How To Set Up Cloud Storage For Backups
Setting up cloud storage for backups is a sure way of business continuity in case of data loss or corruption. Read along to find out how to use cloud storage for backups.
Published on: November 3rd, 2021
Last edited: May 24th, 2023
How To Set Up Cloud Storage For Backups
The digital business landscape is the new normal. Moving business operations to the cloud has many benefits – the most significant being business continuity, access, and integration. However, there’s still the constant risk of losing valuable information due to data corruption and unforeseen events. Both business data and information are huge assets and losing them can negatively impact your company.
Because of that, data protection has become one of the most crucial business strategies and priorities entrepreneurs today have in mind. With that, backing up data on the cloud instead of creating physical data backup and recovery sites have increasingly become popular. When cloud storage for backups is well planned and executed, it’s one of the most invaluable means of data recovery for organizations.
What Is Cloud Backup?
Also referred to as online backup, cloud backup is the process of creating a copy of stored data to an online server for recovery purposes if something happens to the data in storage. A third-party service company typically provides cloud storage and backup services. These service providers set up their fees based on capacity, scalability, bandwidth, the number of users, and the like.
The third-party cloud storage providers can set up the cloud storage backup to run on-demand which helps to significantly reduce the chances of data loss. As a result, customers can avail the data from various access points and be shared with multiple users.
Choosing Cloud Storage For Backups
The process of picking the cloud storage for your backups differs quite considerably from choosing a cloud storage platform for your collaborative applications. Most cloud service providers have both of these services, but it’s crucial to use one that focuses on cloud backups. Here are the essential things to do in choosing and before setting up cloud storage for backups:
- Calculate how much space you need for your data: Keep in mind that you’re looking for enough space to store all your essential applications, customer data, and business information. This is so that you can restore and continue normal business processes in the case of data hacking and others.
- Check the security capacity and access requirements: Similar to local backups, cloud storage is also vulnerable to cyberattacks and malware infection. Ensure your backup data is secure, complete with access control to reduce the risk of attacks. Encryption is a large part of ensuring security as it ensures that your data will be useless to any authorized person.
- Verify the service uptime: Even networks for cloud servers also suffer from downtimes and technical failures. So that you don’t lose your files when you need them most, ensure your cloud storage provider has an excellent track record for service uptime.
- Check for different file recovery features: The whole purpose of setting up backup on the cloud or elsewhere is for recovery purposes. Therefore, cloud storage data recovery features need to be all-encompassing and easy to use.
- Prioritize software integrations: The most suitable cloud storage setup is one that integrates seamlessly with your existing software. Confirm if you need to revamp your workload to be more cloud-friendly first before setting up a cloud storage backup. This will help you avoid difficulties down the road when the need for recovery arises.
- Choose a pricing model; and
- Lastly, ensure the provider has a robust customer support network.
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How To Use Cloud For Backups
As earlier stated, the cloud storage backup process entails copying data and transferring it to a different storage system on the cloud. This is for the purposes of easy access and recovery if the need for both arises. There are other options for setting up data backup, but cloud storage is said to be the preferred option for many business entities.
The way to set up cloud storage for backups varies from one method of backup to the other. However, the basic process remains the same. The following are the standard methods of cloud backup.
Direct backup on the public cloud
The direct backup method involves duplicating your business’s information, applications, and data in the public cloud. You can write your data directly to the cloud through vendors. This can be done by using your backup software to create a duplicate of your files for sending to the cloud storage service.
The cloud service provider takes the data and provides the destination for security and safekeeping. You can easily access public cloud storage over the Internet. You may also need to supplement data protection to enhance data privacy.
Using a service provider
Many companies act as cloud service providers where you send a copy of your data to them in a managed data setting. Most service providers include the software that you use to send your data as part of the service package they offer.
Cloud-to-cloud backup
Now that most businesses have already moved operations and applications to the cloud, cloud-to-cloud backup has arrived at the scene. This involves backing up data that’s already existing on the cloud. You’ll be copying data from your cloud storage to another cloud storage for backup.
Conclusion
When you use the cloud for backups, you ensure that your data is protected from loss or damage. It ensures business continuity by enabling easy access and restoration of data.
Learn more about the cloud
Set up your cloud storage for backups to protect your business continuity.
References
- CISO Mag “36 Bn Records Exposed in Data Breaches in 2020”, Source: https://cisomag.eccouncil.org/2020-is-the-worst-year-on-record-in-terms-of-data-breaches-survey
