Securing the Future: A Guide to Cloud-Based Data Protection
- 1. Stonefly is the innovator of worldwide storage standard protocol Cloud-Based Data Protection Strategies Stonefly Inc. 26250 Eden Landing Hayward, California, USA
- 2. Whitepaper INTRODUCTION Storing data in the past required a lot of cost investments, resources and management to store your data in a proper way. But still you had the risk of disaster or downtime. It was difficult as you had to do this all by yourself. There were two matters of concern; data storage and data protection. Even if enterprises stored their data, they always had the risk of outages. Data protection is the process of safeguarding important information of any enterprise from any loss. Cloud came as a savior for the enterprises who were spending millions of dollars on their data storage and data protection. It came up with best data protection solutions. Cloud is a term used to describe the service that utilizes the term of cloud computing. Cloud computing is a paradigm shift that provides computing over the internet. A cloud computing service consists of highly optimized virtual data centers, that provide various hardware, software and information resources for use when needed. Organizations can simply connect to the cloud and use the available resources. This helps companies avoid capital expenditure on additional on-premises infrastructure resources and instantly scale up or scale down according to business requirements. Cloud ensures, automatic upgrades, security and performance, paying only for what you use - no extra payment. Cloud enables best of both worlds, providing you with software services that link your on premises infrastructure, to automatic recovery and scalability services of the cloud. 1
- 3. Whitepaper Cloud computing is moving beyond the hype phase. The technology industry is preparing for a rising shift in consumption toward pay-as-you-go services. Organizations use cloud computing to get out of handling their own IT departments with their capital investments and working headaches. They use it to free up resources to focus on their business core competencies. We are in an era of digital transformation. Winning organizations will be the one whose business units and IT are collaborating most effectively. IT investments will be driven with the ability to create business value in addition to economy. Value will be measured by ability to deliver faster application deployment plus human intervention, a better user experience and simpler operations. Adding cloud storage to a current backup environment is evolutionary. But today, it’s not enough to hire a cloud vendor and accept that the cloud migration will go smoothly, as public clouds are complex these days. Including cloud to the data protection strategy, with step-by-step process is the finest option for data protection. If you want to choose the right backup and data protection strategies, you have to start with evalu- ating your needs. Not all data requires similar level of protection, and both technical and financial considerations should be factored into the decision-making process. Although using multiple backup strategies presents some difficulty to the recovery process, using a tiered approach is likely to be the overall most cost-effective solution. If you are the organization, which is trying to improve the IT agility and wants to regulate costs, then it is easy to identify why both cloud services and technologies connected with good Return on Investment (ROI) hold such attraction for you. Today, business value is calculated not only by ROI, but it is also measured by the competence to deliver faster application deployment. This makes an improved user experience and simpler operations. If you use cloud-based storage, backup, and disaster recovery services it delivers numerous advan- tages. Cloud providers offer automation, support for backup and recovery, reducing the risk of errors and letting systems be recovered more rapidly. Backups to the cloud can be either simple file copies or full virtual machine (VM) backups. This is faster than transferring data across the network to bring up a secondary site. The Cloud, being an inexpensive substitute to operate on-premises is an improved option for data protection. Cloud also enables backups to be stored outside of data center, which is significant for the data availability. If your current backup software is rising some issues then you must consider replacing your backup software as a part of your cloud adoption. 2 WHY INCLUDE CLOUD SERVICES IN YOUR DATA PROTECTION STRATEGY?
