Cloud Computing
By Eran Farajun
However, the channel community needs to be aware of some fundamental issues before jumping into cloud backup and randomly selecting a backup software solution and cloud service provider. Service providers can dramatically improve their chances for cloud backup success by asking five key questions before adopting a platform:
1. Is the backup software platform optimized for cloud backup or is it just an update of an old tape-based backup application?Backing up data to the cloud requires a new set of functionality from the backup application that is not usually found in traditional applications designed for disk-to-disk or disk-to-disk-to-tape backup. The new-generation backup applications are based on a utility model that is architected to collect and transmit data securely to external cloud storage. MSPs need to look for cloud-optimized backup features, including agentless, multi-tenant backup and recovery, on-demand front-end and back-end scalability, flexible Recovery Point Objective and Recovery Time Objective granularity options, and integrated data reduction technologies that shrink the backup load and save bandwidth before the backup data is transmitted to cloud storage.
2. Does the software support backup to multiple cloud storage providers?
Data portability is an important consideration in case a cloud storage provider ceases operations or consistently fails to meet SLA targets. Backup software should include public cloud APIs, enabling simple backup and recovery across major cloud storage vendors, such as Amazon S3, Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network, Rackspace and others, and giving MSPs flexibility in choosing a cloud storage vendor to host their data vault.
3. Does the backup solution align the value of customer data with the cost of protecting it?
One of the biggest challenges for cloud backup service providers is reducing the cost of storing older and/or various types of data in the most cost-effective manner possible. Cloud backup platforms that provide backup lifecycle management (BLM) have the ability to intelligently migrate aged or varied data types to lower cost storage systems in order to reduce the service provider’s capital costs. MSPs protecting mounting volumes of data that do not have a tiered backup strategy soon find themselves commoditizing their services which results in greatly reduced profitability. A solution that tiers backup data and allows for the management of multiple SLAs at price points that reflect the value of data, aligns the value of data with business requirements. MSPs that offer very low single-tier pricing might be viewed favorably by some customers, but invariably the customer gets disappointed when he or she cannot achieve the SLA they require for business continuance. BLM allows service providers to offer end-users lower cost alternatives for archiving of long-term backups, but also ensures high-value data is stored on high performance systems for rapid recovery. BLM also allows service providers to help customers with data compliance requirements as it manages the movement of different data types and ages and assigns dates for the final certified destruction of specific data.
4. Does the backup software meet federal data security standards?
It is critical for the backup application to encrypt confidential data before sending it offsite to the cloud, protecting both data-in-transit over a WAN to a cloud storage vault and data-at-rest at the cloud storage site. MSPs need to verify that the cloud backup software they choose is certified and compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140 requirements issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. FIPS 140 certification is required for government agencies as well as for regulated financial, healthcare and other industries for compliance with data retention and security regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley and other legal requirements.
5. Does the backup software support hybrid cloud backup?
Cloud backup can be deployed in a variety of configurations, as an on-premise private cloud or an off-site public or private cloud. Experience has shown that the most effective backup solution is a hybrid cloud storage model that leverages the strengths of both public and private clouds. The on-premise private cloud allows the latest backup to reside locally, enabling very fast restores if needed. That backup data can then be replicated off-site to a public cloud storage vault where it resides with previous backups with the data protected by the cloud storage provider to whatever level of redundancy and security the customer requires as specified in the SLA. MSPs need to ensure that their cloud backup software is intelligent enough to support hybrid cloud backup to provide complete data protection in addition to fast local-based data restoration.
The era of cloud storage is demanding transformational changes in backup policies and techniques for companies that are looking to leverage its efficiencies and cost savings. To succeed in offering cloud backup services MSPs also need to transform their expectations and requirements for their backup software partners by abandoning outdated concepts and understanding how cloud backup addresses the most challenging data backup pain-points to help their end user customers optimize, economize, and modernize their backup operations.
Eran Farajun is Executive Vice President at Asigra, Inc.
