When creating backups just means copying data to another location and filing it away for safekeeping, that means creating backups is just an undesirable expense that adds no business value. But what if creating backups made data easier to access, to share and reuse? Then backups start contributing to business projects and business success.
Backups Don’t Fit Business Needs
Conventional backup methods create problems for both IT departments and business management. These problems include:
- Multiple backup products. Working with backups often isn’t straightforward because there’s more than one backup tool being used. This is sometimes necessary because products don’t support both physical and virtual machines or all the hypervisors or all the operating systems in use, but it means always taking at least a moment to figure out how to interact with the tool.
- Multiple workflows. Even when companies have a single backup tool, they create challenges for companies that have mixed environments (which is nearly everyone), because they require different workflows for configuring backups for physical servers, virtual machines, and specific database products.
- Poor cloud integration. Backup products that were designed when everyone was still afraid of the cloud weren’t designed to work with the cloud. They often rely on difficult-to-use gateways that create additional potential failure points.
- Data silos. The multiple tools and multiple workflows make it challenging to set up backup processes, and it’s equally challenging to get data back out. With separate backup targets that aren’t part of regular data center usage, managing those devices is often separate from managing routine operations and means actually using the data on those devices requires coordinating activities.
- Slow data access. Getting data off the backup storage is often slow, especially if you need data that isn’t in the most recent backup. Deduplication and decryption also slow the process, in both directions. It’s too difficult to retrieve data for any purpose other than disaster recovery.
Hyperconverged Backups Make It Easier to Use Your Backed-up Data
Modern, hyperconverged backup solutions can overcome these challenges and help companies streamline backup processes and start deriving business value from them.
Hyperconverged infrastructure means your backup solution doesn’t create new silos. By combining compute, storage, and backup into a single solution, a single team is able to support and manage it. Hyperconverged backup also makes it easy to scale by adding predefined, low cost components. Issues of device compatibility and integration are eliminated.
Hyperconverged infrastructure also makes it easy to integrate backups with the cloud. You can use hyperconverged infrastructure to build a private cloud, even a web-scale one; hyperconverged infrastructure often natively integrates with the cloud. This simple integration lets you choose where to store backups and position data where it can reduce cost or reduce recovery time—whichever is your priority.
Because hyperconverged infrastructure requires policy-driven management, it makes it easy to use automation to move data between environments. This means a hyperconverged backup solution reduces the difficulty of gaining access to data and increases your ability to reuse it for other purposes.
Are you ready to explore hyperconverged infrastructure for backups? Contact dcVAST to learn more about Cohesity, a modern backup solution that leverages hyperconverged infrastructure and lets you do more with your data.
