agreement covers hardware and software support for Cisco’s WAFS.

Count on WAFS

If the storage industry is to be believed, WAFS is a safe bet. The first and foremost advantage of this technology is improved data access speeds. The adoption of WAFS has been gaining momentum ever since its introduction as enterprises recognised the strategic nature of WAFS and its promise of lower TCO since it eliminates the need for stand-alone servers and the associated management, maintenance and software costs.

The technology also reduces administration costs since IT administrators can centrally manage file services and provide immediate, round-the-clock read-write access to backed-up data for all end-users in the network. Enhanced data protection can be achieved as a master copy of all the files generated from the branch is moved in real time to the data centre.

Storage majors like EMC, Cisco and NetApp are in talks with some Indian enterprises. With its fully-loaded features and benefits, there is no reason why WAFS shouldn’t be here for some time. As more companies develop WAFS solutions and enterprises adopt WAFS, the technology is having its time under the sun.

toms@expresscomputeronline.com