Robin Cloud Native Storage provides block and file storage that runs on any Kubernetes platform.
Startup Robin.io first launched CNS in 2019. Robin Cloud Native Storage is sold independently from the Robin Multi Data Center Automation Platform (MDCAP), an automation platform that spans data centers and clouds. MDCAP includes virtual networking, and application workflow automation built on Kubernetes.
Robin.io supports Red Hat OpenShift, Rancher Kubernetes Engine, managed Kubernetes such as Azure AKS, AWS EKS, Google GKE, and IBM IKS, and on-prem Google Anthos. It installs natively as a Kubernetes operator.
Container Native Storage (CNS) is a category of software-defined storage (SDS) that’s embedded in a container cluster, providing a virtualized pool of storage using devices internal to each host. This is a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) cluster except that the software runs in a container, instead of as a VM. CNS in a container orchestration platform (like Kubernetes) is somewhat analogous to VMware vSAN running as a service in vSphere, creating a scale-out compute environment.
The benefits of Container-Native Storage with Kubernetes are also similar to those of HCI. A CNS eliminates the need for external storage systems to support containers and can scale with the Kubernetes cluster. As a storage layer, CNS is integrated into Kubernetes, simplifying management compared with an external storage system.
Robin Cloud Native Storage runs on-premises on bare metal or virtual machines, or in public clouds. Robin Cloud Native Storage features include disk discovery and pooling, synchronous replication, encryption (but no built-in key management), compression, thin provisioning, capacity management and forecasting, IO hotspot reduction and protection against disk and node failures.
Robin.io’s data management features include:
- application-consistent snapshots and clones
- copy data management
- application-based backup and recovery
- backup and snapshot scheduling with retention policies and quality of service.
Application-consistent snapshots and clones capture entire applications, including storage volumes, configurations and metadata.
Robin Container Native Storage Product Brief includes:
- Highlights
- Overview
- Usage and Deployment
- EvaluScale Product Review Methodology
- Evaluator Group commentary
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