The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage,

Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery

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

Forseveralyearsnow,Realtimehasproduceddozensanddozensofhighqualitybooks
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DonJones

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.