It is with great pleasure that I announce that Lightbits v3.2.1 has now been released. This release, coming on the heels of Lightbits v3.1.x releases, continues our relentless optimization of our data platform for the public cloud while also improving all aspects of Lightbits software. In v3.2.1, in addition to bug fixes and a myriad of small improvements, we added the following features and capabilities for Lightbits running on the public cloud (AWS, Azure), and on premises.
Incremental Backup and Restore for AWS
In release v3.1.1, we introduced the ability to back up and restore entire Lightbits volumes to and from AWS S3. Release v3.2.1 introduces incremental backups and restores. When backing up a volume that has already been backed up previously, only data that was changed (i.e., only the incremental changes) is sent to S3, making for a more efficient and cost-effective backup and restore experience.
Try it out and let us know what you think! Release v3.3.1, which we are already hard at work on, will introduce further backup and restore improvements.
Preview of Cross-Availability Zone (AZ) Support on AWS
Release v3.2.1 adds the ability to stretch a Lightbits cluster across multiple AWS availability zones. A cross-AZ cluster remains functional and available and its data remains protected even when an entire AZ fails. While AZ outages are relatively rare, they do occur, and anyone who needs stronger availability and durability guarantees than those provided by a single AZ is encouraged to take advantage of this capability coming in v3.2.1.
Client-Side Encryption and Multi-Attach with the Lightbits K8s CSI Plugin
Many cloud service providers and users would like to protect their data confidentiality by only storing encrypted data on their cloud data platforms. While it has always been possible to store encrypted data on Lightbits, with release v3.2.1, the Lightbits CSI plugin can encrypt client data before it is sent over the wire to the Lightbits storage cluster, so that client data is never sent over the wire or stored unprotected. Furthermore, since encryption/decryption is orchestrated automatically by the Lightbits CSI plugin — when configured to do so — no additional effort is required on the client side.
When using the Lightbits k8s CSI plugin in block mode, as opposed to file system mode, it is convenient to be able to attach multiple k8s nodes to a single Lightbits block device. This capability, known as multi-attach or MULTI_NODE_MULTI_WRITER in k8s CSI parlance, is now supported by the CSI plugin.
Full Support for Multi-Tenancy with the Lightbits vCenter Plugin
Release v3.2.1 adds multi-tenancy support to the Lightbits vCenter plugin, as of the plugin version v1.3. Whereas previously the plugin required full Lightbits cluster-admin privileges, it is now possible to take advantage of Lightbits’ native support for multi-tenancy with the vCenter plugin, providing full storage access to VMware clusters used by multiple tenants and extending the tenant boundaries all the way into the Lightbits storage clusters.
Front-End Compression
Data reduction via compression was one of the earliest features we developed for Lightbits. We implemented it in software and (where applicable) offloaded it to hardware acceleration. Until release v3.2.1, software compression was done by the Lightbits IFM (Intelligent Flash Management) layer, or as we fondly call it, the backend. This meant that for any replicated volume, the same data was independently compressed by each Lightbits cluster node holding a replica of the data.
With release v3.2.1, we made some architectural improvements and moved compression and other data services processing to the network-facing components of the Lightbits software stack (the frontend), while maintaining the same compression algorithms and data formats. Compressing data at the frontend, just as it is received from the network, means that the data only needs to be compressed once regardless of the number of data copies later replicated and distributed in the cluster. Front-end compression thereby gives us more efficient clusters and lower data transfer costs, especially for clusters stretched across multiple AZs.
Enjoy release v3.2.1 and let us know how it fares in your environment. We are always happy to help and to get your feedback. In the meantime, Lightbits development marches on to v3.3… to the cloud and beyond!
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