7 Ways to teach you how to deploy cloud backups

As everyone in the IT industry knows, it's not easy to back up important files and data on a regular basis, and no one will be willing to take the initiative to stand up for this when it comes to financial reporting at the end of the year, even when you think about it, you don't have a good appetite. The solution is not small for us, some solutions are better than others, but the less disruptive the backup, the higher the automation and the higher the reliability, the better. This is a prerequisite for backup performance.

Although the cloud computing in recent times like hot potato, fire to not, but the use of the cloud to back up or there is a certain flaw. While just mentioning the phrase "cloud computing" may not be very satisfying for some IT professionals, the basic concept of backing up important data and moving data out of the main office for decades is an effective means of data protection. and the hosting backup provider has a little time, and he's good at providing an extra layer of important protection for local backups.

The relationship between backup and cloud computing

Cloud Backup This solution may be suitable for many reasons for your business; it is clear that the demand for such services is growing. According to a recent survey by Forrester Research, only 5% of SMBs are using online backup services, remote backup or cloud backup services – but the ratio is expected to soar in the next few years.

The same survey found that 38% of respondents planned to use backup services within two years, meaning growth rates were as high as 660%. The reason why you prefer to back up files and data to the cloud is because consumers are actively using online backup services such as Mozy, CrashPlan, and Carbonite. Thousands of people are already using cloud-based file storage services, including many storage options for Windows Live SkyDrive, DropBox, Amazon Cloud Drive, and Google Docs, Google Picasa, and other Google services. Apple's recently announced icloud also shows that consumers are more accepting and receptive to cloud services. So the concept of cloud backup and file storage is not a new concept--one of the cloud services that every reader of this article may have already mentioned in the text.

Enterprise software vendors are now providing cloud backup services. The CA recently announced that it provides cloud backup through Windows Azure. Symantec's backup Exec.cloud is in beta phase and is expected to be available by the end of 2011. The company's research director Adam Couture specializes in analyzing enterprise backup markets; He says current key players include Seagate's i365, Barracuda Backup service, IBM SmartCloud managed Backup and Terremark backup and recovery (but strictly not a cloud backup provider) is the main backup vendor currently hosting the backup market, and may also kill clouds backup areas.

Couture also points out that there are many smaller backup providers that currently provide managed backup services to customers. "There are now hundreds of service providers buying licenses for backup software and technology from another developer, such as backup software providers Asigra, Terremark and Hewlett-Packard, to build a small business," Couture said. There are only about 10 backup software technologies available on the market, but there are hundreds of them. ”

One of the largest providers is Asigra, whose Asigra cloud backup software is provided by a third party management service provider (MSP). Asigra announced earlier this year that the 40多万个 client website was using Asigra cloud backup software provided by Asigra MSP.

One of the Asigra MSP is backup my info! (BUMI), a small backup service provider dedicated to providing backup services to customers in the northeastern United States, mainly three states. Bumi has been successful as a backup provider for financial services, banks, hedge funds, law firms, real estate and non-profit organizations. "We look forward to a closer relationship with our backup customers," said Jennifer Walzer, chief executive of Bumi. We want to be the important partner/advisor that customers can rely on when they want to use an external backup provider. We expect to be able to expand their own in-house IT resources. ”

Eran Farajun, Asigra's executive vice president, praised Walzer's offer of backup services, thinking that Walzer Bumi These cloud backup MSP would recognize some users ' misconceptions about cloud backup. Farajun said: "The cloud is a new technology, some of the failures are reported by the media, but the cloud will eventually mature enough that people treat it as if it were all other widely used infrastructure services." Faults occasionally occur, such as power outages, telephone lines broken, roads blocked by accidents and so on. In general, the cloud is extremely reliable, but reliable systems occasionally fail. ”

Choose Cloud Backup Solution

When evaluating a cloud backup solution provider, the choice of which provider has several important aspects to consider. Here are some valuable tips, methods, and advice for deploying cloud backup solutions, and any sensible IT manager considering a cloud backup solution should be considered.

