Khalil Yazbeck, Business Development Manager for UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman, at Kingston Technology
Khalil Yazbeck, Business Development Manager for UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, Kingston Technology emphasizes the importance of assessing workloads, leveraging hardware-based encryption for data protection, ensuring compatibility with server infrastructure and maintaining data integrity during migration.
In modern data centers and server environments, performance and data security are paramount. As businesses strive to meet growing data demands, they increasingly turn to enterprise-class mixed-use SSDs to balance performance and endurance for diverse workloads. When combined with hardware-based encryption, these SSDs offer an enhanced layer of security, making them ideal for protecting sensitive data in core applications.
However, migrating data to these encrypted SSDs within a data center or server infrastructure requires a careful and secure approach. Missteps during migration can lead to data breaches, downtime, or degraded performance. The need to protect data at rest, in motion, and during migration is crucial to maintaining trust, compliance, and operational efficiency. To avoid these risks, organizations should adhere to best practices designed to ensure a seamless and secure transition to encrypted mixed-use SSDs.
Assess Your Data Migration Needs
Prior to commencing the migration process, it is crucial to complete an evaluation of your company’s data and storage needs. Determine which data must be migrated and categorize it according to its sensitivity and usage patterns. Mixed-use enterprise SSD drives are well suited for settings that involve a blend of reading and writing tasks. By prioritizing workloads based on performance and security requirements, you can make informed decisions when selecting the optimal SSD configuration from the outset.
Choose the Right Encryption Method
When migrating sensitive data, encryption is essential to ensure security throughout the process. Mixed-use enterprise SSDs with built-in hardware-based encryption offer a faster and more efficient solution compared to traditional software-based encryption methods. Since hardware encryption is embedded directly within the SSD controller, it minimizes CPU load, enhancing overall system performance.
To ensure secure data handling, choose SSDs that comply with industry encryption standards. For example, the DC600ME SSD features AES 256-bit hardware encryption, which encrypts all data communication between the NAND storage and the SSD controller. This encryption standard is compatible with any application that supports AES and can be implemented as simply as setting a password in the BIOS.
Plan for Data Integrity
Maintaining data integrity during migration is critical, especially when moving to encrypted SSDs. Any corruption during the migration process can lead to data loss or downtime. To mitigate this risk, perform regular backups before beginning the migration. Additionally, implement a process for verifying data integrity post-migration to ensure that files remain unchanged and uncorrupted.
Using mixed-use enterprise SSDs with Power Loss Protection (PLP) features can further safeguard data by ensuring that critical information is written to the SSD in case of a sudden power outage during migration.
Collaborate with Trusted Vendors
Data centers and server administrators should collaborate closely with trusted vendors like Kingston Technology to guarantee that the SSDs being deployed satisfy their infrastructure’s performance and security needs effectively. Vendors can offer guidance on the ways to incorporate encrypted SSDs into their systems and how to enhance workloads while efficiently handling large scale storage setups.
By leveraging Kingston’s expertise, data centers can enhance their storage setups to handle a variety of tasks efficiently while also seamlessly incorporating encryption measures into their security procedures.
Monitor Performance Post-Migration
After migrating to mixed-use enterprise SSDs with encryption, continuously monitor performance to ensure your workloads are optimized. Encrypted SSDs should not cause significant performance degradation, and if any issues arise, they should be addressed promptly. Regularly review data read/write speeds and overall system performance to ensure the SSDs are performing as expected.
Verify Compatibility with Encryption Protocols
Mixed-use enterprise SSDs and encryption features must be compatible with your existing infrastructure, particularly when it comes to encryption management. When migrating data to mixed-use enterprise SSDs with encryption, it is essential to ensure that all necessary security configurations are properly set up. For SSDs featuring TCG Opal, this involves completing the encryption setup and key management before migration begins. Once the configuration is in place, the SSDs can be used as normal storage devices, with no impact on the operating system or user experience. They appear just like regular SSDs to the Operating System, ensuring that the migration process remains smooth and uninterrupted.
The new DC600ME adds an extra layer of security by integrating TCG Opal. This well-known hardware encryption standard allows businesses to manage SSD encryption remotely, offering greater flexibility and control. With TCG Opal, organizations can leverage endpoint management solutions, server manufacturer tools, or RAID manufacturer utilities to handle encryption keys and manage data security efficiently.
This capability is particularly important in environments where large-scale data migration occurs, or where distributed infrastructure requires remote management. By adding TCG Opal to the encryption framework, the DC600ME provides not only hardware-level encryption but also centralized management for greater control over data security, making it easier to maintain compliance with NIS2 regulations.
Migrating to mixed-use enterprise SSDs with encryption presents enterprises with a compelling mix of speed, durability, and security. By implementing best practices, businesses can ensure that their data migration process remains smooth, secure, and efficient. With careful planning and execution, organizations can fully leverage the capabilities of these advanced SSDs while safeguarding their most valuable asset – their data.
Kingston Technology is dedicated to offering secure, high-performance SSD solutions tailored to meet the evolving demands of enterprise environments. Whether upgrading storage infrastructure or migrating sensitive data, Kingston’s mixed-use enterprise SSDs with encryption provide the reliability and security businesses need.
