How should you evaluate backup and recovery solutions for your cloud environment?

Identify Requirements: Determine the specific backup and recovery needs of your cloud environment. Consider factors such as data volume, types of data, recovery time objectives (RTOs), recovery point objectives (RPOs), and compliance requirements. Research: Explore different backup and recovery solutions available in the market. Consider both cloud-native solutions provided by your cloud service provider and third-party solutions. Look for features like scalability, automation, security, ease of use, and integration capabilities.

Backups are easy overall (although ensuring a tenant backup of your EntraID environment might require extra investment). Recovery is much more complicated, especially when you cannot trust the integrity of the backups (modern malware strains are exceptionally elusive), your business is transactional in nature (data must be in synch over multiple applications), and time-critical (how to survive the time between infection and full recovery?). The only way to evaluate is to test rigorously as realistic as possible. Any other table-top talks are adornments.

The recovery time objective (RTO) is the amount of time or real time during or after a disaster that can elapse without a business restoring its services and processes to acceptable levels before it will experience intolerable consequences associated with the disruption. The RTO answers the question: “How much real time will it take the business to recover after notification of the business process disruption” An RTO is not a deadline; it does not mandate a specific date for recovery. Instead, whether or not the objective of the RTO is achieved, the value of the recovery time objective is in the ability to come close, which can only come through careful planning and analysis.

Evaluating backup and recovery solutions for the cloud environment involves several key considerations to ensure that data is protected and can be restored in the event of data loss, corruption, or a disaster. Here are some important factors to consider when assessing backup and recovery solutions: Recovery Objectives: Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Data Retention Policies, Security and Compliance, Data Sovereignty, Vendor Reputation and Support

RTO requires a disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan. After each major failure, the actual recovery time should be compared to the RTO objective to assess the company's performance and determine whether improvements are needed.

Recovery time objective and recovery point objective (RPO) are among a data protection or disaster recovery plan’s most important parameters. These objectives can guide the selection of an optimal data backup plan, as well as offer bases for identifying and analyzing viable strategies which could enable the enterprise to resume business processes within a timeframe at or near the RPO and RTO.

A lower RPO indicates a shorter time gap between backups, reducing potential data loss. Consider the criticality of your data, business continuity requirements, and the associated costs. Ensure the solution aligns with your recovery goals and supports your cloud infrastructure. Evaluate automation capabilities for consistent RPO adherence and test the solution's reliability through simulated recovery scenarios. Ultimately, choose a solution that harmonizes RPO with your business's data protection needs in the cloud environment.

Security and compliance are closely related and important issues when evaluating cloud backup solutions. Testing – Regularly test the security of your storage infrastructure through audits, penetration tests, and disaster recovery tests. Compliance Data Storage - Some regulations require data to be stored only in certain regions.

All cloud backup solutions should support the CIA Triad “Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability” for your organizations data and workloads which is what many regulatory standards seek to ensure. Also, some regulations have further restrictions around data handling such as FIPS 140-2 which establishes the use of certain cryptographic modules and encryption standards for government agencies and contractors. Additional measures can be put in place allowing you even better control of your data. An example of this would be the use of Customer Managed Keys “CMK” allowing for enhanced confidentiality of your data. Remember, regulatory frameworks are meant to reduce risk. Outside of any regulatory requirement, these are based on best practices.

For businesses in the EU, it is crucial, in my opinion, to ensure that providers of backup and recovery solutions for cloud environments comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR-compliant solutions ensure adequate security measures, transparency regarding data processing operations, compliance with breach notification obligations, and the ability to delete or rectify data upon request. Complying with the GDPR is not only a legal requirement but also an obligation to maintain customer trust and safeguard their sensitive information.

Ensure the solution can seamlessly grow with your business, accommodating increasing data volumes and changing requirements. Look for a solution that offers elasticity to match dynamic workloads, enabling efficient resource utilization. Prioritize flexibility in supporting diverse cloud architectures, ensuring compatibility with multi-cloud or hybrid setups. A scalable and flexible backup solution aligns with your evolving business needs, providing a resilient foundation for data protection in a dynamic cloud environment.

Scalability and flexibility in IT are exemplified by cloud computing services like Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS scales resources based on demand, accommodating increased traffic. Additionally, container orchestration tools like Kubernetes provide flexible deployment, allowing applications to adapt to varying workloads efficiently. These examples showcase how IT solutions can dynamically scale and adapt, ensuring optimal performance and resource utilization in response to real-time demands.

It's extremely important to ensure real-time visibility into backup status, data integrity, and recovery point objectives. Look for solutions offering proactive alerts, detailed logs, and customizable reports. Effective monitoring enables quick response to potential issues, minimizing downtime. Evaluate user-friendly interfaces that provide insights into performance metrics and trends. Comprehensive reporting is crucial for compliance, auditing, and continuous improvement. Choose a solution that empowers both business leaders and IT executives with actionable insights for informed decision-making and risk management.

When assessing backup and recovery solutions for your cloud environment, prioritize factors like data reliability, scalability, compliance with industry standards, seamless integration with your existing infrastructure, and a robust disaster recovery plan. Additionally, consider the provider's reputation, service level agreements (SLAs), and the flexibility to adapt to evolving business needs.

One of the key decision points is whether to go with native services from a cloud provider or a 3rd party solution. If you are all-in with a single cloud provider, then native tools are well integrated into that environment and there are cost advantages. However, most organizations are managing resources in multiple clouds as well as on-premises data centers. In these situations, it makes sense to use a 3rd party solution that supports hybrid and multicloud deployments.