Look at the “major cloud features” in this SingleHop infographic. Notice how some reference work life, some personal life (I was going to say “private life” but thought better of it) and most serve both halves of the lives we lead today.
Category Archives: Backup
Fun Facts about Microsoft Azure
Looking for some helpful facts about Microsoft Azure? For those out there that may be confused about the Microsoft Azure solutions offered to date, here is the first in a series of posts about the cool new features of the Microsoft premium cloud offering, Azure.
Azure Backup, ok… wait, what? I need to do backup in the cloud? No one told me that!
Facts about Microsoft Azure
Yes Virginia, you need to have a backup solution in the cloud. To keep this high level below I attempted to outline what the Azure backup offering really is. There are several protections built into the Azure platform that help customers protect their data as well as options to recover from a failure.
In a normal, on premise scenario, host based hardware and networking failures are protected at the hypervisor level. In Azure you do not see this because control of the hypervisor has been removed. Azure, however, is designed to be highly available meeting and exceeding the posted SLAs associated with the service
Hardware failures of storage are also protected against within Azure. At the lowest end you have Local Redundant storage where they maintain 3 copies of your data within a region. The more common and industry preferred method is Geo-Redundant storage which keeps 3 copies in you’re region and 3 additional copies in another datacenter, somewhere geographically dispersed based on a complex algorithm. The above protections help to insure survivability of your workloads.
Important to note: The copies in the second datacenter are crash consistent copies so it should not be considered a backup of the data but more of a recovery mechanism for a disaster.
Did I hear you just ask about Recovery Services in Azure? Why yes, we have two to talk about today.
- Azure Backup
- Azure Site Recovery
Azure Site Recovery – This scenario both orchestrates site recovery as well as provides a destination for virtual machines. Microsoft currently supports Hyper-V to Azure, Hyper-V to Hyper-V or VMware to VMware recovery scenarios with this method.
Azure Backup is a destination for your backups. Microsoft offers traditional agents for Windows Backup and the preferred platform, Microsoft System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager. Keeping the data in the cloud, Azure holds up to 120 copies of the data and can be restored as needed. At this time the Azure Windows backup version only protects files. It will not do Full System or Bare Metal backups of Azure VMs.
As of this blog post to get a traditional full system backup there is a recommend two-step process where you use Windows Backup which can capture a System State backup and the enable Azure Backup to capture this into your Azure Backup Vault.
There are 2 other methods that exist but currently the jury is out on the validity of these offerings. They are VM Capture and Blob Snapshot.
- VM capture – which is equivalent to a VM snapshot
- Blob Snapshot – This is equivalent to a LUN snapshot
As I said these are options but considered by many too immature at this time and respectfully not widely adopted. Hopefully, this provides some clarity around Azure and as with all things Microsoft Cloud related, Microsoft issues new features almost daily now. Check back again for more updates on what Azure can do for your organization!
By David Barter, Practice Manager, Microsoft Technologies
DRaaS: Speed to Market, Lower Costs, & Self-Service Capabilities
By Randy Weis, Practice Manager, Virtualization & Data Management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51KpD4tZegU
Learn more about vStream – GreenPages’ Disaster Recovery as a Service offering! Email us at socialmedia@greenpages.com for more information.
Why Nirvanix Doesn’t Mean the End of Cloud Storage
By Randy Weis, Practice Manager, Virtualization & Data Management
By now everyone is familiar with the Nirvanix fiasco. Now that the dust has settled, I decided to talk about the implications this has had, and will have, on the cloud storage market as well as to highlight some silver linings organizations can take away from the meltdown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtQmGQBWzbc
If you’re looking for more content around storage and information management check out my recent posts “A Guide to Successful Big Data Adoption” as well as “10 Storage Predictions for 2014.”
Do you have questions for Randy about storage & data management? Email us at socialmedia@greenpages.com
Spanning Cloud Apps Launches Reseller Program for Spanning Backup
Spanning Cloud Apps, Inc., creators of Spanning Backup for Google Apps, has launched the Spanning Authorized Resellers Program. Through the program, partners can provide their customers a product for protecting Google Apps data.
