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In PowerStoreOS 3.5 and later, Storage Direct is available. With Storage Direct, users can back up volumes and volume groups directly to a PowerProtect DD series appliance running on-premises or in the cloud. This feature eliminates the requirement of a backup host because all backup traffic is offloaded to the storage appliances. PowerStore uses the replication tagged storage ports to connect and transfer data to the PowerProtect DD appliance leveraging the DD Boost protocol. As with replication, it is recommended that you use different physical ports for data protection and front-end Ethernet storage traffic.
In PowerStoreOS 4.0, an enhancement to storage networks allows users to create multiple storage networks with defined purposes. These purposes include Storage (iSCSI), Storage (NVMe/TCP), and Replication. This feature allows storage networks for host connectivity and dedicated networks for replication. When using Storage Direct, it is required that the Replication purpose only be added to a single storage network within the cluster. The Storage (iSCSI) purpose must be assigned to the network with the Replication purpose and be configured on a port/network that has connectivity to the remote PowerProtect appliance.