It seems every day brings new reports of hacking incidents affecting businesses’ ability to conduct operations. While this emphasizes the need for a strong information security strategy, it also highlights the need for an effective disaster recovery solution to ensure the business minimizes downtime from the attack. Very often the most efficient disaster recovery solution is to use Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS).
Cloud-based Disaster Recovery
DRaaS takes advantage of cloud’s flexibility to provide a DR solution that’s easy to execute and available on demand, without the complications and expense of supporting a secondary data center. There are several different models of DRaaS that come with different levels of support from the cloud provider:
1. Managed DRaaS.
In managed DRaaS, the DRaaS provider has the complete responsibility for executing the disaster recovery process. This can lead to quicker recoveries, as long as the business has given the provider complete and accurate details about the systems to be recovered.
2. Assisted DRaaS.
The assisted approach allows businesses to leverage the provider’s disaster recovery expertise while also retaining the ability and responsibility for developing and executing the disaster recovery procedures.
3. Self-service DRaaS.
Finally, businesses can retain the full responsibility for planning and managing their disaster recovery process, leveraging the cloud provider only for the backup solution and virtual machine infrastructure.
In general, most businesses will opt either for managed DRaaS or self-service DRaaS.
Difference Between Backup and Disaster Recovery as a Service
When planning a DRaaS solution, it’s important to recognize that Backup as a Service (BaaS) does not provide the same solution as DRaaS. As the name suggests, BaaS focuses on backups, without a corresponding emphasis on the additional infrastructure needed for recovery. BaaS solutions don’t include automation of a complete recovery process and lack necessary details such as system dependencies. BaaS may not meet the recovery objectives established by the business.
Choosing a DRaaS Solution
When evaluating DRaaS solutions, there are a number of considerations businesses should keep in mind.
1. Reliability.
The DRaaS solution must be absolutely reliable, in order to ensure it’s available when the business needs it.
2. Security.
As a cloud-based service, DRaaS necessarily requires entrusting your data to a third party.
3. Support.
Unlike most of your other systems, DRaaS processes are always executed during a time of crisis and stress. Know how the provider will provide assistance and support to ensure the recovery process runs smoothly.
4. Testing.
Disaster recovery procedures should always be tested periodically, even when they’re supported by a third-party. In fact, DRaaS can make testing easier because there’s less impact on operations staff and production resources.
VAST IT Services offers a reliable Disaster Recovery as a Service solution that ensures businesses can rapidly recover from a systems outage, in addition to supporting backup and recovery solutions from leading vendors including Veritas and Veeam. Contact us to talk about the most effective disaster recovery solution for your business.
