Should I Move My Backups To The Cloud?

cloud security

cloud securityWith the reduced cost of bandwidth there is little or no excuse for a Credit Union of any size to be running local backups to tape or portable drive and rotation offsite. So if you’re wondering how to move your backups to the cloud, this post is for you!

Let’s backtrack a bit first though and look at the issues with antiquated local backup strategies. Known issues are:

  1. Cost of replacing aging tapes or drives
  2. Staff time to manage the rotation
  3. Shipping and offsite storage
  4. …and the biggest issue, the time it takes to get tapes back and restore the data

We recently encountered a team that had to activate a restore over the weekend only to realize that the backup media was in a vault that could not be opened until Monday!

The methodology – Anything that gets your backup data offsite electronically in real time.

  “We spend a lot of time and effort on backing up data but when we need it, it had better work so test and validate your backup data often!”

Some food for thought…

  • Moving your backup images outside of your primary data center electronically as part of the backup process eliminates the need for a daily/manual rotation of backup media.
  • Cost of bandwidth is the driving factor so select your alternate location carefully.
  • Consider a strategy that splits your backup into multiple retention levels:
    • Short term data retention – less than 1 week, SAN or other high-end disk space.
    • Medium Term data retention – Less costly JBOD storage (raid is not needed.)
    • Long term data retention – Tape or portable drives for EOM, EOQ, and EOY snapshots.
    • That short term solution supports your Disaster Recovery Plan and lesser events such as requests to restore a file that was accidently deleted. This is not only high end hardware but also where you spend $$$ on the backup solution.
    • Medium term data is used to restore point-in-time images as requested by accounting, finance, or other departments. A least costly backup solution can be used for this because you are backing up static data from the short term solution and that expensive “hot/agent” backup solution is not needed.
    • Long term storage meets regulatory compliance. This “end-of-period” backup is taken from medium term storage. Using a simple and inexpensive solution such as TrueCrypt (or the same solution you are using for Medium Term backup).

Putting some thought into this strategy can not only shorten your recovery time, it can actually save money!

Related Content:

How to identify and mitigate threats

Where should I store my BCP?

What can I do to make sure my Credit Union Cloud is secure?

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