Spanning Backup provides backup and recovery of the complete Google Apps suite: Gmail, Drive, Sites, Calendar and Contacts. The solution features a secure cloud-to-cloud environment for protecting Google Apps data and SSAE 16 Type II audited processes that ensure its integrity. Spanning also provides constant monitoring of data backup, allowing administrators to correct issues before they become problems.
“We have designed a program that extends the value of reseller services, and brings together the key support pieces for their ongoing success,” said Jeff Erramouspe, chief revenue officer, Spanning. “We’re excited to already be working with leading VARs and system integrators worldwide and look forward to expanding into new relationships.”
“As enterprises encounter obstacles in moving to the cloud, Spanning Backup provides a unique solution that solves the challenges facing our customers in North America, Europe and Asia,” said Doug Shepard, president of the Google Business Unit for Cloud Sherpas, the world’s largest cloud services brokerage and two-time Google Apps Global Partner of the Year. “We look forward to a successful partnership with Spanning as we integrate their solution into an overall cloud strategy for our clients.”
Key features of the Spanning Authorized Reseller program include:
- A discount structure with strong margins that gives reseller partners complete control over end-user pricing and a higher average revenue per user (ARPU); potential for increased ARPU by 60-80 percent over selling Google Apps alone
- Lead referral and distribution of new business opportunities
- A simple contracting process to get resellers into the market quickly and efficiently
- Customized marketing programs for specific territories, market segments and business practices, including email marketing, webinars and other co-marketing activities
“We have found Spanning Backup to be an excellent platform for delivering value-added services to our clients,” said Rob Morgan, managing director for PIT Group in Wollongong, Australia. “Managing data protection policies isn’t always easy and many of our customers contract with PIT Group to do that for them. The Spanning program gave us the flexibility to bundle our services with Spanning Backup and deliver them both to our clients in one cost-effective package.”
Spanning has partners reselling Spanning Backup around the globe, including in North and South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.
Protecting and Preserving Our Digital Lives is a Task We Want to Have Already Done
I once read that a favorite writer of mine, when told by people he met at cocktail parties how much they “wanted to write,” would reply, “No, you want to have written.”
Protecting and preserving our digital lives is much the same — we want to have already taken care of it. We don’t actually want to go through the hassle of doing it.
An article by Rick Broida in PC World sums it up thus:
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who have lost critical data, and those who will. In other words, if you use technology long enough and neglect to back up your data, you’re guaranteed to have at least one extremely bad day.
The article goes on to outline “How to build a bulletproof cloud backup system without spending a dime“. There’s a lot to do, it all takes effort, but he’s right. Whether you take all his recommendations or some, it’s a good place to start thinking about the steps you (we) all need to take.
Here’s an idea: Come up with a plan and implement it in pieces until you get to the point where you know you are ready for the digital disaster that is out there waiting for us all.
Want 100 GB of Free Cloud Storage For Life?
Zoolz is promoting their cloud backup service with an offer to give the first million users 100 GB for free. For life. The catch? It uses AWS Glacier, Amazon’s cheaper alternative to S3. Glacier of course enforces a delay of 3 to 5 hours to retrieve files, and there are limits to monthly retrieval. But for the right purposes (like, “Store & Ignore”) it might be a real deal if you act soon enough. Their intro video explains:
Riverbed’s Whitewater Adds AWS Glacier, Google Storage Support
Riverbed Technology today announced Whitewater Operating System (WWOS) version 2.1 with support for Amazon Glacier storage and Google Cloud storage. WWOS 2.1 increases operational cost savings and high data durability from cloud storage services, improving disaster recovery readiness. In addition, Riverbed introduced larger virtual Whitewater appliances that allow customers to support larger data sets, improve disaster recovery capabilities, and manage multiple Whitewater appliances from a single window with a management console. These enhancements to the Whitewater cloud storage product family help enterprises use cloud storage to meet critical backup requirements, modernize data management strategies, and overcome challenges created by data growth.
