Reaping the rewards of
deploying Microsoft-aligned
protection of clusters in Azure
IDC predicts that 80% of workloads will be created using containers and microservices by 2024.
In the race to gain business agility, Kubernetes has emerged as the standard industry tool for deploying, managing and scaling modern, containerised applications.
But for many organisations with a mixed IT estate, the cost and operational challenges of cloud adoption are very real.
Users cite a lack of skills and complexity as big challenges in adopting containerised environments and difficulties with recovering fully stateful applications in the event of:
- Accidental deletion
- Ransomware
- Misconfiguration
- Upgrade errors
- Software failures and corruption
The rush of organisations seeking to implement App-centric data protection represents good news for managed service providers.
For Microsoft partners managing multiple accounts in Azure on behalf of customers, Redstor’s multi-tenanted Azure Kubernetes Backup Service offers a golden opportunity.
From protecting VMs, Kubernetes Clusters and M365 through a single web-based control centre for low overheads to creating additional high-margin revenue streams, here we outline the seven main benefits for MSPs in deploying Redstor’s Kubernetes (AKS) Backup:
1) An additional high-margin revenue stream
Redstor enables MSPs to benefit from a new source of sticky, repeat revenue. Enhance your cloud offering and differentiate yourself from your competition by offering a service that mirrors the simplicity of Azure. With an integrated, improved backup experience for customers and low management overheads for MSPs, Redstor offers the potential for high margins. Deployment and ongoing management is simple and requires no scripting, a process that is often complex and highly prone to error. Minimal training is needed and it's easy to add customers to your portfolio. The service also provides an informative view of your customers’ data estates, highlighting additional revenue opportunities. A purely channel-focused vendor, Redstor provides leads and assists in qualifying opportunities, helping MSPs get up and running fast.
2) Simple SaaS
subscription pricing
There are no complex licensing models.
Redstor calculates charges based on the number of active nodes at any given backup time, so you can budget confidently with transparent and predictable pricing.
For partners seeking to drive Azure consumption, there are further commercial benefits.
The Azure infrastructure they and their customers will use will trigger dividends and rebates.
With Redstor, there's no bolting together of multiple solutions.
Just a single, simple-to-manage, Microsoft-aligned solution to protect VMs, Kubernetes clusters and Microsoft 365 - along with heavy discounts and a simple pricing structure.
3) Zero upfront investment
No third-party storage set-ups or storage is required as Redstor uses the customer’s existing Azure infrastructure. There’s no upfront professional service costs and no management fees. Just deploy and auto-scale the protection you need in minutes. We simplify your data management challenges with policy-driven automation and sophisticated reporting.
4) A simple user experience, no technical expertise required
Impress customers with a solution that is fully aligned with Microsoft and constantly improving. There’s no grappling with complex scripts that can easily be entered incorrectly.
Although, it takes some time and expertise to set up Kubernetes itself, you do not have to be a highly technical IT admin to set up Redstor’s Kubernetes (AKS) backup.
With Redstor, partners can back up application configurations so that they can recover applications quickly, without resorting to manually reconstructing all Kubernetes objects.
Our service eliminates the delays associated with backing up entire virtual machines and avoids the need to rebuild existing applications during restores. You can also view data growth and discover number of nodes and clusters without having to go through all the regions you have covered.
5) Automatic updates without redeployment
Redstor’s AKS Backup avoids the need to set up alerts and monitoring and any requirement to manage permissions and rights. Our service updates and scales automatically and MSPS can manage multiple customer accounts easily using a single app – from anywhere and on any device. With a comprehensive overview of all data protected with Redstor, you can drill down and take action on separate organisations without using different credentials each time.
As well as providing security and managing backup policies on all your clusters, Redstor AKS avoids the manual burden of assembling and maintaining an unwieldy and time-consuming cluster-granular solution.
6) Turbo-charge deployment to customers
Purpose-built for Microsoft cloud partners and their users, Redstor is designed for quick, mass deployment by utilising existing technology investment in Azure to deliver application and data protection for Kubernetes.
