Air-Gap, Physical Separation & Offsite Storage –
Protecting the Last Line of Recovery

sayFUSE appliance with removable backup drives between attacked servers and a vault

sayFUSE VM Backup B6S16 integrates dedicated backup storage with six separately controllable backup drives in one central platform. It scales from a single appliance to an HCI cluster and unites backup storage, parallel backup paths, a physical air gap and controlled offsite storage in a software-independent recovery chain.

The physical air gap adds a further layer of protection for backup data. Controlled offsite storage of the backups can be managed precisely and integrated into defined operational and security processes.

The result is a redundant and controllable backup architecture that protects data even if the primary infrastructure is compromised or fails.

  • Separated: Remove the backup copy from the production attack surface
  • Stored offsite: Keep backup media in separate fire compartments or at separate sites
  • Recoverable: Select, verify and restore recovery points in an orderly manner

A backup only offers reliable protection if at least one suitable recovery copy survives an attack on the production environment. sayFUSE VM Backup B6S16 combines high-performance backup storage, six removable and separately controllable backup drives and controlled physical offsite storage in one integrated system.

The left-hand storage section provides up to 1 PB of capacity per appliance for ongoing backups and fast restores. The right-hand section contains six separately switchable drives as standard. With currently up to 40 TB per medium, a total of up to 240 TB per backup run can be transferred to separate media in the standard configuration or distributed flexibly across several backup jobs.

sayFUSE thus combines high online backup capacity with physically separated backup media, creating an additional layer of protection for critical data.

One platform – three flexible operating modes

Pool mode from a single device to an HCI cluster

The B6S16 comes with six controllable backup drives as standard. An expansion module adds twelve more drives. If sayFUSE HCI nodes with backup functionality are used, the drives of all nodes appear as one shared, cluster-wide media pool. Ten backup nodes therefore already provide 60 standard drives; expansion modules increase the offsite storage capacity further.

Parallel mode and individual software assignment

Alternatively, the drives work in parallel and independently – for example separately for databases, mail systems or other data classes. They can also be assigned to different backup applications such as SEP sesam, Veeam or Commvault. Pooling, parallel jobs and individual software assignment can be combined.

The controlled recovery chain

  1. 1. Job-controlled power-on: Before the backup, only the drive assigned to the job is activated.
  2. 2. Backup to assigned media: The data is transferred to the media pool or in parallel to the assigned drives.
  3. 3. Power-off and air gap: After a successful job, the drive is deactivated and disconnected from the active data path.
  4. 4. Removal and offsite storage: The medium is removed, catalogued and stored securely on site or off site.
  5. 5. Controlled recovery: In the event of an incident, a verified backup state is restored in a controlled manner.

The last line of recovery stays offline. Physical separation prevents permanent access to the last recovery copy. Offsite storage also protects against fire, water, sabotage and loss of a site.

Open to different backup strategies

The backup software best suited in functional and technical terms can be used for each data class. Storage, media management, physical separation (air gap) and recovery nevertheless remain united in one integrated platform.
Permissions, retention periods, encryption and transport routes can be defined individually by project, data class and security requirement.

Typical applications

  • KRITIS operators, public authorities and regulated organisations
  • Large data volumes with up to 1 PB of backup storage per appliance
  • Separate backup of databases, mail systems and other workloads
  • Heterogeneous environments with SEP sesam, Veeam, Commvault or comparable solutions
  • Ransomware protection, long-term retention and external offsite storage

sayFUSE VM Backup B6S16 scales from a single appliance to an HCI cluster and unites backup storage, parallel backup paths, a physical air gap and controlled offsite storage in a software-independent recovery chain.