Essential Guide
Building a disaster recovery architecture with cloud and colocation
Creating a robust disaster recovery plan is no small task for IT teams. Explore how cloud and colocation can bolster an enterprise DR strategy and help IT prepare for the worst.
Introduction
Viewed as a long-term IT insurance plan, disaster recovery has for years been a focal point for businesses. And, as more enterprise workloads move off-site, organizations are building a disaster recovery architecture with cloud and colocation to meet their specific needs.
But before getting started, evaluate the pros and cons of using cloud vs. colocation for disaster recovery, including geographic distance, business continuity options and overall costs.
Also, given the risks of outages and increased downtime that keeps IT out of the loop, it's important to plan and test your disaster recovery architecture -- whether using cloud, colocation or another model -- before a problem occurs. Learn from the mistakes of others and continuously improve your plan to meet the growing needs of the business.
1Colocation vs. cloud for DR-
Explore cloud and colocation for disaster recovery
Cloud and colocation offer IT teams different options when it comes to building a disaster recovery architecture. In general, both models provide organizations with a more efficient and cost-effective alternative to building another data center for recovery purposes. But there are differences to keep in mind. Weigh the pros and cons of cloud vs. colocation for disaster recovery (DR), ranging from financial and geographic differences, before deciding which option is right for your company.
Disaster recovery in cloud offers opportunity, but not without risk
Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) provides IT with a cheaper alternative to traditional DR, but cloud-based backup also poses new challenges, such as the potential for unavailability after a major disaster and the need for increased network bandwidth. Continue Reading
For IT business continuity, is colocation or cloud the right choice?
To make the right decision regarding IT business continuity, weigh the arguments for both colocation and cloud. For example, colocation might be more expensive in the long run, but in the cloud, you run the risk of a provider cutting corners. Continue Reading
Cloud, virtualization bring IT service continuity to wider base
Traditional methods for DR and IT continuity, such as using a mirrored data center, can quickly drive up costs. Evaluate tools to manage workload transfers, and incorporate cloud or virtualization, to make a more affordable IT service continuity plan for your business. Continue Reading
Public cloud and managed colocation offer different DR perks
Server management and quick access to data are two benefits for businesses when shifting disaster recovery to cloud or managed colocation -- but there are distinct differences between the two. Examine both options to make the right call. Continue Reading
Major cloud outages make DR users think twice
Two major cloud services experienced outages in 2015 that impacted millions of users, but colocation suffered, too, as big-name colo providers were also hit with the blackout bug. Continue Reading
How DR planning, testing differs for colocation vs. DRaaS
Hosted colocation and disaster recovery as a service provide data recovery options for IT. DR testing is different for DRaaS and colocation. Know these differences before signing up. Continue Reading
Stability, proximity highlight major questions for colo DR providers
Before enlisting a colocation provider for disaster recovery, ask questions about availability, accessibility, stability and location to determine if it's the right choice for your business. Continue Reading
2DR management-
Manage disaster recovery policies and costs
Whether you use cloud or colocation for your disaster recovery architecture -- or even a secondary data center -- it's crucial to carefully review and manage DR policies, and to keep DR costs in check. Can costs be reduced with other measures, such as streamlined testing? What are your organization's recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives? Investigate where your DR strategy is working, and which areas can be boosted to create a safer plan in the event of a disaster.
Cost remains primary IT concern around DR
DR is largely viewed as an insurance policy by business executives, but cost is still a primary concern when rolling out a DR strategy. DR expert Michael Herrera explains why this disconnect continues to exist. Continue Reading
Data center emergency reinforces importance of DR policies
A serious data center emergency, such as a fire, proves how crucial disaster recovery policies are to an organization. To prepare for any nightmare scenario, examine the DR policies your company has in place, including the plan to transfer operations to a backup DR site. Continue Reading
Disaster recovery report highlights six faulty areas
Following a data center disaster, a DR report outlining key failure points can help avoid major problems in the future. Here are six issues discovered, ranging from poor facility design to faulty cooling systems, in one real-world example. Continue Reading
Automate a node failover system for faster app restarts
To restart applications as quickly as possible after a node fails in the data center, consider automating a failover system. Eliminate manual intervention and implement automation scripts to accelerate the restart process. Continue Reading
Explore options to increase business continuity on mainframes
Building a DR and business continuity plan for mainframe applications can pose unique challenges. Consider partnering with a mainframe outsourcing partner or redesigning workloads for x86 servers, where possible. Continue Reading
3Disaster recovery in the news-
Big-name companies suffer big time after DR policies fail
Outages at companies including Delta Air Lines and Verizon shined a bright light on what happens to a business when its disaster recovery architecture fails. Learn how missteps ranging from a lack of redundancy to hardware failures can spark an outage -- and why a disaster recovery plan needs to be ironed out beforehand to prevent downtime.
Time-sensitive data center outages offer silver lining for DR future
Software and hardware failures can cause data center outages that impact the bottom line at major companies -- but they're also an opportunity to learn. Explore the causes of an outage at Bloomberg, and what they taught IT pros about duplication and consistency. Continue Reading
JetBlue, Verizon downtime emphasizes importance of DR
After a Verizon data center power failure knocked out JetBlue for multiple hours, other companies should look into their backup policies and uninterruptable power supply, and learn from this mistake. Continue Reading
Major downtime at Delta sparks bigger disaster recovery questions
Outdated systems and a lack of redundancy grounded Delta Air Lines' IT systems in August 2016. Conduct DR planning and testing, and be cautious with legacy applications, to stay away from problems like this. Continue Reading
4DR-related terms-
Disaster recovery terms to know
Know the vocabulary associated with disaster recovery to have a deeper understanding of everything that surrounds the topic.
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