Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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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
company.Whatdoyouneedtohaveinmindbeforeyoudoso?
Rules,Regulations,andRestrictions
Startbyconsideringanyrulesthatmayapplytoyourdata.Theserulesmaybeparticularto
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,andmoreautomatedwaytomakethathappen.Besureyou
understandwhatoffsitemeans,too:Doesthatmeanoutofyouroffice?Outofthecity?
Outoftheregionentirely,toguardagainstaregionalnaturaldisaster?Besureyourcloud
storagevendorunderstandstheserequirementsandcanhelpyoumeetthem.
RecoveryObjectives
Itsimpracticalformostbusinessestoprovidetheexactsamelevelofprotectionforall
theirdata,andinmostcasesitisntnecessary.Youllneedtocarefullydefinekeyrecovery
objectivessothatyoucanbeginidentifyingpotentialsolutionsandvendorsthatmeetthose
capabilities.
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
WhatAreYourDataCategories?
Notalldataiscreatedequal.Somedataisabsolutelyessentialtoyourbusiness.Youmay
wellwanttostorecopiesofthatdatalocallyaswellasinthecloudformaximumaccessand
protection.Otherdataisimportant,butlessso;youmaysimplystorecopiesinthecloud
andacceptthefactthataccessingthosecopiesoveryourInternetconnection,shouldthe
needarise,mightbeslower.Somedatamaybesoessentialthatyoudontevenkeepcopies
locally:Youstoreitentirelyinthecloud,whereitiscontinuallyprotectedandneveratrisk.
HowMuchDowntimeCanYouTolerate?
Speedcosts,soyoullneedtodeterminehowmuchdowntimeyoucanhandleforeachof
yourdatacategories.Onereasontokeeplivedatainthecloud,asopposedtomerely
keepingbackupsthere,istoensurethecontinualavailabilityofthatdatameaningyou
canttolerateanydowntime.Forotherdata,youmaybesatisfiedkeepingthedatalocally
andbackingituptothecloud,knowingthatrestoringthedatamaytakeafewhoursifthe
needarises.
WhatSystemsNeedProtection?
AreyouacompletelyhomogeneousITshop,ordoyouhaveamixofoperatingsystems
(OSs)runningyourserverandclientcomputers?Ideally,youllwantasolutionthatcan
handleallyoursystemssothatyourstoragecanbecentrallymanagedinoneplace.The
abilitytosupportmultipleplatformsisoneareawherecloudstoragevendorstruly
differentiatethemselves.
BackupsAloneDoNotEqualDisasterRecoveryPlan
Youcantsimplyhavebackuptapesorevencloudbasedbackupsandcallthata
disasterrecoveryplan.Anactualplanincludesdetailsonwhatyoulldointheeventofa
disastersothattheresnoguessworkormistakesjustconsistent,rapid,thoughtout
responses.
Therearereallytwobroadmodelsforrecoveringfromacompletedisaster:Inthefirst,you
assumethatyourdatacenterisstilloperationalandusable,andthatyouneedtorecover
oneormorespecificservers.Inthesecond,eitheryourdatacenterisunusableor
unavailable,ortheserveryouneedtorecoverhashadacompletehardwarefailureand
cantbeused.
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
OnSiteRecovery
Inanonsiterecovery,yourdatacenterandserverhardwareisfunctioning,andyousimply
needtorecoveroneormoreservers.Usingacloudbaseddataprotectionplan,youhave
threeoptions:
Pulltheneededdatafromthecloud.Thiscanbetimeconsumingforalargeamount
ofdata,especiallyifyouhavealowerbandwidthconnectiontotheInternet.
Havedatashippedtoyoufromthecloudprovider.Thiscanoftenbequickerthan
tryingtocopyallthatdataoverthewire.Agoodvendorwillprovidedifferentforms
ofmediatheycansendyou,andwillofferrushorcourierdeliveryservices.
Usealocalcopyofthedata.Thisisobviouslythefastestroute,asthedatayouneed
isrightwithinyourreach.Itdoes,however,requireyoutohaveplannedforthis
scenariobecauseyoullneedtoincludealocalcopyofyourdatainyourstorage
plan.
