Cloud Disaster Recovery – Definition and Benefits

The role of cloud computing has been recognized widely by many people in the modern era. Its ability to spend less space memory in a computer’s storage means that essential data can be stored in cloud storage that is connected with the internet. This renders the users to be able to access the cloud data storage while on the go. However, there are moments where a series of technological disasters hamper cloud storage. And this is where the role of cloud disaster recovery is emphasized to deal with this problem. 

The truth is, cloud computing is not entirely risk-free in its regards – risks will always entail its operations as a whole. Disasters that are technical and non-technical are both equally dangerous in ensuring the cloud storage’s safety. The center information data is prone to multiple risks such as internet downtime, infrastructure damage, material losses, cyberattacks and many others. What is even worse is that no one can predict the exact time and location of these disasters before these disasters take place in the future. As a result, many turn to solutions from cloud disaster recovery to mitigate these threats. 

According to its definition, cloud disaster recovery is a plan that uses internet and cloud computing features to prevent data losses and sustain business operations during a major disturbance. Popular cloud computing products such as Microsoft Azure Storage and Google Cloud Platform are some of the most notable examples of cloud network programs. Because these services are intended for business needs, cloud storage services offer different data storage subscription for their users. For example, a business company can choose different levels of subscription to Microsoft Azure Storage’s service based on its own business goals. 

Because cloud storage services offer different levels of storage level and feature from one provider to another, companies can use these features to perform risk management. Risk management is critical for companies to ensure their data banks’ safety, so they can start from using cloud storage service. Even further, cloud storage service offers a series of benefits that can enhance the results of a cloud disaster recovery. 

These are some things that a cloud disaster recovery plan can do to perform risk management effectively: 

• Faster ability to retain necessary data 

Advanced cloud disaster recovery service relies on high internet bandwidth and fast disk I/O to retrieve data immediately. This enables the user an ability to collect data quickly even though some of the data banks’ geographic sites fail to provide the network. 

• Leveraging geographic redundancy features 

Using advanced cloud disaster recovery service can help the users to leverage geographic redundancy features. This means that the cloud system has stored the data in numerous sites across the globe and can readily collect the data from any of these sites. By having this feature, the risk management aspect can be fulfilled since the data can be accessed anytime, even though some of the sites are currently unreachable. 

• The increased amount of stored resources 

Cloud disaster recovery service emphasizes the copious amount of storage for the benefit of its users. Having this feature means that users can spend more data storage than using typical data storage. 

Due to all of the qualities and features that lie within the cloud disaster recovery system, it is sometimes considered similar to a business continuity plan (BCP). On the surface, they deal with the same kinds of threats – technical problems, potential business disasters, and so on. To some extent, this assumption is valid, although it is not entirely correct either. BCP deals with a broader array of threats to a company, and technical disaster is only one part of this danger. On the other hand, a disaster recovery plan is usually intended for technical problems alone. 

This result in cloud disaster recovery is closer to the characteristics of a disaster recovery plan in general. A disaster recovery plan will help a company is facing and managing ongoing threats at the time, while BCP prevents these threats beforehand. In this regard, cloud disaster recovery seeks to maintain the company’s capability of mitigating technical disasters that threaten its cloud database. Hazards that may affect different departments in a company is taken into account as well, although not as extensive as the BCP’s role in this regard. 

Most of all, cloud disaster recovery has approaches that are different from the way BCP tries to assess and manage threats to a company. Some of these methods can be seen below: 

• Backup and recovery 

As the most straightforward way to save data, this involves securing data in the cloud and collecting them again after a disaster. A company needs to pay attention carefully to the cloud disaster recovery that it has to ensure the success of this method. 

• Pilot light 

Here, a company can save a copy of a valuable database in the cloud at all times. The difference of this method from the first one is that this method is an on-demand feature – which means that it can only be accessed when the system fails during a disaster. 

• Warm standby 

This method is almost similar to the pilot light method, only now the cloud system is running at all times. The only drawback of this method is the amount of financial spending that the company makes to ensure the continuity of this method. 

• Multi-site 

The multi-site approach will use multiple geographic sites to store data copies in cases of disaster. Despite being the most expensive approach of the four, it is nonetheless very helpful in helping the company to retrieve stored data almost instantly. 

In the end, cloud disaster recovery is a huge part of risk management for companies that utilize high-end technology devices. This recovery plan offers a copious amount of benefits to its users. Although being somewhat similar to a business continuity plan in mitigating business threats, they deal with different kinds of risk with differing methods. Suffice to say, cloud disaster recovery provides a way for companies to store data in cloud technology without much worry. 

Ensure your business continuity with aCloud. AdIns Cloud Service Provider, aCloud Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) help you to prepare your IT Infrastructure when inevitable disaster strikes.