This content is part of the Essential Guide: Best data storage products 2017: Products of the Year

Caringo FileFly Secondary Storage Platform

FileFly Secondary Storage Platform from Caringo works with Windows Server and NetApp OnTap, adding intelligent data transfer to scale-out secondary storage while reducing cost.

Silver winner in Storage magazine and SearchStorage's 2017 Products of the Year Storage Management Tools category.

Caringo FileFly Secondary Storage Platform links Windows Servers to inexpensive object storage using intelligent data transfer technology.

Caringo's goal with FileFly is to simplify object storage data so any Windows Server administrator can manage it without the need for specialized storage administration training. By keying on users' file and access patterns, admins can set policies in Caringo FileFly 2.0 that determine what data is appropriate to move from file-based primary storage to Caringo Swarm Hybrid Cloud object storage for secondary data.

FileFly encrypts the data in transit. Data is protected continuously after it is moved. If the data is accessed, FileFly can move it transparently back into primary storage with no impact on applications or workflow.

Caringo FileFly runs as a Windows application, either as a virtual machine or hardware appliance. The objects are made visible to the Windows or NetApp file systems using stubs, which essentially contain all the properties of a file without the actual data within the file.

Using FileFly Secondary Storage Platform means users no longer need to add Windows server resources to meet data growth demands, Caringo noted. With the object storage-based platform as a back end, data can scale to any size. This lets FileFly users optimize primary storage, lower overall storage cost and reduce disk I/O.

How Caringo FileFly maintains mount points
How Caringo FileFly can be used to maintain mount points.

One judge called the Caringo FileFly 2.0 appliance an "excellent solution and innovative approach to increasing adoption of object storage." Another judge said Caringo FileFly Secondary Storage Platform is a "good Swiss army knife solution for integrating file and object in a unified, policy-managed repository."

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