DRaaS: A step above Offsite Backups

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The concept of Offsite Backups seems to be understood by most – PCnet backs up your data to our “Cloud” (offsite), where it can be retrieved when needed most.  However, “Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)” is still foreign to many business owners.

“Disaster Recovery” does suggest a more robust approach to an unforeseen data emergency.  But is DRaaS necessary for your business?  Let’s find out…

Offsite Backups can be restored back to a physical server or device.  Recovery time depends on several factors, including:

  • The amount of data to be restored
  • Support staff available to copy data back to its working location
  • Availability of working on-site hardware

A few files might take minutes, but restoring an entire server image could take hours, days, or sometime even weeks.

Disaster Recovery as a Service, by contrast, is a more recent service that has evolved from a combination of technology advancements and an increase in the speed at which business is expected to move.

DRaaS is similar to the offsite backup process, in that data is backed up and stored both locally and to our Cloud.  The difference lies in its ability to move business activity from a failing server (or servers) over to an alternative appliance within a matter of minutes.

Disaster Recovery as a Service works best in a virtualized server environment with adequate infrastructure, application expertise, reasonable connectivity, a detailed recovery process with roles and responsibilities, and competent support to help manage and execute tasks quickly.

While a step up to DRaaS is more expensive, and more complex to manage, this added layer of backup and recovery will certainly inspire peace of mind by reducing or eliminating downtime and loss of business.

In summary, your choice of data protection should be based on your company’s Recovery Time Objective (RTO) – the length of system downtime your business can tolerate in a crisis.

PCnet can customize a DRaaS solution for any client, based on your RTO needs.  Reach out to us today for more information!