Introduction:

Large storage environments are often configured to contain multiple virtual drives on the logical layer. These virtual drives are called LUNs (logical unit numbers) and their configuration makes it easier for the administrator to manage the environment. Additionally, specific LUNs can be assigned to particular projects and/or customers for easily keeping the storage data properly divided.

When simply deleting data from a LUN, it disappears from the logical layer but still exists on the underlying hardware layer. Blancco LUN Eraser was specifically designed for securely erasing entire LUNs while leaving the operating system of the storage environment intact. This is extremely useful in live environments when other LUNs are being accessed by their users and the LUN which is being erased does not disrupt these daily activities. See this video for a quick summary:

https://download.blancco.com/Tutorials/Blancco_LUN_SAN/Blancco_LUN_SAN.mp4


Erasure:

Blancco LUN Eraser can be run from many different operating systems, the most popular being Windows. See this video for a good overview of the Blancco LUN Eraser features:

https://download.blancco.com/Tutorials/Blancco_LUN_Windows/Blancco_LUN_Windows.mp4

Additionally, here is a video showcasing Blancco LUN Eraser running from a Unix/Linux environment:

https://download.blancco.com/Tutorials/LUN_Eraser_UNIX_Tutorial/LUN_Eraser_UNIX_Tutorial.mp4

When targeting data for secure erasure, keep in mind that a single virtual machine can be connected to a LUN counterpart in what is referred to as "Raw Device Mapping". In this scenario, when the virtual machine needs to be erased, its LUN is targeted to securely remove all of its data.  Another popular method of erasure is to target entire data stores which are connected to virtual machines with Blancco LUN Eraser.

 

Erasure reports:

After every erasure, a digitally signed erasure report is automatically generated and stored on the operating system from which Blancco LUN Eraser has been run. These reports can also be automatically sent to the Blancco Management Console which resides on a dedicated server with its own database in the same network, or even to Blancco Cloud if Blancco LUN Eraser has an internet connection. See a video about the Blancco Management Console here:

https://download.blancco.com/Tutorials/Blancco_Management_Console_3/Blancco_Management_Console_3.mp4

These reports form a tamper proof audit trail which confirm that the erasures actually happened, when it happened and with what overwriting method. They can be viewed directly in the Blancco Management Console / Blancco Cloud or exported and sent to internal users, external customers or an external database. The exporting can happen automatically via an API.

 

Conclusion:

All videos and user manuals for Blancco LUN Eraser can be found on this page: Blancco LUN Eraser

That about sums it up. If you have more questions, please be in contact with your Blancco representative and let them know that you have already read through this knowledge-base article. We look forward to serving you!