Forexample,supposethatacriticalserverfails.Becauseofitsimportancetoyour
company,youvepushedallofitsdataintoyourcloudbasedstorage.Youdonthavealocal
copyofthedata,soyoudecidetobeginrestoringtheserverbycopyingthedatafromthe
cloud.Yourdataisstillavailabletousersfromitslocationinthecloud,soyoudonthaveto
waituntiltheserverisbackonlinetocontinueworking.Downtime:Zero,orclosetoit.
Evenifanentireserverfailed,youwouldhaveminimaldowntimeifyourcloudstorage
providerwasabletorestoretheservertoavirtualenvironmentforyou.
Thelastoptioninthepreviouslistisahybridstoragesolution,somethingIllcoverinmore
detailinthenextarticleinthisseries.Theideaisthatyoukeepalocalcopyofyourdatafor
speedierrecoverycapabilities,butalsoreplicatethatsamedatatothecloudinlieuof
tapebackupsandoffsitetapestoragetoensuretheprotectionofthatdataintheeventof
alargerdisaster.
WarmSiteRecovery
Ifacriticalserverfailscompletely,oryourentiredatacenterisoffline,whatwillyoudo?
Withcloudbaseddataprotection,youcanimmediatelystartaccessingyourdatabut
whataboutserversthatwererunningapplications?Itisntenough,inotherwords,tohave
accesstoyourdatabasefilesyoualsoneedadatabaseserver.Thisiswhereagoodcloud
vendorandawarmsiterecoverymodelcancomeinhandy.Simplyensurethatyour
criticalserversarecompletelybackeduptothecloud,andthecloudvendorcanlaunch
virtualmachinesandrestoreyourserverstothosevirtualmachines,andyourdataand
applicationsareupandrunningagain.BycreatingaVirtualPrivateNetwork(VPN)
connectionbetweenyournetworkandthecloudbasedvirtualmachines,itslikethose
serversarerightonyourlocalnetwork,andyouruserscangetbacktoworkfromalmost
anywhereintheworld.
Again,thisrequiresadvanceplanning.Youneedtoknowhowyoullnotifythevendor,what
serverswillberecovered,andyoullneedtoknowhowtoconnecttothoseserversonce
theyrerunninginvirtualmachines.Documentingthisinformationinadvancewillmakeit
easiertoimplementwhentheneedarises.
The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery
Thisismorethanjustbackupsyourcloudvendorhastonotonlyofferstoragebutalsothe
virtualization,networking,andexpertservicestorecreateaportionofyourproduction
environment,virtually,intheirowndatacenters.Manyvendorssellingcloudbasedstorage
arenotsellingcompletedisasterrecovery,eventhoughtheyllusethetermdisaster
recovery.Justbeawareofwhatyourebuying.Vendorssuchasi365,EMC,iland,and
othersoffertruedisasterrecoveryinadditiontocloudbasedbackups;evenserviceslike
AmazonsE3Ccloudcomputingplatformcanbeusedforcertainlimiteddisasterrecovery
scenarios.
TheVendorConnection
Thereareseveralvendorswhocanmakecloudstorageanddataprotectionarealitytoday.
Someoftheminclude:
i365
IronMountain
BarracudaNetworks
CommVault
EMC
iland
Unitrends
Differentvendorsapproachcloudstorageindifferentways.Manyprovideahardware
applianceorsoftwarethatyouinstallinyourdatacenter,whichreplicatesdatatothe
vendorscloudbasedstoragenetwork.Somevendorsspecificallytargetsmalltomidsize
businessesandprovidesolutiontailoredforthem.i365sEVaultisoneexampleofa
solutiontailoredforthatbusinessmarket.Othervendorstargetlargerenterprisesand
providemorecomplexsolutionsdesignedwithverylargebusinessesinmind.
Dokeepinmind,though,thataswithanyproductorserviceyoureevaluating,notevery
vendoriscreatedequal.Askyourself:
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
space.Cloudbasedstorageisacompetitive,growingindustry,butyoushouldstillexpectto
payafairpriceforaqualityproductfromanestablishedvendor.
HeresYourNewStoragePlan
Inthenextandfinalarticleinthisseries,welllookatdifferentmodelsyoucanconsiderfor
cloudbasedstorageanddataprotection.Illoutlinespecificbusinessadvantagesofeach,
andhelpyoustartthinkingaboutasolutionthatwillfityourneeds.