“Once created, most unstructured data is rarely accessed after 30-90 days. Leveraging the cloud for storing these data sets makes a lot of sense, particularly given the attractive prices of storage services designed for long-term such as Amazon Glacier,” said Dan Iacono, research director from IDC’s storage practice. “The ability of cloud storage devices to cache locally and provide access to recent data provides real benefits from an operational cost perspective to avoid unnecessary transfer costs from the cloud.”
Cloud Storage Ecosystem Expansion Riverbed is offering customers choice and flexibility for data protection by adding Amazon Glacier and Google Cloud storage to its Whitewater cloud storage ecosystem. Now, Whitewater customers using Amazon Glacier cloud storage have immediate access to recent backup data while enjoying pricing from Amazon as low as one cent per gigabyte per month — approximately eight times cheaper than other currently available cloud storage offerings.
In addition, the extremely high data durability offered by Amazon cloud storage services and the ability to access the data from any location with an Internet connection greatly improves an organization’s disaster recovery (DR) readiness.
Larger Virtual Whitewater Appliances With the introduction of the larger virtual Whitewater appliances, Riverbed allows customers preferring virtual appliances to protect larger data sets as well as simplify disaster recovery. The new virtual Whitewater appliances support local cache sizes of four or eight terabytes and integrate seamlessly with leading data protection applications as well as all popular cloud storage services. To streamline management for enterprise wide deployments, WWOS 2.1 includes new management capabilities that enable monitoring and administration of all Whitewater devices from a single console with one-click drill down into any appliance.
“We have been successfully using Riverbed Whitewater appliances for backup with Amazon S3 in our facilities in Germany, Switzerland, and the U.S. since June 2012,” said Drew Bartow, senior information technology engineer at Tipper Tie. “We were eager to test the Whitewater 3010 appliance with Amazon Glacier and the total time to configure and start moving data to Glacier was just 24 minutes. With Glacier and Whitewater we could potentially save considerably on backup storage costs.”
“The features in WWOS 2.1 and the larger virtual appliances drastically change the economics of data protection,” said Ray Villeneuve, vice president corporate development, at Riverbed. “With our advanced, in-line deduplication and optimization technologies, Whitewater shrinks data stored in the cloud by up to 30 times on average — for example, Whitewater customers can now store up to 100 terabytes of backup data that is not regularly accessed in Amazon Glacier for as little as $2,500.00 per year. The operational cost savings and high data durability from cloud storage services improve disaster recovery readiness and will continue to rapidly accelerate the movement from tape-based and replicated disk systems to cloud storage.”
To Cloud, or Not: Getting Started
Guest Post by Gina Smith
Many small business owners are still apprehensive about utilizing cloud options. While it can be a big step, there are significant long-term benefits to utilizing this expanding innovation, including:
- Enhanced Security – Cloud providers go to great lengths to protect client data, often implementing security protocols which are much more advanced than those on most “hard” networks.
- Emergency Backup – No need to worry in the event of a fire, earthquake, flood, storm or other natural disaster. Your data and files are safe and being backed up in the “cloud”.
- Remote Access – You and your employees can gain access to company data at anytime from anywhere in the world.
- Easily Upgrade or Replace Computers – Quickly and painlessly replace obsolete or faulty computers by connecting the new machine(s) and remotely accessing and/or transferring any data needed directly from the cloud!
Once a business decides to take that step into the “cloud”, many get “stuck” trying to figure out which options will work best for their needs. Amazon is considered by many to be a pioneer in the world of so-called “remote computing” services. And now, Internet giant Google has thrown its hat into the game, launching their “Google Cloud” platform earlier this year.
Amazon AWS (Advanced Web Services)
Amazon was one of the first companies to develop a remote access/cloud computing product catered to the general public. They still offer the most extensive options for both users and developers. The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is attractive to many companies because they offer “pay-as-you-go” programs with no upfront expenses or long-term commitments required. Amazon Simple Storage (S3) is also very flexible, offering storage options in different regions around the world. Some companies choose to store their data in a lower priced region to reduce storage costs or in a region different from where their company is located for disaster recovery purposes. Amazon still offers the most versatile services and options. Some claim their system can be difficult to learn initially, but fairly easy to get around once you get the hang of it.
