Cloud Data Backup in Elk Grove

Even if you’re still running a traditional data center, it usually makes sense to back up to the cloud, at least for your off-site backup. If you’re already in the cloud, then cloud back-ups are usually the only sensible option. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to cloud data backup in Elk Grove.

If you still need to clean up your data, you should make it a priority to do so

You should already have clear oversight of what data is sensitive and what data is just general data and if you do not you almost certainly need to address this as one of your top priorities. If you’re undertaking cloud data backup then you also need to have clear oversight of what is active production data and what is dormant data. You should only back up the former. The latter needs to go in an archive (if it is kept at all).

If you’re working in the public cloud, it’s fairly straightforward to back up to the public cloud 

If you’re already working in a public cloud, then you will usually have the option not just to back up your data to a public cloud, but to use the second public cloud as a complete disaster-recovery solution by adding the tools your staff need to work the data.

While this approach is both practical and cost-effective, you will need to be prepared for the technicalities involved. In short, you will need to encrypt your data in your main public cloud so that it can be transmitted safely over the public internet and then you will need the ability to decrypt it in the second public cloud. You may choose only to do so if you actually need to activate your disaster-recovery process, as this will save you from having to encrypt the data again for standard restores, but you will still need to be confident that you can do so.

Request Cloud Data Backup

You will then need to be able to go through the same process in reverse so that you can update the data in your main cloud with the fresh production data in your disaster-recovery cloud. In other words, you will need to be able to encrypt data in your secondary cloud as well as decrypt it.

Setting up all of this can be a bit of a challenge for SMBs, but a good cloud data backup partner in Elk Grove will be able to manage it for you.

If you’re working in a private cloud, you can usually back up to a public cloud 

It is generally possible to use a public cloud as a place to store backups of (or including) sensitive data provided that you encrypt the data on your own servers first and keep it encrypted until it is either used or deleted. This means that SMBs working in their own private cloud can choose between using a combination of a public cloud (for storage) and a second private cloud (for disaster recovery) or setting up a second private cloud both for storage and for disaster recovery.

The advantage of the first approach is that it keeps costs down, without really impacting on standard recoveries. The disadvantage of the first approach is that it makes the disaster-recovery process longer and therefore slower.

In short, a standard data-recovery process requires data to be encrypted before it is imported into the main cloud because it will be traveling through the public internet. This means that you will always need to decrypt your data when it arrives regardless of whether you store it in a public cloud or a private cloud.

With disaster-recovery, however, the process is slightly, but significantly, different. If you back up to a public cloud, you will need to transmit your data to your disaster-recovery location and then decrypt it. If, however, you back up to a second private cloud, your data will already be on-site and the most you would have to do would be to decrypt it. Given the sort of quantities of data modern companies generate, this could save a lot of time.

All standard data-protection requirements still apply to cloud backups

This has been touched on already, but it’s important enough to be worth highlighting on its own. In particular, it’s important to note that legislators and regulators are increasingly willing to place restrictions on where data can be held as well as under what conditions. This means it’s very much recommended to ensure that you undertake proper checks on where your IT services vendors are legally and physically based, in other words, where they are keeping the data for which you are legally responsible.

If you’d like to speak to a reputable and experienced cloud data backup provider in Elk Grove, please click here now to contact Salient IT.