Every business can face a situation when a hardware malfunction, an external threat or someone’s unintentional mistake – can lead to loss of important data. If this happens to you – the first question on how to recover the data is – where is the backup? Procedures for making local backups have been in place for years, with additional hardware required (external memory media), and it often happens that even when you have a backup copy, it is impossible or hard to restore the current situation.

In recent years, providers have begun to offer backup services in a Cloud. In addition to the backup itself, syncing is common to these services, which means that you can have multiple versions of the same file at the same time, and if necessary – you can access it from any location. Because these services are in the Cloud, data security and integrity is multiple, the failure of one or several components will not shut the system down, and the storage services also offer advanced data encryption.

Cloud data protection will provide you maintain custody and control over your data access irrespective of where or how they are stored. In today’s environment with ubiquitous public Cloud computing – the need for data protection is increased and deserves special attention – given the options you can choose.

Dell EMC Networker and CloudBoost

The Dell Networker Server is the main component of the Dell EMC data protection solution and it provides the policy, scheduling and catalog functions of the solution. It manages the backup and recovery processes between CloudBoost servers, cloud object storage, and the Networker clients. The Networker server can be deployed to both Linux and Windows systems; it also coordinates the Networker application modules, to create persistent and recoverable backup copies of the operating system and the application workloads.

The CloudBoost server provides connectivity and access to the Cloud object storage for data backup. It can be attached to the data storage in order to cache backup data, as it is copied from the local storage through the CloudBoost server to public cloud object storage. Some important features of the CloudBoost server include: data compression, data deduplication and encryption. Different algorithms are applied to ensure minimum storage amount and network bandwidth to be used. It is also cost effective, since other providers do not offer these extra features (compression and deduplication of data).

Backup to Cloud common Use Cases

The usage of Dell EMC data protection solutions provides you different backup scenarios and here we will describe the most common use cases.

Backup to Cloud

This scenario is intended for cases where the user has on-premises private servers and wants to use public cloud object storage for all backup assignments, including short-term backups for data recovery and long-term backups for compliance. The architecture in this case includes Networker and CloudBoost Servers located on-premises. The role of the CloudBoost server is to deduplicate, compress and encrypt the data before sending it to the object storage.

The advantages of this method are: fast restoring from locally cached short-term backup copies; usage of low-cost deduplicated public cloud object storage, and ability to restore systems/ applications from backups stored in the cloud.

The disadvantages of Backup to Cloud scenario are: no second copy of backup data aside from the public cloud provider; potential data loss in case cloud provider’s service malfunction; high retrieval cost when moving backup copies from one to another public cloud provider, and speed dependency on the network connectivity / cloud provider performance.

Long Term Retention Backups to Cloud

This scenario is intended for cases when the user has existing on-premises private servers, and wants to use public cloud for long-term retention and compliance. The architecture in this case includes Networker and CloudBoost Servers located on-premises in addition to local storage that utilizes the short-term recovery needs (backup copies for the short-term recovery stay locally). The role of the CloudBoost server is to deduplicate, compress and encrypt the data before sending it to public object storage, and the process is controlled by the Networker policy engine.

The advantages of this method are: efficient, fast-restore and reliable on-premises short-term backup copies stored and replicated by Data Domain; usage of low-cost deduplicated public cloud object storage for long-term retention copies.

The drawbacks of this scenario include: no second copy of backup data aside from the public cloud provider; potential data loss in case cloud provider’s service malfunction; high retrieval cost when moving backup copies from one to another public cloud provider.

Backup in Cloud

This scenario is intended for cases when the user has workloads running in public cloud virtual machine instances and wants to use public cloud object storage for all backups, including short-term backups for data recovery and long-term backups for compliance. The architecture in this case includes Networker and CloudBoost Servers deployed as public cloud virtual machine instances. CloudBoost Server will move backup data from Networker clients through itself – into public cloud object storage. It will also deduplicate, compress and encrypt the data before sending it to public object storage.

The advantages of this method are: no on-premises infrastructure needed; usage of low-cost deduplicated public cloud object storage for all backup copies.

The drawbacks of this scenario include: no second copy of backup data aside from the public cloud provider; potential data loss in case cloud provider’s service malfunction; high retrieval cost when moving backup copies from one to another public cloud provider.

Backup Across Clouds

This scenario is intended for cases when the user is using workloads in 2 independent public clouds – regions (instances) and wants to protect each cloud’s workload with offsite backups to the alternate cloud. The architecture in this case includes Networker and CloudBoost Servers deployed as public cloud virtual machine instances. CloudBoost servers in each cloud can be attached to data storage to cache backup data as it moves through itself – into public cloud object storage. It will also deduplicate, compress and encrypt the data before sending it to public object storage.

The advantages of this method are: fast restore from locally-cached short-term backup copies; usage of low-cost deduplicated public cloud object storage for all backup copies; multiple backups across two public clouds reducing data loss; no on-premises infrastructure needed; no exit costs, since backup copies are maintained across independent public clouds.

The drawbacks of this scenario include: higher cost since the two independent backup copies are maintained across different clouds; restore speed of non-cached backups depends on inter-cloud network performance.

Backup in Cloud and Across Clouds

This scenario is intended for cases when the user is using workloads in public clouds and wants to protect each workload using local backups for fast restore, and cloned backups across clouds to maintain offsite independent backup copies. The backups can be used for both – short-term recovery and long-term compliance. The architecture includes Networker and CloudBoost Servers deployed as public cloud virtual machine instances. CloudBoost servers facilitate cloning of backups to remote public clouds, and can be attached to data storage – to cache the data while in transfer. They will also deduplicate, compress and encrypt the data before sending it to public object storage.

The advantages of this method are: fast restore from locally-cached short-term backup copies; usage of low-cost deduplicated public cloud object storage for all backup copies; multiple backups across two public clouds reducing data loss; no on-premises infrastructure needed; no exit costs, since backup copies are maintained across independent public clouds.

The drawbacks of this scenario include: additional CloudBoost servers are required and the cost is higher due to the maintenance of two independent copies (public clouds).

Why Cxrus?

Cxrus Solutions is the leading end-to-end Enterprise IT Solutions Provider in Asia Pacific. Our core services include Digital Transformation, Flexible (Cloud) Infrastructure Solutions and Open Source Solutions. We are Dell EMC Platinum partner and our primary goal is to provide state-of-the-art IT solutions and services, and to deliver products that are beyond clients’ expectations. Our solutions provide reliability and high quality; they are based on the latest business technology, implementation, support, maintenance, and permanent monitoring and upgrade.

In October 2017, Cxrus Solutions has announced it has won the 2017 Microsoft Open Source on Azure Partner of the Year Award. The company was honored among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions during the past year.