Building a Hybrid Cloud Active Archive with Cloudian HyperStore: A Guide for Media Organizations

Summary

This article provides a step-by-step guide for media organizations looking to build a hybrid cloud active archive using Cloudian HyperStore. It draws on the experience of WGBH, a major public broadcaster, and explains the benefits of this approach, including improved workflow efficiency, scalability, and automated disaster recovery. By following these steps, media organizations can modernize their archives and keep pace with the evolving demands of digital media.

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Okay, let’s talk about building a hybrid cloud active archive, especially if you’re in media. It’s a game-changer. You know how it goes; your archives just keep growing, and keeping up with it can be a real headache. Remember those old tape-based systems? Slow as molasses, right? They don’t scale well either, and let’s be honest, nobody loves shuffling tapes around. A hybrid cloud active archive – that’s where it’s at, mixing the speed of on-site storage with the cloud’s awesome scalability and cost savings. We’ll use WGBH, a big public broadcaster, as our example. They’ve nailed this approach with Cloudian HyperStore, and their setup offers a great roadmap.

So, first things first: you’ve gotta figure out your current situation. What are the pain points? WGBH, for instance, had real issues with slow retrieval times from their tape library. It was also hard for them to keep up with their data volume, and their disaster recovery was labor intensive. You need to understand your needs for storage space, retrieval speeds, data protection, and how it will all mesh with what you already have in place.

Next up, give the hybrid cloud model a serious look. It really does offer the best of both worlds. WGBH, when they looked into it, found that a cloud-only model would have meant slow download times for their big files – a real workflow bottleneck. Plus, they didn’t want to get slammed with high cloud access charges every time they needed to grab a frequently used file. The hybrid approach allows you to keep all the content you use a lot on-premises, for fast access. Then, you can use the cloud for disaster recovery and long-term storage. It’s smart.

Now, for the on-site storage, you should consider Cloudian HyperStore. It’s an object storage platform that plays really nicely with cloud services like Amazon S3 and Glacier. It’s incredibly scalable, you just add more nodes when you need more space. And get this, HyperStore’s policy-based management automates replicating your data to the cloud, so disaster recovery is just…easier. WGBH went with HyperStore because of the fast data access, the easy growth, the high density, all that tagging, and the low cost. They really considered all the bases.

What about the strategy, you ask? You’ll want a tiered storage strategy. This means putting different types of data in different places depending on how often you need to access them. WGBH uses HyperStore for their active archive, then Amazon S3 for extra cloud space, and Amazon Glacier for disaster recovery. All those frequently accessed files stay on the faster on-site HyperStore, and the older stuff, that nobody really needs very often, goes to the lower cost cloud storage. Smart, right?

Workflow Integration is really important! It’s got to be easy to use with your existing software. WGBH integrated HyperStore with their Sony Ci production workflow software, so their sales team and their production staff can all grab what they need easily. You’ll want to do the same with your media asset management (MAM) system, for simple content input, tagging and retrieval. This is something you really don’t want to skimp on, trust me.

Another thing you really want to nail is implementing a really solid metadata tagging system. Trust me, it’s worth it. WGBH tags everything, which means they can find specific footage fast, no problem. Good metadata means detailed searches and that means easier content repurposing, which, in turn, means more value for your existing assets, and who doesn’t want that?!

Then, let’s talk disaster recovery: you really do need to automate this. HyperStore’s policy-based management really shines here. It will automatically copy your data to the cloud for disaster recovery, which makes it so much easier than the old tape-based way. WGBH, for example, automatically replicates to Amazon Glacier, which significantly reduces the workload and risk.

Last, but definitely not least, remember to monitor your setup regularly, and tune it to make sure everything’s running smoothly. You should track storage usage, retrieval times, and those cloud storage costs. Also, and this is important, look at your data retention policies periodically to make sure you’re storing data in the most cost effective place.

In short, building a hybrid cloud active archive, done right, can be a game changer. It’ll boost your workflow, give you scalability, and simplify disaster recovery. It’ll let you keep up with the needs of the modern media landscape, and make the most of your content library. And that’s always a good thing. As of today, January 19, 2025, this information is current, however technology changes quickly, so you know, keep an eye on the latest.