Maryland Department of IT safeguards critical files with Cohesity on Cisco UCS

Overview

As part of its popular infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offering for state agencies, the Maryland Department of IT (DoIT) backs up a reported 700 TB of network-attached storage (NAS), both on-premises and in a Cohesity-managed cyber vault. If an incident occurs, DoIT’s offerings are designed to quickly restore clean data from immutable Cohesity backups. Cohesity on Cisco UCS also helps the State of Maryland be a responsible steward of state resources by reducing administrative and financial costs while delivering the required outcomes. Achieving data immutability with Cohesity requires less hardware than other solutions. Cisco UCS scales out easily and leverages existing employee skillsets, according to DoIT, and Cohesity licensing is usage-based.

The Challenge

Maryland DoIT provides IT services for approximately 40 state agencies to help them increase security and efficiency. IaaS, including backups, is especially popular, and DoIT hosts and protects around 700 TB of NAS. “We’re backing up home drives for agency ‘brain trusts,’” says Darrell Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer. “If something happens to that data, it’s our job to get it back—fast.”

Backup requirements have evolved since DoIT started offering the service. “NAS backups used to be something you stored in a closet until needed,” Stevens says. “Now we need immutable backups that are resilient to a cyber attack.” And with 40 agency customers and counting, DoIT needed a more efficient way to manage NAS backups across different network segments. With the existing backup solution, simply finding a lost file to restore could take upwards of 30 minutes.

The Solution

After narrowing the options to three leading vendors, DoIT selected Cohesity. “Cohesity meets our requirements across a range of needs, including immutable backups, advanced security, simple management, fast restores, and GovRAMP authorization,” says Stevens.

A big bonus: Cohesity runs on Cisco UCS, DoIT’s infrastructure standard for more than a decade. DoIT already used Cisco Intersight for visibility into IaaS servers, and deploying Cohesity on Cisco UCS extends that visibility to backup servers, as well. “The Cisco Validated Design for Cohesity and Cisco UCS sped up deployment,” Stevens says. “We save more time with one number to call for any support issue, hardware or software.”

DoIT started with one Cohesity immutable backup in the Maryland data center and another in Cohesity FortKnox, a Cohesity-managed cyber vault. To comply with the “3-2-1” backup architecture recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), DoIT is adding another on-prem copy in a different region. The backup team tests recovery at least once a week to be prepared for the next cyber event or disaster. Depending on the agency’s requirements, DoIT can download a recovered file, restore it to the original NAS, or move it to a different NAS.

The Result

Stevens emphasizes that his team focuses on what happens after an attack, what he likes to call recovery and remediation. “The chief benefit of Cohesity for DoIT is giving us confidence that we can recover clean data if an agency is hit by a cyberattack,” says Stevens. 

Low total cost of ownership (TCO) for the solution helps the state be a responsible steward of taxpayer money. “CapEx for Cohesity on Cisco UCS is lower than the other solutions we considered,” says Stevens. “For example, another offering required a larger hardware footprint to provide immutability, where Cohesity has immutability built in.” Adding to the savings, Cohesity on Cisco UCS reduces cabling requirements by up to 50% according to DoIT, and Cohesity licensing fees are usage-based.

Simple deployment and management help DoIT efficiently scale to support more agencies. “Cohesity doesn’t require us to install a software agent on each agency’s network segment, which can be complex,” says Stevens. “Deployment is so simple that our admins were able to connect agencies’ NAS servers themselves the same day they watched me demonstrate the process.” 

Agencies using DoIT’s NAS backup service appreciate fast backups and restores. “Our experience with Cohesity is that 70% of our 40 NAS instances are fully backed up in under 10 minutes, and the others take just 30-60 minutes,” Stevens says. “And now that we can locate a file just by typing its name, we have found that the time to find and restore a file is less than a minute, down from 30 minutes with the old backup solution.”

Key Benefits

• Stronger resilience with three immutable backups 
• ~10 minutes to back up each agency’s NAS 
• 97% faster file restores—from 30 minutes down to <1 minute 
• 1 number to call for hardware or software support 
• Lower TCO with less hardware and 50% fewer cables 

About Maryland Department of IT (DoIT)

As the State of Maryland’s IT leader, DoIT manages IT and telecommunications services and provides critical support to state agencies, the Executive Office of the Governor, coordinating offices, and independent Executive Branch agencies. DoIT provides cybersecurity, digital, data governance, AI enablement, infrastructure, and platform services to its partner agencies, ensuring the State of Maryland is more secure, productive, and accessible.