About Backblaze
Backblaze is an American cloud storage and data backup company. They went public in 2021, and have since increased their investment in the development of their Storage Cloud platform and the B2 Cloud Storage and Computer Backup services that run on it.
Main takeaways
- Utilized AutoOps to save enormous amounts of time spent on OpenSearch
- Improved search performance by optimizing sharding and query strategy
- Team gained valuable knowledge through training sessions
Searching for help with OpenSearch
Backblaze has been using OpenSearch ever since it launched, after switching out several other logging systems. “When we started using OpenSearch, I discovered that I had way more control over everything in the system, but there was a lot less built in for us. That’s part of why I was so happy to find Opster,” said Billy McCarthy, Senior SysAdmin at Backblaze. “I felt like I was in over my head a lot of the time, especially when the online community wasn’t really there yet and there wasn’t a lot of information out there.”
Backblaze’s primary use case is log analysis, both application logs and system logs, as well as observability. They now manage several on-prem OpenSearch clusters. “Prior to beginning to work with Opster, I was spending about 50% of my time trying to manage OpenSearch,” said McCarthy. “I was doing everything on my own and just trying to keep my head above water.”
“Prior to beginning to work with Opster, I was spending about 50% of my time trying to manage OpenSearch. I was doing everything on my own and just trying to keep my head above water.”
When McCarthy began looking for services to help him manage OpenSearch on-premises, he found very few options. “I couldn’t find resources, no one would even talk to us about helping us manage OpenSearch. Opster’s the only company I found offering a complete solution for OpenSearch.”
McCarthy originally looked to expand the team by hiring someone to be Backblaze’s internal OpenSearch expert, but employees with the right type of experience are hard to find. He ended up bringing on some junior team members, and engaging with the Opster team to conduct training sessions on all things OpenSearch. “It comes out cheaper in the long run.”
“By using the Opster AutoOps system and getting training for my team, I’m able to save so much time and effort that I used to spend on handling OpenSearch.”
“At first I was just looking for on-prem tools to help us, and I came across Opster’s free Template Optimizer. I was so impressed with what Opster was offering the community. I ended up in conversation with Ziv Segal, Opster’s CEO, and realized I’d found the solution I’d been looking for. By using the Opster AutoOps system and getting training for my team, I’m able to save so much time and effort that I used to spend on handling OpenSearch.”
Opster – The complete solution for managing and optimizing OpenSearch
Backblaze began using Opster AutoOps to optimize their system. First, they defined notification to be alerted by the system before any issues arise, to be able to completely prevent production incidents. “With AutoOps and the Opster team’s help, we completely optimized our sharding strategy and improved our slow queries and search performance,” McCarthy said. “Our overall performance has improved so much since we started working with Opster.”
“With AutoOps and the Opster team’s help, we completely optimized our sharding strategy and improved our slow queries and search performance,” McCarthy said. “Our overall performance has improved so much since we started working with Opster.”
“We’re so impressed with AutoOps. It’s a beautiful system, really easy to navigate and configure according to the issues that matter to us. Our whole configuration is easier now.”
The Backblaze team proceeded to start a training course provided by Opster. “One of the amazing things we’re getting out of these learning sessions is understanding the context and the bigger picture. There’s documentation out there, but it’s really hard to understand how it all comes together, what’s actually important and what isn’t. The more we learn, the easier it is for us to do our jobs the right way.”
“Opster is the only company that provides what it does. Others may offer you monitoring, or consultation, but Opster covers absolutely everything you need to successfully run your search deployment. From the set-up to the follow-through, Opster even always makes sure your team has the skills they need to get their jobs done.”
“Opster is the only company that provides what it does. Others may offer you monitoring, or consultation, but Opster covers absolutely everything you need to successfully run your search deployment.”
