Cloud-based Disaster Backup And Recovery

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Cloud-based Disaster Backup And Recovery: What Is It And How It Can Benefit Your Firm?

Photo Courtesy of Siliconangle

Cloud backup and recovery systems have now become common IT solutions, employed by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to keep their private data safe. Being totally virtual, they provide a higher level of protection and security to a company’s data center; since they’re not prone to physical damages, unlike hard drives. So, in case of a server shutdown, your company’s digital files are still intact and available for restoration. However, there’s been a lot of misinformation with regard to the premises and true purpose of a Cloud-based Disaster Backup and Recovery (DBR) service. For this entry, we’ll briefly discuss how the technology works and its benefits.

Disaster Backup And Recovery Defined
DBR is a service package provided and “handled by a managed IT service provider,” according to Data Center Knowledge. It involves the process of storing all your private data off-site, either to a public or private cloud. So, in case of a system error or server shutdown, they’re also responsible for the restoration of your files, software, and passwords.

There are actually three types of DBR:

· Back Up To And Restore From The Cloud

In this approach, all your devices’ applications and digital content remain on site physical machines), while being backed up into the cloud. Then, they are restored onto a new hardware when disaster occurs. In short, the backup in the cloud acts as a substitute for off-site and tape-based backups.

This is similar to backing up your smartphone’s personal files to cloud storages. For instance; in the case of Apple’s mobile devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch), iCloud acts as a safe box for all your digital contents. As highlighted by O2’s page for the iPhone 5C; iCloud “stores your music, photos, calendars, contacts, documents and more.” In case your iDevice is stolen or reformatted, you can restore these files from the backup once you’ve configured your Apple ID.

· Back Up To And Restore To The Cloud

Data isn’t restored back on computers. Instead, they’re reinstated to virtual machines provided by the cloud. Files are accessible to any computing device through web browsers and/or programs. The creation, altering, and storing of digital content all happens virtually.

It’s similar to the case of Google Drive. This service provides web productivity tools similar to the MS Office suite. One can create files from scratch by accessing their Google accounts from any platform. Then, it is automatically backed up online, and not on physical machines.

· Replication On Virtual Machines After Backup

As the title suggests, what happens is that once your files and applications are backed up on the cloud, an extra copy of these content are generated online. According to Tech Target’s feature; it’s designed for applications “that require aggressive recovery time and recovery point objectives (RPOs), as well as application awareness, replication is the data movement option of choice.”

In case you back up from one machine and you want to restore them later on to multiple devices, this type of DBR is the most ideal for your company.

Key Benefits
Now that we’ve discussed the three modes of the disaster backup and recovery system, we think it’s fair that we also lay out its benefits for your firm. Other than securing your files, its scalability and flexibility, cost-efficiency, and quality are some of the reasons why you might want to consider it.

Cost – There’s no need to purchase extensive hardware infrastructure for your on-site backup system. Also, since these cloud-based backup services also offer virtual applications, it lessens the need to acquire large scale software licenses.

Quality – Managed cloud service providers, according to an article featured on Fed Tech Magazine, “run the best-available software to monitor and manage the infrastructure, and they employ some of the most skilled practitioners to oversee management tools.” They have also developed rigorous procedures to make uptime faster, while at the same time, delivering optimized performance.

Flexibility And Scalability – Since these DBRs are totally virtual, increasing and decreasing your storage limit should be a breeze. On physical hardware, you will need to replace the machine in case you need to upgrade.

So this is how disaster recovery works and benefits SMEs. Do you think it is a viable option for your firm? In case you need an in-depth training, system, and backup consulting, you can visit our services section, or you can subscribe to our blog for more resources.

About the Author

Jennifer Birch is a regular contributor for Techie Doodlers with a strong passion for innovative IT solutions such as BYOD, Cloud Services, and NFC. As a freelance tech writer, she’s covering the latest mobile news and industry related innovations. Connect with her @WrittenByJenni and Google Plus.