Nailing Cloud Back-up and Disaster Recovery Implementation

175 Zettabytes, 175 trillion gigabytes or at least five times all the data in the world; that is the quantum of new data estimated to be generated by 2025 according to IDC. With data being generated at this furious pace, protecting it and the systems that hold it is no mean task for organizations. Replicating all this after a security incident occurs is quite another.

An effective cloud backup and disaster recovery (DR) strategy can ensure a business is up and running soon, even after a massive cyber security disaster strikes. But nailing the implementation is key. It is important to appreciate the difference between cloud back-up and disaster recovery and see these as two important components of an overall strategy, and not as mere synonyms.

Cloud back-up protects your data but ensuring business continuity demands your systems can be replicated as well, in order to process recovered data and bring the business back on track.

Cloud Back-up Best Practices

Following these guidelines can smoothen the cloud back-up process for any organization.

Do a cost-benefit analysis: To get the best value out of cloud back-ups does a rigorous cost-benefit analysis. Public cloud storage may seem cheap upfront but as data and its copies grow, cost can spiral out of control. Beware of hidden costs. For example, factor in the cost of failover testing which is critical to an effective cloud back-up planning. However, many cloud back-up service providers do not provide failover as a standard service. Instead, they offer it as an expensive premium option. Choosing the right provider offering customized, periodic testing at low or no cost is the key.

Customize SLAs: Speaking of customization does not take a shortcut on SLAs. Customize them to your requirements. Negotiate application priorities, reporting metrics and consequences of unmet SLAs upfront to avoid heartburn later.

Assess security: Assessing physical and digital security appliances of the provider's datacenter is an important parameter. Look for datacenter certifications, security audit reports and encryption policies for in-flight and at-rest data. These are key indices you can employ to measure your cloud-backup provider's security preparedness. Look for additional security layers even on cloud back-up, to maintain the highest levels of data protection and privacy.

Assess compliance: When it comes to compliance, you are the decision-maker as the owner of data. Ensure your cloud provider is vigilant in adhering to national and international regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applicable in the European Union and European Economic Areas.

Avoid the single cloud trap: Large public cloud providers tend to encourage customers to sign up for more services, while making it expensive to transfer data off the cloud. This behavior can lead to vendor lock-in. It would be good to assess services of multiple cloud providers and choose a combination that works best for your organization. Subscribing to several clouds can optimize individual workloads and avoid the expense of data transfer between clouds.

Disaster Recovery Best Practices are concerned , there are hige disaster recovery plans are inplaced for a comprehensive business continuity strategy.

Nikhil Korgaonkar, Regional Director, India and SAARC, Arcserve