- 4. Whitepaper According to a research by ESG, organizations were asked about the factors which are the biggest drivers behind your organization considering cloud-based data protection services. The answers were as follows: • Ability to store data remotely for disaster recovery • Better recovery capabilities • It is more cost- effective than in-house solutions and processes • It has the potential to eliminate or reduce on-premises backup hardware and software resources • It will also free up IT staff to support more strategic on-premises systems and applications The survey studied data protection strategies organizations have used and the vendor or provider they are using. Based on the data collected from this survey, ESG concluded that: •“The cloud”is and should be part of most IT transformation strategies • Data and application availability is recognized as the top functional driver for adding cloud services • When you modernize production (into a cloud), you must modernize protection • IT operation teams assume more data protection responsibilities • Organizations should not assume that cloud application or infrastructure services protect their data in the same way they do 3 Figure 1: ESG Sta�s�cs
- 5. Whitepaper The data protection plan depends on the type of data which you have. There are three different types of data which require different types of storage. Users need to classify their storage data. Either hot, cool or archival data. You can switch between these storage tiers at any time. Hot access �er The hot storage tier is optimized for storing data that is accessed frequently. Hot storage has higher storage costs than cool and archive storage, but the lowest access costs. For example, data that is in active use or expected to be accessed (read from and written to) frequently. Cool access �er Cool storage tier has lower storage costs and higher access costs compared to hot storage. This tier is intended for data that is infrequently accessed and will be stored for at least 30 days (e.g. Short-term backup and disaster recovery datasets). Archive access �er Archive storage has the lowest storage cost and highet data retrieval costs compared to hot and cool storage. This tier is intended for data that can tolerate several hours of retrieval latency and will be stored for at least 180 days (e.g. Long-term backup, secondary backup, and archival datasets). Enterprises need to classify their data into tiers as it would be easier for them to decide which cloud-based data protection service they need to adopt. Along with the data tiers, there are three major cloud storage options: • SaaS (Storage as a Service) • BaaS (Backup as a Service) • DRaas ( Disaster Recovery as a Service) You can use Storage as a Service (SaaS) for the cloud based data protection. It will allow the data to be stored in the Public Cloud. This is a cloud service that requires little administrative controls and can be accessed online by anyone you authorize. You get the same security, but you don’t need to maintain the system as much as you would with a private cloud. Another option which will be feasible for you is the Backup as a Service (BaaS). WHICH TYPE OF CLOUD SERVICE SHOULD YOU USE? 4
- 6. Whitepaper 5 Instead of performing backup with a centralized, on-premises IT department, BaaS connects systems to a private, public or hybrid cloud managed by service provider. BaaS is easier to manage than other offsite services. Backup jobs are accomplished by the cloud based backup server rather than from a local backup server. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is quite popular. It is like BaaS but it includes another advantage that allows the workloads failover and move to cloud where they can run normally. If your primary site goes down, you can still run operations/applications on the cloud. Thus, business continuity is not interrupted. You need to decide which type of cloud will meet your data protection needs. There are many cloud backup options. But not every cloud is well suited for your data protection needs - you have to be careful about your options. If you have cloud based data then the data will be protected in the same way as you protect your on-premises data. Data protection necessities of organizations do not change just because data is moved to cloud. Figure 2: Top Five Cloud Infrastructure Use Cases (Source: Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG)
- 7. Whitepaper 6 There are few things to keep in mind which will help you incorporate cloud in your data protection plan. You have to remember the requirement of your enterprise and then you have to decide accord- ingly. 1. Choose Based on Suitability, not Popularity Every enterprise has their own processing and computation requirements. There are different plat- forms being used in every enterprise and different security protocols to observe. This is why; making a decision based on popularity is not a good choice at all. You must choose according to your enter- prise suitability. 2. Avoid the tradi�onal criteria for Purchasing It is necessary to explore options and consider the financial plans of available options before making the transition. Acquisition of cloud computing services is, a long term arrangement that is why it is necessary to weigh each decision carefully. 3. Induc�ng Mobility After the acquisition of a cloud based service, it is necessary to include solutions such as enterprise cloud storage, to add data mobility to the mix. This contributes, to the speed and agility amount of work done by a team or department. 4. Employ Cloud backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) If the data center of the service providers face a technical issue, a power outage or a natural disaster and your data is going down, there can be unexpected downtimes as well due to localized incidents. That is why it is necessary to employ cloud backup for your enterprise, as you acquire cloud comput- ing. With the backup, you will have a way to recover data when all else fails. Another good strategy, is to utilize more than one cloud to backup your data. CONSIDERATIONS FOR CLOUD-BASED DATA PROTECTION
