The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage,
Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
Challenges and
Special Considerations
for Cloud Storage
sponsored by
by Don Jones
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
IntroductiontoRealtimePublishers
by Don Jones, Series Editor
Forseveralyearsnow,Realtimehasproduceddozensanddozensofhighqualitybooks
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Althoughwevealwaysofferedourpublicationstoyouforfree,dontthinkforamoment
[Link]
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The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
IntroductiontoRealtimePublishers.................................................................................................................i
ChallengesandSpecialConsiderationsforCloudStorage.....................................................................1
Rules,Regulations,andRestrictions...........................................................................................................1
DataSecurityRequirements......................................................................................................................1
DataLocationRequirements.....................................................................................................................1
OffsiteRequirements....................................................................................................................................1
RecoveryObjectives...........................................................................................................................................1
WhatAreYourDataCategories?..............................................................................................................2
HowMuchDowntimeCanYouTolerate?.............................................................................................2
WhatSystemsNeedProtection?..............................................................................................................2
BackupsAloneDoNotEqualDisasterRecoveryPlan.....................................................................2
OnSiteRecovery.............................................................................................................................................3
WarmSiteRecovery......................................................................................................................................3
TheVendorConnection....................................................................................................................................4
HeresYourNewStoragePlan.......................................................................................................................5
ii
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
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iii
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
ChallengesandSpecialConsiderationsfor
CloudStorage
Yourecontemplatinghandingoveratleastsomeofyourbusinessdatatoanother
[Link]?
Rules,Regulations,andRestrictions
[Link]
yourindustry,imposedbylegislation,ormightbetheresultofinternalpoliciesand
businessdrivers.
DataSecurityRequirements
Howsecuredoesyourdataneedtobe,andhowsecurecanacloudstoragevendormakeit?
Considernotonlytheencryptionthatthevendorusesintheirstoragecenters,butalsothe
encryptionthatprotectsyourdatawhileitsintransittoorfromthecloud.
Ifyouaresubjecttoauditingrulesespeciallycommonforlegislativecompliance
scenarioshowwillthevendorensurethatyoucancontinuetomeetthoserules?Canthe
vendorproduceauditingreportsthatmeetyourparticularcompliancescenariosand
providetheevidencethatauditorsrequiretoprovethatyourdatahasbeensafeand
secure?
DataLocationRequirements
Areyoupermittedtomoveyourdataoutsideofyourlocaljurisdiction?Insomecountries
andindustries,datahastobekeptinjurisdiction;youneedtoensurethatyoureworking
withacloudstoragevendorwhocanmeetthatrequirement.
OffsiteRequirements
Areyourequiredtomovesomedataoffsiteforprotection?Ifso,cloudstoragecanoffera
faster,moreconvenient,[Link]
understandwhatoffsitemeans,too:Doesthatmeanoutofyouroffice?Outofthecity?
Outoftheregionentirely,toguardagainstaregionalnaturaldisaster?Besureyourcloud
storagevendorunderstandstheserequirementsandcanhelpyoumeetthem.
RecoveryObjectives
Itsimpracticalformostbusinessestoprovidetheexactsamelevelofprotectionforall
theirdata,[Link]
objectivessothatyoucanbeginidentifyingpotentialsolutionsandvendorsthatmeetthose
capabilities.
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
WhatAreYourDataCategories?
[Link]
wellwanttostorecopiesofthatdatalocallyaswellasinthecloudformaximumaccessand
[Link],butlessso;youmaysimplystorecopiesinthecloud
andacceptthefactthataccessingthosecopiesoveryourInternetconnection,shouldthe
needarise,[Link]
locally:Youstoreitentirelyinthecloud,whereitiscontinuallyprotectedandneveratrisk.
HowMuchDowntimeCanYouTolerate?
Speedcosts,soyoullneedtodeterminehowmuchdowntimeyoucanhandleforeachof
[Link],asopposedtomerely
keepingbackupsthere,istoensurethecontinualavailabilityofthatdatameaningyou
[Link],youmaybesatisfiedkeepingthedatalocally
andbackingituptothecloud,knowingthatrestoringthedatamaytakeafewhoursifthe
needarises.
WhatSystemsNeedProtection?
AreyouacompletelyhomogeneousITshop,ordoyouhaveamixofoperatingsystems
(OSs)runningyourserverandclientcomputers?Ideally,youllwantasolutionthatcan
[Link]
abilitytosupportmultipleplatformsisoneareawherecloudstoragevendorstruly
differentiatethemselves.
BackupsAloneDoNotEqualDisasterRecoveryPlan
Youcantsimplyhavebackuptapesorevencloudbasedbackupsandcallthata
[Link]
disastersothattheresnoguessworkormistakesjustconsistent,rapid,thoughtout
responses.
Therearereallytwobroadmodelsforrecoveringfromacompletedisaster:Inthefirst,you
assumethatyourdatacenterisstilloperationalandusable,andthatyouneedtorecover
[Link],eitheryourdatacenterisunusableor
unavailable,ortheserveryouneedtorecoverhashadacompletehardwarefailureand
cantbeused.