Experience is very important. As couture of Gartner points out, backup providers serve a wide range of customers from multinational companies to one-person companies with limited resources and a minimum price. "Any teenage programmer can work out a few lines of code, take full advantage of Amazon's public cloud and start selling cloud backup services," Couture said. "You should look for backup providers with at least a few years of experience and meet all your backup requirements."

Redundancy is important. While your data is stored offsite in a cloud backup site, Bumi's Walzer emphasizes that it is advisable to require cloud backup providers to also support, ideally, provide local backup files (not back up in the cloud). "This is actually the director of both," Walzer said. Having both a cloud backup and a local backup means that you are planning to respond to a failure, and if a cloud or local backup fails, you can quickly get the company back on the run. ”

Uninterrupted support all day. As long as experienced IT pros can attest, system failures and network crashes rarely occur in ideal time periods, which means you may need to get in touch with your backup provider during extraordinary periods, including holidays, weekends, and early morning hours. If your business requires uninterrupted uptime, it is extremely important to provide a cloud backup provider that provides 24x7 uninterrupted support throughout the year.

Trust Service Level agreements (SLAs). Your service Level agreement (SLA) with the cloud backup provider outlines what you and the provider are responsible for, and explains what the company will do if the provider fails to meet the requirements of the agreement. "The prices of some providers are very low," Walzer said. In this case, what kind of money to spend, what kind of service is often received; many of these lower-priced providers are woefully less selective in their recovery. You have to have an effective means of SLA: providers should know that if they do not deliver on their promises, they will have to bear very heavy consequences. ”

Portability。 One of the concerns of IT pros is that their data is locked by cloud providers and will not be able to get their data back once the provider collapses, is acquired by another larger provider, or otherwise. It is essential to ensure that your data is easily transferred to another provider. You may also want to consider the concept of a software hosting protocol so that you can obtain the source code of any custom software used to access your data.

Security and encryption. Make sure that the cloud backup provider you choose supports the security and encryption levels you need to ensure your data is secure and compliant with any third-party regulatory requirements you need to comply with. For example, if you need to comply with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) publication 140-2 (also known as FIPS 140-2) security certification, make sure your provider also supports the standard. Ensure that the static data is encrypted and, if necessary, that the data in the transmission is encrypted, and that any specific security, auditing, and compliance requirements are clearly communicated to the provider (added to your SLA if necessary).

Seek customer introductions and consider small-audience providers. Faragun said: "It is best to invite customers in your industry area to introduce providers." Big-business providers don't say anything, and so does the relative size of providers. You might want to seek out good providers from your own industry, such as banking and manufacturing, because they may know more about your industry's specific requirements. ”

Cloud storage or variable

The pressure on cloud backup providers comes from Low-cost service providers, who take full advantage of low-cost software and use Amazon's public cloud infrastructure. This price pressure prompted Iron Kings to abandon the cloud backup business and force EMC to stop Atmos product services.

Farajun said: "Cloud backup will also become part of the mobile experience, and replace the current way of doing business." We've put the data in the cloud, and the data on the mobile device is going to be more and more. Cloud backup applications will also extend to those devices. ”

Farajun also believes that cloud backup will be a standard feature of many applications, and its ease of use can be enhanced by high levels of integration. The user always accesses the File menu in the application to save the document, and Farajun thinks it will be as easy to make a quick backup in the cloud. Apple's recently announced icloud seems to confirm Farajun's assertion that a more seamless and integrated approach to future cloud use will be adopted. Farajun said: "Remember the 80 in the middle of the last century, people pay particular attention to the personal computer BIOS (basic input/output system)?" Ultimately, this complexity is hidden, and users don't have to worry about it. As with exercise, backup is often a painful process. Every IT manager knows that it has to be backed up, but manual backups are painful. It must become more automated. ”