COMMENT
Reasons why managing data orchestration in cloud disaster recovery is important
Merely moving to a cloud hosted disaster recovery solution may not be enough to get your business rolling after a shutdown , explains Allen Mitchell at Commvault .
According to the International Data Corporation ’ s Storage and Data Management Services Programme Director , Paul Hughes , cloud based disaster recovery is top of mind for virtually every IT department , regardless of the size of the business . The shift towards the deployment of cloud-based disaster recovery solutions , however , is not without its challenges .
The pivot away from traditional , on-site disaster recovery solutions is a result of the emergence of cloud computing which has brought with it attractive new opportunities and capabilities for organisations that need a complete disaster recovery solution or are looking for ways to reduce costs without sacrificing service .
While many organisations are cognizant of the cost of downtime , IDC research indicates the average cost is about $ 100,000 per hour , a significant number of organisations remain inadequately prepared . Once again , IDC estimates 50 % of organisations have insufficient disaster recovery plans and would struggle to survive after a significant disaster because of inability to recover IT systems .
Fear mongering aside , if you want to setup or update your current disaster recovery plan by making use of a cloudbased solution , what should you look for to ensure your solution is efficient , cost-effective , and robust ? Of primary importance is finding a solution that provides orchestration , data movement , and management capability that facilitates data protection , deduplication , multiple uses for backup images .
The critical downfall of many disaster recovery plans is the lack of attention to
Allen Mitchell is Senior Technical Account Manager at Commvault MENA .
the process of orchestrating the recovery of a production workload , simply matching component for component between different locations is not enough . The process element of the recovery must be viewed holistically , the orchestration engine should be vendor neutral and allow administrators to have a complete view . This allows entire application environments to be recovered in the cloud , and frees IT teams from having to worry about maintaining device-level compatibility .
Along with comprehensive orchestration , another important factor to consider when selecting a disaster recovery solution is the ease by which data can be moved between on-premises and cloud repositories . The ability to move data , establish multiple disaster recovery sites , and change providers as needed gives organisations the options to optimise recovery , convenience , and cost .
Finally , all respectable disaster recovery plans will include the use of a data management solution that facilitates data protection , deduplication , and multiple uses for backup images . A solution that employs embedded encryption capabilities that can be applied comprehensively or selectively by policy will ensure that your information remains secure regardless of its location .
While cloud storage can be a very low cost data repository at rest , some providers charge significant fees for moving data in and out of storage . These charges , however , can be minimised through the use of deduplication technology which will also help reduce the amount of data that must be stored .
So now your recovery data is securely and cost-effectively stored , satisfying all of your organisation ’ s disaster recovery requirements , what more could you ask for ?
Multiuse backup images are the icing on the cake of any data management solution . Just because your business demands that you backup your data does not mean that the backup needs to sit idly by waiting for something to go wrong .
Innovative disaster recovery plans will make sure of a data management solution that allows backup images to be used in multiple ways , such as for user inquiries , eDiscovery , legal holds , and big data analytics . This multiuse of the data is a way for IT to deliver more value to business units without increasing costs .
18 INTELLIGENTCIO www . intelligentcio . com