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
OnSiteRecovery
Inanonsiterecovery,yourdatacenterandserverhardwareisfunctioning,andyousimply
[Link],youhave
threeoptions:
[Link]
ofdata,especiallyifyouhavealowerbandwidthconnectiontotheInternet.
[Link]
[Link]
ofmediatheycansendyou,andwillofferrushorcourierdeliveryservices.
[Link],asthedatayouneed
[Link],however,requireyoutohaveplannedforthis
scenariobecauseyoullneedtoincludealocalcopyofyourdatainyourstorage
plan.
Forexample,[Link]
company,[Link]
copyofthedata,soyoudecidetobeginrestoringtheserverbycopyingthedatafromthe
[Link],soyoudonthaveto
[Link]:Zero,orclosetoit.
Evenifanentireserverfailed,youwouldhaveminimaldowntimeifyourcloudstorage
providerwasabletorestoretheservertoavirtualenvironmentforyou.
Thelastoptioninthepreviouslistisahybridstoragesolution,somethingIllcoverinmore
[Link]
speedierrecoverycapabilities,butalsoreplicatethatsamedatatothecloudinlieuof
tapebackupsandoffsitetapestoragetoensuretheprotectionofthatdataintheeventof
alargerdisaster.
WarmSiteRecovery
Ifacriticalserverfailscompletely,oryourentiredatacenterisoffline,whatwillyoudo?
Withcloudbaseddataprotection,youcanimmediatelystartaccessingyourdatabut
whataboutserversthatwererunningapplications?Itisntenough,inotherwords,tohave
[Link]
[Link]
criticalserversarecompletelybackeduptothecloud,andthecloudvendorcanlaunch
virtualmachinesandrestoreyourserverstothosevirtualmachines,andyourdataand
[Link](VPN)
connectionbetweenyournetworkandthecloudbasedvirtualmachines,itslikethose
serversarerightonyourlocalnetwork,andyouruserscangetbacktoworkfromalmost
anywhereintheworld.
Again,[Link],what
serverswillberecovered,andyoullneedtoknowhowtoconnecttothoseserversonce
[Link]
easiertoimplementwhentheneedarises.
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
Thisismorethanjustbackupsyourcloudvendorhastonotonlyofferstoragebutalsothe
virtualization,networking,andexpertservicestorecreateaportionofyourproduction
environment,virtually,[Link]
arenotsellingcompletedisasterrecovery,eventhoughtheyllusethetermdisaster
[Link].Vendorssuchasi365,EMC,iland,and
othersoffertruedisasterrecoveryinadditiontocloudbasedbackups;evenserviceslike
AmazonsE3Ccloudcomputingplatformcanbeusedforcertainlimiteddisasterrecovery
scenarios.
TheVendorConnection
Thereareseveralvendorswhocanmakecloudstorageanddataprotectionarealitytoday.
Someoftheminclude:
i365
IronMountain
BarracudaNetworks
CommVault
EMC
iland
Unitrends
[Link]
applianceorsoftwarethatyouinstallinyourdatacenter,whichreplicatesdatatothe
[Link]
businessesandprovidesolutiontailoredforthem.i365sEVaultisoneexampleofa
[Link]
providemorecomplexsolutionsdesignedwithverylargebusinessesinmind.
Dokeepinmind,though,thataswithanyproductorserviceyoureevaluating,notevery
[Link]:
Howlonghasthevendorbeeninbusiness?Whoaretheirexistingclients?Arethey
astablecompany?Willtheybearoundin5years,or10?
Howlonghasthevendorofferedthiskindofsolution,andhowlonghavethey
workedindataprotection?Withthehypearoundthecloud,alotofbrandnew
companiesareplayinginthecloudstoragespaceandmaynothavetheexperience
ortrackrecordyouneedtoseeinordertotrustthemwithyourdata.
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
Doesthevendorofferarangeofsolutionsorjustaonesizefitsalloffering?
Differentsolutionssoftwareasaservice,managedservices,appliances,software,
andsoforthofferflexibilitytomorepreciselymatchyourbusinessparticular
needs.
Isthevendorsnetworksolid?Lookforgeographicallydispersed,redundantdata
centers.YoucanalsolookforSAS70TypeIIcertification,whichcertifiesan
organizationsabilitytoauditandmaintaintheirinternalmanagementcontrolsa
criticalcapabilitywhenyouplantotrustthemwithpartofyourbusiness.
Becarefulofofferingsthatseemtoogoodtobetrue,especiallyfromnewcomerstothe
[Link],growingindustry,butyoushouldstillexpectto
payafairpriceforaqualityproductfromanestablishedvendor.
HeresYourNewStoragePlan
Inthenextandfinalarticleinthisseries,welllookatdifferentmodelsyoucanconsiderfor
[Link],
andhelpyoustartthinkingaboutasolutionthatwillfityourneeds.