Everpure stretches ActiveCluster to metro-distance DR for file workloads

Everpure is extending its ActiveCluster facility to provide disaster recovery across metro distances for file-based workloads.

The ActiveCluster concept is a disaster recovery facility covering city-area distances. It was introduced back in 2017, grouping block storage FlashArrays over Fibre Channel to provide stretched clustering between datacenters. Data updates are synchronously replicated between the systems in the cluster. If one system fails, its workload fails over to the linked datacenter with no interruption to availability. As of March 2024, more than 30 percent of Everpure's customer base used ActiveCluster.

Everpure's Shawn Hansen, VP and GM, FlashBlade and FlashArray, said: "Legacy vendors are still tethered to the infrastructure-first designs of the 1990s. When files are locked to siloed hardware, migrations are disruptive, and mobility is manual. ActiveCluster changes that. We've moved from hardware-to-data thinking to an app-to-data model as a unified platform."

ActiveCluster for file extends traditional high availability by introducing fleet-level data mobility across file environments. It's integrated with Everpure Fusion and embedded within the Purity operating environment.

ActiveCluster for file features: 

• Simple Setup and Dynamic Change: Simple setup and management based on policies and standards.
• Continuous Access: Files remain online during any outage.
• Fleet-Wide File Mobility: Workloads freely move across your entire fleet to ensure SLAs are met without manual intervention.
• Any Array, Any Time Cloud Operations: New level of availability and mobility (any array at any time vs. dedicated hardware) operates autonomously based on policy and SLAs, aligning high availability and data mobility delivery with cloud operating models.
• Standardized, Policy Driven at Scale: Consistent setup and scaling across the entire fleet with workload-level SLAs defined by policy and enforced automatically.

Several of Everpure's competitors offer similar file-based metro-distance DR capabilities. Dell has its Metro Volumes feature for the PowerStore unified file and block arrays. HPE's Alletra Storage MP B10000 has an Active Peer Persistence feature with both automatic transparent and manual transparent failover. NetApp has MetroCluster support in its ONTAP array systems.

Our understanding is that VAST Data doesn't yet offer native metro-distance stretched clustering for file services.

Everpure’s ActiveCluster for file will be generally available in Q2 2026 through a non-disruptive upgrade in the Purity operating environment. Find out more in a blog.