Disaster Recovery As A Service
Introduction : Disaster Recovery As A Service
Disaster Recovery as a Service, abbreviated as DraaS, offers businesses the ability to back up
their systems so that they can continue to function even in the event of a failure of their system.
DRaaS is typically provided by cloud hosting service vendors and it forms part of a business
continuity plan or Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). In case of system downtime or repair, DraaS
will transform into your IT infrastructure, enabling your organization to continue operating its
everyday functions as if there was no interruption. This minimizes revenue loss. Also, DraaS
allows the seamless running of business applications via virtual machines regardless of the
nature of the disaster.
The service can also be accessed by companies that use on-premise IT services, which makes
DraaS a more pragmatic platform for testing different cloud computing processes. In a nutshell,
it means that IT personnel can create a replica of their systems through the cloud without having
to compromise or discard their current on-premise systems.
Disaster recovery allows organizations to back up their IT infrastructures and do anything
necessary for performing tests. These include troubleshooting, development processes, and
testing.
What is Disaster Recovery as a Service?
Commonly abbreviated as DRaaS, disaster recovery as a service refers to a situation where a
third-party company replicates and hosts servers of another business to provide failover during a
disaster. The third-party host harnesses the resources of cloud computing to protect data and
applications from natural or manmade disruptions. DRaaS is typically deployed on a
standardized system and forms part of a general DR plan.
Typically, overall disaster recovery plans for large deployments will be built simultaneously with
the overall deployment. This will usually include a plan to allow it to recover as a significant part
of the infrastructure so that business continuity is allowed in case there is a catastrophic failure to
the primary deployment.
How Does DRaaS Work?
DraaS is typically offered with a business continuity plan or disaster recovery plan. The former
refers to a structured document that outlines guidelines to help businesses manage unplanned
incidents. You can access the service through the model of pay-per-use or contract, and it will
back vital data and information and handle failover to another cloud computing environment if
need be. Through replicating the production network, the migration to a secondary computing
architecture with all the requisite data and processes becomes easy. Also, it allows an organization to continue operating as usual. DRaaS will also help you move back to the primary server and instantly resumes replication services to mitigate possible future disasters.
How Does DRaaS Differ from Backup as a Service ?
Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, the truth of the matter is that they mean
two distinct things.
Disaster recovery services failover cloud processing is done to allow organizations to continue
operating normally even in case of a disaster. A DraaS operation will typically continue to be in
effect until IT employees are done repairing the on-premise system and provide a failback order.
On the other hand, a backup as a service means that the client company chooses the business
data, applications, and files that they want to back up to the storage system of the service
provider. Additionally, it is the responsibility of the client to set up their RPO (Recovery Point
Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective) service levels, and these include backup
windows.
The only chore that the provider is tasked with in a cloud backup environment is maintaining the
consistency of data and restoring the backed-up versions of the business data.
Cloud technology has taken the world by storm and has affected how businesses handle software
systems applications and big data. Technology has greatly impacted how organizations back up
their IT infrastructure. But the jury is still out as to whether cloud computing technology is the
most ideal solution for every business type.
What are the Benefits of DRaaS ?
1. Quick and Easy Deployment
The main advantage of cloud-based computing is that it doesn’t require the installation of
software by users for the service to be implemented. A business only needs to subscribe to the
service and their system will be guaranteed to run in minutes.
Additionally, many disaster recovery service providers ; mobile apps are compatible with iOS and
android. The apps enable client organizations to connect synchronize, and even manage backup
and recovery processes through their mobile devices.
2. Flexibility and scalability
Disaster recovery as a service has flexibility that you cannot find in traditional backup and
recovery options. For starters, it enables you to get rid of physical capacity limitations that
hampered old-fashioned methods.
Another obvious benefit of cloud-based services for recovering data is scalability. Scaling in
traditional solutions can be an expensive and time-consuming process. With many cloud-based
providers offering additional services at a fee, scaling down or up is easy to match your specific
requirements.
3. Cost-Effective
You need to invest a sizeable chunk of capital upfront if you choose traditional backup and
recovery infrastructure. There are expensive software and hardware systems and apps that you
need to buy. These can be quite expensive for the average SME.
But the upfront costs associated with DRaaS as usually a lot more affordable. Thus, it is an
appealing option for SMEs that don’t have a huge budget. The overall ownership cost, the
provider you select the perfect cloud vendor, is also relatively affordable. It is also a lot easier to
manage costs as cloud-based providers have predictable pricing models.
Pros : Disaster Recovery As A Service
➜ Companies save costs in terms of upfront capital investment and operational costs.
➜ There are also savings on cooling and power costs.
➜ Monthly charges depend on the applications and the amount of data covered.
Cons : Disaster Recovery As A Service
➜ If a data center is in the same region as yours, it could be affected by the same
catastrophe.
Is Disaster Recovery As A Service It a Worthwhile Investment ?
In the past disaster recovery consisted of building a remote facility and duplicating costly storage
gear. Thanks to DRaaS, this doesn’t have to be the case. DRaaS’s main attraction is its ability to
replicate all applications and data to act as a secondary infrastructure that users can remotely
access in case the primary IT environment fails. And since it is shared, businesses can save on
the costs of setting up the place and cooling and power expenses.
We hope this post has clarified what a DRaaS is for you. Please leave any comments or questions in the space provided below.
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