Disaster recovery services must be virtualised
Paul Evans explains why he thinks physically based disaster recovery is now a relic
There has been a huge shift over the past year towards using virtualised systems for disaster recovery. Many businesses are embracing cloud and seeing the benefits it brings as opposed to the outdated methods of physical disaster recovery.
Traditionally, business contingency plans would mean many thousands of pounds spent on physical disaster recovery; for example, storing data on tape and shipping them to remote locations to ensure critical information is backed up.
But in the event of a disaster, accessing stored data off-site is expensive, stressful and time-consuming compared with a virtualised disaster recovery service. Shouldn't all business managers consider opting for this system instead?
A disaster recovery service that has been virtualised replicates critical applications and operating systems as well as the most recent working data to a secure cloud environment.
These can be brought online almost instantly in the event of a disaster, keeping the wheels in motion in an organisation and reducing downtime to an absolute minimum.
It is a simple process where a predetermined set of processes to recover data is agreed with a third party that manages and checks the business systems and data frequently via this cloud service.
This type of disaster recovery service takes automatic snapshots of the servers at least once every 24 hours, recording the state of the servers for reference should a problem arise.
The last pre-recovered and successfully tested snapshot of the servers, including file data, can be converted into live working images of the system and replicated with all prior network topology and security. The working images from pre-recovered snapshots are then tested and compared with live problematic snapshots in order to diagnose and investigate the problem that caused the need for recovery.
After testing and diagnostics, the systems can be made available through a secure online connection in a matter of minutes. This takes the pressure off and the worries incurred with physical disaster recovery offerings away.
One problem in physical disaster recovery is that there is more hardware to go wrong, increasing the risk of device incompatibility and corrupted data.
If storage hardware malfunctions, the primary location can malfunction too, as they are linked. Even with precautions in place, a total reboot of systems to recover data may not actually work.
It also forces IT management staff to ensure that both sets of hardware are correctly aligned, increasing the cost of the solution.
And when disaster strikes at the primary location, it takes time to recover the data, investigate and resolve the problem, and build in safeguards against it happening again. Meanwhile, the IT manager may be under pressure to get the systems running again as fast as possible so the business can function.
Virtualised systems are also often cheaper, partly because companies do not have to invest in their own physical space and hardware to store data. They can simply rent cheaper space in someone else's cloud.
IT managers must equip their businesses with data backup and disaster recovery, especially if dealing with complex systems and critical or sensitive information. While data backup means data is made available for restore or auditing requirements, it does not enable the bringing back online of whole systems or environments at short notice.
Data and systems are everything to a business where being offline too long can not only reduce productivity, but damage the company itself.
Paul Evans is managing director at Redstor