With set-up times taking less than 15 minutes and intelligent automation, Redstor simplifies onboarding and minimises ongoing management overhead.
Our technology is simple and easily accessible to regular IT admins as well as being DevOps friendly. There’s no waiting for vendor support to assist with configuration changes or errors. Redstor’s powerful, self-service portal eliminates vendor bottlenecks - leaving you free to deploy, manage and scale protection quickly and easily (24/7 support remains on hand if required). Partners need only sign up for a free trial, then it’s simply a case of the customer granting Azure authentication and adding a cluster to make it available for backup and recovery.
7) Restore backups within a customer’s own Azure cluster or into a different cluster
Inject data back into an existing cluster or an alternative cluster in the event of an issue and benefit from application mobility.
Recover customer applications quickly, without resorting to reconstructing all your Kubernetes objects manually. It is as easy as redeploying your pods. Just select the backup you want to restore from, create a name for the restore and start the recovery. It’s as simple as that.
The capability to recover back into different clusters enables you to test recoveries, prove compliance of backups and trial upcoming changes to data resembling what is in the production environment.
You can also deliver centralised management of data without circumventing Microsoft security and auditing. Data is always available and you can track and monitor all user activity across the cloud-to-cloud platform as well as easily evidencing restores.
User Access Management for complete control of all your customer data
Create a seamless customer on-boarding experience with the RedApp, Redstor’s app for smart data management and protection.
Sign up and start using the RedApp to protect customer data in seconds, ensuring that the right people have the right permissions from day one.
The set-up is so fast and painless:
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On-board new clients digitally
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Access the full functionality of Redstor
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Manage and protect all your customer data with a whole new level of control and security
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Define roles and access privileges of individual network users
The RedApp has been specifically designed for granular, configurable Identity and Access Management, so you can:
Set up strong security
Protect against data breaches, identity theft and forbidden access to confidential information. Prohibit the spread of compromised login credentials. Block unauthorised entry to your organisation’s network. Bolster your defences against ransomware, hacking, phishing, and other cyber-attacks.
Customise roles
Assign specific users to products, customers or group of customers within their estate. Customise permissions and notifications within the product – such as deleting data, recovering data, receiving alerts about suspicious files and creating and managing other users and customers
Streamline IT workloads
Update a security policy easily and comprehensively. Change all access privileges across an organisation in one action and save IT time by automating more tedious tasks e.g. password reset requests.
Comply with regulations
Quickly implement IAM best practices for customers to meet the requirements of their industry regulations e.g. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and General Data Protection Regulation.
Enable your customers to collaborate securely with third parties
Help your customers improve productivity by enabling them to give their clients, suppliers, and visitors access to their network whenever they wish - without jeopardising security.
Secured by the very latest multi-factor authentication technology, the RedApp enables you to:
- Create and manage your partners and customers within a single interface
- Customise and control who has access to customer data
Safely allow customers to back up or manage their own data, or securely provide them with more visibility as part of their managed service.
If customer data is spread over many sites or multiple regions, but you wish to delegate permissions to regional offices, you can restrict and allow access accordingly.
To avoid any risk of unwanted deletions, simply customise roles in the RedApp to remove the ability to delete accounts and data. By delivering greater control of user accounts, Redstor’s UAM avoids having to divide up an estate and assign admins with more access than is deemed secure.
There is also no need to deny a user access unnecessarily. A blanket removal of permissions is no longer the only way to safeguard security.
Security
Administrators will be able to lock down specific users if an employee leaves an organisation or a login is compromised.
The introduction of mandatory 2FA using the more secure TOTP (time-based, one-time password) method also protects against malicious activity.
Granular Control
Administrators can choose from a wide variety of roles, depending upon access needs and can customise the granular permissions of each role for customers and products.
Audit trail
Administrators have an audit trail of who uses the platform with respective roles and actions. They can also manage users in bulk if required and obtain insight into user activity.
Designate responsibility
Easily enable the right person to take swift, comprehensive action in the event of human error, malicious activity or cyber-attack, while avoiding alerting an attacker or creating internal confusion.