Disaster Recovery as a Service ( DRaaS )

Planning for the worst is a task that we absolutely must take on. It rarely is fun to realize the dire consequences should a large amount of important material become corrupted or disappears. The data your business holds is the backbone to the services you provide. Data holding crucial customer information, as well as financial data used utilized to report revenue and make business decisions, should be maintained with the utmost care. Long story short, disaster recovery should be a staple to any business IT process.

Traditionally, most large companies maintaining their own network infrastructure require a data back-up program to be drafted and executed. This is in order to ensure that pertinent data is captured and secured. The particular method for determining how processes like these are executed largely depends on the type of infrastructure. A variety of different back-up techniques are available in a wide range, from imaging individual drives to alternate locations, to configuring a redundant RAID array, to a vast array of other techniques.

Traditionally, these techniques are time consuming and may falter if the proper precautions are not observed when executing a back-up recovery process. Back-up drives have been known to fail too — there are times when data does not appropriately back up due to faulty connection or improper configuration. This is why it is essential to test the integrity of back-up devices every so often.

This way, once a major problem surfaces, additional action can be taken to ensure that a recovery will not fail.

Today, many businesses are turning to cloud solutions for their computing needs. Cloud computing can support business in a variety of fashions. Whether it’s providing a comprehensive and highly customized infrastructure, a remote platform for application development and hosting, or web based applications used as a service, cloud services are typically far cheaper than building comparable in-house solutions. For example, hosting process intensive applications through a Virtual Machine can be far more functional and less expensive than upgrading workstations and deploying necessary software.
When it comes to backing up data, Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is a viable and relevant spin on virtual computing solutions. DRaaS can heartily shoulder the burden of backing up critical business systems and data storage servers to an automated model which does not require intervention of IT staff. The true value of DRaaS is that it reduces the stress of an overburdened IT staff, simultaneously freeing up time to focus attention on other critical processes.

A DRaaS will host information with a secure, off-site facility, mitigating any disaster on-site.

Adopting a DRaaS gives providers access to the file systems of specified system servers and workstations. Data from the machines is automatically relayed to the cloud based storage system utilized by the DraaS. Entire systems can be replicated and reinstalled remotely. Recovering a system can be as simple as a phone call placed by a system administrator to the service provider. Some services can detect failure in the system and automatically restore data without any user interaction.