IT disasters happen, some are man-made while others are a result of a natural calamity. As such, every business needs to have a disaster recovery plan so that downtime can be reduced and digital assets – crucial to a business’s operation – remain safe, secured and accessible.
When it comes to creating a disaster recovery plan, the first thing to decide on is the deployment of a secondary data center that serves as a backup site, if and when the primary data center gets incapacitated. Traditionally, the only option that businesses had was investing in a physical data center located remotely.
However, with the introduction of cloud, up came an alternative that was previously unheard of – a cloud based recovery site. The solution has quickly gained traction and now businesses—including MSPs—are deploying cloud based recovery model for their operations.
What are the key considerations that entail the deployment of a cloud based disaster recovery plan?
We take a brief look.
1) An Organization’s Data Protection Needs
Some businesses prefer adopting a disk-to-disk-to-cloud backup model, where they store critical data on primary backups installed on-site, while the less important data on cloud. Others choose to host all the data records on cloud.
Both strategies have their pros and cons, and both require different infrastructure and system configuration to support respective models of deployment. Therefore, evaluating your organization’s data protection needs and then deciding which model suits you best, is a very important consideration to make when creating a cloud based disaster recovery plan.
2) Selection of a Cloud Provider
Once you’ve established your data protection needs, reviewing it will help you identify your needs and expectations from a cloud service provider for the implementation to be effective and successful. This is when you start to shortlist cloud providers.
Based on what they have to offer and whether the offered can adequately accommodate your needs, you will try to select the near-to-ideal solution. For example, some service providers will allow you to host a VM, while other would only permit its replication. Likewise, some will offer you plenty of storage space but might not offer you the support you wish to have.
Choose a cloud provider wisely.
3) Bandwidth Management Strategy
Creating a strategy for internet bandwidth management is another important consideration to make. This is because most service providers model their package based on bandwidth consumption. Then you have your own ISP, who may carry bandwidth caps. Plus, the speed of backup operations also depends on the available bandwidth. As such, a bandwidth management strategy would ensure successful deployment of your cloud based recovery model, which would be free from any constraints.
4) Logistical Considerations
It implies how you will be copying data to cloud, what you will need for it, how are you going to accomplish Active Directory synchronization, maintenance of quorum etc. The expansive your needs are, the richer would be your logistical requirements. If you only intend to use cloud for storage capabilities, the required logistical planning is going to be minimal.
Knowing what is required for the deployment of a cloud based recovery plan is important if you want your DR strategy to work effectively. We are confident that the information provided herein, would help to serve the purpose.
Need help with the creation and implementation of your cloud based disaster recovery strategy?
Feel free to reach out. Our expert IT service professionals in Austin can provide you with information and technology planning services along with managed IT support, to help you keep your IT operations run smoothly and efficiently.