Content must be searched for and retrieved from distant data centers, transported across large and complex networks, and formatted for countless types of requesting devices. The content must then be delivered over the last mile from the edge of the Internet to the requesting device, over slow dialup line, a wireless or broadband network, or a corporate intranet. NetCache at the edges and Content Director for moving data between the two. This whitepaper discusses how filers may be used to solve the data management problem in CDNs. The fast, simple and reliable appliance design for NAS is optimized for rapid data transfer between the user and disk over the network.
Filers are very well suited for back-end storage in a CDN because of the following key features.
A Snapshot is a read-only image of the filesystem that can be accessed online for safe backups and easy restores. Snapshots require low overhead because WAFL's intelligent design replicates filesystem metadata instead of replicating the filesystem data. Users can restore data themselves by simply accessing the snapshot directory and copying files over. SnapRestore allows the entire filesystem to be restored to a previous snapshot in minutes. Data redundancy makes SnapMirror a key feature for Disaster Recovery.