Cloud Backup – What is it?

Cloud backup, which is also called online backup, is a method of backing up your data. This cloud backup includes sending a copy of the information over a public or proprietary network to a server that is off site. The server is typically hosted by a third party provider, who will then charge the backup customer an amount based on the bandwidth, capacity and number of users. In this business, the off site server could possibly be proprietary, but the chargeback approach is very much the same.

Online Data Backup Services

Online backup systems are commonly built around a customer’s software application that will run on a schedule that is determined by a specific level of service the client has purchased. If the customer needing a cloud backup service has chosen daily backups, for example, then this application will collect, compress, encrypt and transfer data to the provider’s servers every 24 hours. To help reduce the potentially large amount of bandwidth used up and the overall time it takes to completely transfer files, the service provider would probably provide only additional backups after the first full backup.

Third party cloud backup has achieved much popularity with home office users and small offices because of its ease of use and its accessibility. Capital expenditures for more hardware may not be required and backups are able to be run dark, and that means they will run automatically without any manual intervention.

Additional Cloud Backup Services

Cloud backup services are mainly being used for archiving information that is non-critical. The traditional backup services process is a much better solution for critical or important data that must have a shorter recovery time objective (RTO) since there are real limits on how much data is able to be moved in any specific amount of time over a network. When a considerable amount of data has to be recovered, it might have to be shipped on tape or other form of portable storage media.

Russ Fellows, a Senior Analyst with Evaluator Group, has assembled a chart to show when a cloud backup may be considered as a practical option.

For the amount of data to be in cloud storage it is good when the entire volume to protect is not more than 100 Gb per 1 Mb of network bandwidth. So, 100 Gb can then be supported by a suitable 1 Mb WAN connection. The rat of change for cloud storage is best when the rate of change is not more than 10% of the total data per month.

When you compare cloud storage to a traditional backup that is for larger amounts of data or for environments with a limited network connectivity, the more traditional backup techniques are more useful. The rate of change for the traditional backup for data that will change frequently will use more common backup methods that use a local disk and tape, with a tape transport off-site.

To learn more about the cloud and all that it can do, visit Cloud Backup.

To better understand the definition of what the cloud is, visit cloud backup