- 8. Whitepaper 7 DATA SECURITY IN CLOUD Many of the companies using a data protection solution often find the cloud more secure for data protection. Cloud can also help in two major ways to improve data protection security. It mainly depends on the backup solution. It is possible that your data is not encrypted at this point of time but in the cloud the data is always encrypted. In cloud the physical access to the data is restricted so the data protection is also more secure. Cloud also provides a layer of physical isolation between the data center and your backup so it is impossible for anyone to break into your data. Business leaders desire to have Digital Transformation initiatives. StoneFly, Microsoft Azure Cloud and Veeam’s solutions together are making a new approach to Digital Transformation initiatives. More than 70% of organizations have a cloud-first application deployment strategy. Cloud-first initiates a transition to Microsoft Office 365 and public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. IDC study conducted on companies Using Veeam cloud connect for Office 365 and Microsoft Azure cloud concluded the following remarks: Using Veeam with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Azure has the following pros: • It is simple to use. • It gives improved service level delivery • It reduces labor association with data protection • It provides safe and secure storage of data offsite • It has eliminated the use of tape for backup and recovery
- 9. Whitepaper 8 If you are managing data across many physical and virtual environments, it brings many challenges. Hardware requires the staff to manage upgrades, migrations and day-to-day operations. Moving data to public cloud brings advantages and challenges at the same time. Understanding the Business Relevance of Data in Cloud The major challenge will be to understand which data has to be stored, where, its value and use to the organization. You have to take care about the fact that what kind of data is created, and whether it resides on the appropriate storage tier to meet the required Recovery Time and Point Objectives (RTPOs). Evaluate the Costs of Down�me or Data Loss You have to fully evaluate the costs. It can happen that you are paying too much or too little for what you actually need to ensure suitable level of availability and protection of data through cloud. Addressing Security Concerns Public cloud providers have invested heavily in security features to address this key barrier. Many features are available that ensure data security. Encrypting data provides another layer of security. Portability of Data Innovation is part of any market. Organizations will want to take the advantage of public cloud. To avoid vendor lock-in, many organizations use multiple cloud service providers across their environ- ments. This provides diversity in features and pricing too, but also increases the operational complex- ity. When you are designing cloud data protection strategy you have to keep key few considerations on mind. You have to make a strategy to ensure an organization’s data in public cloud infrastructure is protected and recoverable. • Align Data Storage Costs with Data Value • Availability Is Not Equivalent To Protection • Cloud Is Not Just More Cheap Storage • Recovery Cost Is What Matters • Management Tools Are Critical The cloud offers data protection options at reasonable prices. However, addition of cloud to the infrastructure model changes the way data is protected, especially for cloud based applications. Cloud data protection ensures that the workloads, applications and data sets are moved into the public cloud and that they are protected, managed and available at all times. CHALLENGES OF DATA PROTECTION IN THE CLOUD DESIGNING CLOUD DATA PROTECTION APPROACH
- 10. Whitepaper 9 About StoneFly Headquartered in the Silicon Valley (Hayward) California, StoneFly Inc. was founded to deliver upon the vision of simple and affordable enterprise-class products. StoneFly pioneered the creation, development and deployment of the iSCSI storage protocol. Beginning with its registration of the iSCSI.com internet domain name in March 1996, StoneFLy shipped its first iSCSI storage appliance in 2002 and subsequently made iSCSI into the established storage standard which is used by IT profes- sionals around the world. StoneFly provides physical, virtual, cloud, software as a service (SaaS), consulting, enterprise man- aged services, cloud migration services, public/private cloud infrastructure, backup, disaster recov- ery (DR), cloud file/sync collaboration and office in the cloud. StoneFly Cloud Storage has been deployed in all the Microsoft commercial and government data- centers worldwide. StoneFly products have been deployed on US Navy Litteral Combat Ships (LCS) and Virginia Class Nuclear Submarines. StoneFly’s the innovator of powerful, cost-effective IP storage products for departments, mid-teir workgroups, and enterprise organizations. The heart of StoneFly’s innovative products is the award winning software called StoneFusion ™ Intelligent Network Platform. All of StoneFly’s physical and virtual SAN appliances are protected by StoneFly’s storage virtualization patents as certified by the United States Patent and Trademark office (Patent #: 7302500, 7555586, 7558885, 8069292). StoneFly is a subsidiary of Dynamic Network Factory (DNF) Inc, and is a member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), the founding member of the IP storage institute (IPSI), a VMware TAP Elite Partner, a VMware Professional Solution Provider Partner, a certified Azure Market- place Partner, a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner, and an Amazon AWS Technology Partner. Company Contacts For more information, contact us: Sales@StoneFly.com & visit our website www.StoneFly.com