Google Cloud Services
There is no doubt that Google has made a permanent mark in history. The Internet giant has revolutionized our lives and made a significant impact on modern society. The company’s launch of their Google Cloud Platform got people who had previously discounted the cloud to seriously begin considering it again. Why? Well, it’s simple. Google has already developed applications which people are comfortable with and familiar. This, of course, makes the entire thought of cloud conversion and eventual emersion much less intimidating. Google’s cloud platform is still in its early stages and does not offer quite the flexibility and options as Amazon AWS – yet. Their data centers are secure and well managed, and their interface and applications are fairly easy to learn and navigate.
While this article offers a good general overview of each system, it is always advisable to conduct your own research to determine which provider will best suit your needs. Both Amazon AWS and Google Cloud provide reliable, secure, dependable, cost-saving options for businesses. Also consider utilizing companies specializing in cloud management and backup, such as www.spanning.com. And, as your business grows and your cloud use increases, don’t forget that Cloudyn can use their Cloud Intelligence and other advanced tools to analyze your usage. They can be a tremendous asset in helping manage and optimizing your data costs.
Gina Smith writes freelance articles for magazines, online outlets and publications.Smith covers the latest topics in the business, golf, tourism, technology and entertainment industries.
Unitrends Updates Backup and Recovery Suite
Unitrends today announced Unitrends Release 7.0, the next generation of software powering its physical and virtual backup and recovery appliances. Unitrends 7.0 bolsters data protection in virtualized and cloud environments, while providing an expanded range of platform and enterprise application support
Unitrends’ portfolio of physical (Recovery Series) and virtual (Unitrends Enterprise Backup™) appliances provide unified data protection across heterogeneous environments. Powered by Unitrends 7.0, these solutions now give companies unprecedented flexibility for optimizing backup and recovery in virtualized and cloud environments, with new capabilities including:
- Hot-hot replication and retention – Simplifies disaster recovery by eliminating cumbersome and expensive two-step disaster recovery operations. This capability keeps disaster recovery sites active, online and continuously updated – expediting disaster recovery processes and preventing data loss due to backup windows.
- Private virtual machine spin-up – Enables companies to instantly spin up a virtual machine in the cloud to add another layer of redundancy to their disaster recovery infrastructure. This capability can keep businesses running and data accessible even when on-premise locations experience total outages.
- VMware® SAN direct backup and recovery – Reduces backup windows, recovery time objectives (RTOs) and local area network traffic by performing fabric-based backup and recovery of virtual machines residing on SAN storage.
- Application-aware VMware backups – Enables increased application-aware integration for VMware host operating system (HOS)-based backups and ensures application consistency during and after the backup.
- Private one–click recovery – Enables instant recovery for VMware on the replication target and direct bare metal recovery and system recovery at the off-site premise location.
- Cloud-sourced deduplication – Increases cloud storage capacity and improves data retention by extending deduplication functionality to data in the cloud.
In addition to enhanced data protection in virtualized and cloud environments, Unitrends 7.0 also includes expanded enterprise application and platform support. In addition to SQL Server® and Microsoft® Exchange support, Unitrends now offers Oracle and Microsoft Office SharePoint support for native application protection – extending its robust, feature-rich data backup and recovery functionality to even more enterprise-level applications. Unitrends 7.0 also includes agent push simplification, which deploys install and upgrade Windows® agents from the backup appliance – decreasing total cost of ownership and lowering time-to-value.
“Having the ability to protect data across physical, virtual and cloud environments is essential to companies today, and our mission has always been to enable our customers to do this easily and affordably,” said Dr. Mark Campbell, chief strategy and technology officer at Unitrends. “Unitrends 7.0 extends our legacy by providing a broad range of capabilities that make it easy for companies to expedite backup and disaster recovery processes, ensure continuous access to data and maintain business operations regardless of what is happening around them.”
For more information on Unitrends and its enterprise-class data protection solutions for heterogeneous environments, see www.unitrends.com.
