It’s likely that you will have encountered backups in corporate-world that use fast tapes with seemingly ever increasing capacity (the LTO-5 tape has a compressed-data capacity of 3Tb). In simple terms, a ‘Cloud backup service’ replaces the backup media (usually tapes), with an Internet-connected online backup service.

• Storage capacity is highly scalable. Subject to the service provider’s capability, the upper storage limit can be very high and is unlikely to be a restrictive ‘glass-ceiling’ for most companies. This is of course, subject to your willingness to pay the increased storage charge.
• Removes the need to invest and maintain in-house backup hardware and software infrastructure. This is of particular interest to those who object to paying for the backup software agents at a cost close to the underlying operating systems itself.
• Billing of service use is normally on a ‘pay-as-you-use’ model. This means you don’t need to purchase expensive infrastructure just-in-case you need it. The ‘pay-as-you-use’ model also has its drawbacks (see disadvantages).


Cloud-based backup solution for distributed sites

• If you have the challenge of many small sites, each with their own servers and data, this can be a method of centrally controlling the backups and making sure they are performed properly from sites with no IT presence. This is a good way of reducing one of the risks of a distributed data computing model.
• Backed-up data is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection. For example, if your primary site had a disaster that meant you couldn’t access it, you would be able to access the backed-up data from an alternate location to recover your systems.
• Avoids the need to securely transport your backup media to an alternate location for safe storage.

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Disadvantages of Cloud-based backup services

• If you are backing-up from systems hosted at your premises, large Internet bandwidth is needed to accommodate the high volume of data being transferred. See below for more on this subject. If you use a Cloud backup service to backup a different Cloud hosted service, the data will flow between the two providers, meaning you don’t need to worry about bandwidth at your premises.
• Your company will have a view about the perceived and actual risk of your data residing on third-party infrastructure. Don’t take the decision to use Cloud-based backups yourself – involve your company’s Compliance, Risk and Legal teams with the due diligence to ensure they are comfortable with such a change.
• If the available window of time to perform backups isn’t currently enough, it’s unlikely that a Cloud-based backup service will solve this on its own.
• Most of the Cloud-based backup providers base their charging structure on a ‘pay-as-you-use’ basis. In other words, the more data you have backed-up on their systems, the more you pay. On first looks, this seems good. However, beware because a seemingly low charge can quickly mount-up.

As an example; when using tape backup media, if you needed to take a backup, it would cost you the cost of a tape – you could then keep it for as long as you required. Using a Cloud-based backup service, you will have a recurring charge for as long as you keep the backup.

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What Cloud-based backup services won’t do for you

Before you run-out and sign-up for a Cloud backup service, remember that it won’t solve all your problems. Here are some backup related activities that you will still need to do:

• Daily checks to ensure backup processes completed normally.
• Regular restore testing to ensure backups are complete.
• Regular house-keeping of your servers and backup schedule to ensure you aren’t backing-up redundant data.
• Install and upgrade backup agent software on your servers.

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What to look-out for

Internet bandwidth

If you are backing-up from systems hosted at your premises, large Internet bandwidth will be needed to accommodate the high volume of data being transferred.

Many providers offer software agents that perform incremental backups; this will reduce the size of your backup and the transfer time needed. You should always bear in mind however that there will be times when you need to perform a full backup, so make sure your Internet bandwidth gives you enough transfer time.

If you use a Cloud backup service to backup a different Cloud hosted service, the data will flow between the two providers, meaning you don’t need to worry about bandwidth at your premises.

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Data storage charges

On first sight, Cloud based backup services look like a good financial option. However, here are two examples of the charges that may be incurred.

Example one – backup your own personal important data. Let’s make some assumptions:

• Your treasured important data and photos take-up 2Tb. For calculation simplicity, this size doesn’t increase.
• You want to keep two full backups online, in case you need to go back in time to retrieve something.
• You use the ‘Mozy Home’ service, which charges USD$54.45 per annum for ‘unlimited’ storage space (the first 1Gb is free).

Your annual charge would therefore be USD$54.45 or USD$272.25 over 5 years.

Example two – backup your corporate data. Let’s make some assumptions:

• Your corporate data takes 2Tb (a modest amount). For calculation simplicity, this size doesn’t increase.
• You take a backup on each day of the month (1 full backup plus 30 incremental backups).
• For regulatory and legal reasons, you need to keep a full backup from the last working day of every month – these cannot be incremental backups. These need to be kept for a minimum period of 10 years.
• You have 10 servers to backup from
• You use the ‘Mozy Pro’ service, which charges USD$6.95 per server and USD$0.50 per Gb.

Your charge would be USD$1.6M over 5 years. If we make an assumption that the supplier can process incremental data changes, the cost would reduce to USD$174,420 (assuming 5% data change per month).

As you can see, what appears to be a reasonable cost quickly mounts-up when backing-up and retaining corporate data backups. I know that at this point, some providers will say that their incremental backup features are able to reduce space and ‘rebuild’ the required end of month positions. Some products have very sophisticated features (here is an example from Jersey-based Foreshore). If you are going to use an incremental feature, test it first (as you would with in-house backup software), to ensure it meets your needs.

Make sure you calculate the realistic charges for using the service and compare it to the cost of a traditional in-house backup solution.

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Understand your backup requirements

This may sound obvious, but do you really understand what data you should be backing-up?

• Your business sector is likely to have specific legal and regulatory requirements. If you have a Compliance or Legal team in your company, ask them for their understanding of the requirements.
• You probably have test databases that could be recreated, so they don’t need to be backed-up.
• Different types of data may have different retention periods. For example, voice recording may not need to be retained as long as transactional data. Keep the data with different retention periods separate from each other, as this will ease the exercise of removing backups at the end of their retention period.
• Don’t retain backups for longer than you need to. Not only is there the cost, but if you need to perform a legal discovery, you may need to search all the backup copies you have. Keeping the minimum needed will shorten this process.

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Make sure your data is securely stored

Don’t be lulled into thinking that the choice of Cloud backup service provider needs less attention than choosing a Cloud hosting provider. Both are storing your data and providing a service. You must apply the same level of detailed due diligence to ensure the provider will treat your data securely and can provide you with the service and features you need.

Remember that your backup needs to be as secure as your primary data.

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Data jurisdiction

You must take as much care with the location of your backup data as you do if selecting a service provider for Cloud hosting. Read this article for more information on data jurisdiction.

Make sure the supplier commits to where your data and systems will be located, including any copies or online/offline backups.

Jurisdictional issues can often be circumvented by encrypting the data and encrypting the network transport. However, ensure you get legal opinion on this before committing to a service.

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Also read this….

• Jurisdictions and Cloud data
• Cloud service provider due-diligence

Sample of Cloud backup service providers ….

• Foreshore Online Backup – aimed at companies, hosted in Jersey
• Mozy – aimed at individuals and companies. Part of EMC
• Carbonite – aimed at individuals
• Zmanda – aimed at companies. Stores your data on Amazon Z3
• IBM’s (snappily named) Information protection Services – aimed at companies

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And finally

When choosing a Cloud backup service provider, don’t base your decision on cost alone. There are other important factors such as security, features and service. It’s generally true that the more you pay, the more tailored service and more personal service you will get.

Don’t be tempted to try-out a free or low-cost solution with your corporate data. You must ensure that any security and jurisdictional matters are understood first.

Cloud-based backup services have been around for some time now, albeit without the ‘Cloud’ prefix. Many of these managed services are mature and worth considering. Before taking the leap, make sure you fully understand the charging structure and what your bills are likely to be over a period of time given the backup retention period required.