5 Pitfalls To Avoid With Cloud Backup

By Mike L. Chase, EVP and CTO, dinCloud

Businesses that are not leveraging cloud to aid in disaster recovery goals are missing out on the benefits — but it may not be their fault. The maxim, “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it” applies to cloud as much as anything. Knowing what’s possible in the cloud and how to seize it could change your IT customers’ life for the better — but they are going to need guidance. Considering the decision to leverage the cloud for backup from your customer’s perspective can help you steer them away from common pitfalls.

5 Pitfalls — Mind Benders For Geeks

1. Transport. Any time you move large data over the wire, things get complex quickly.  Key factors paramount to success or failure include latency, jitter, packet loss, TCP (transmission control protocol) window size, and WAN acceleration. Help your client calculate how long it will take to move various data sets to the cloud, procure the right private/public circuits if they need to upgrade, license the software they need in a monthly cloud model, and provide hardware they need onsite to guarantee this will work. Be prepared to answer questions about alternatives like onsite boxes that deliver quick backup and recovery but actually have a poor track record of ever getting data synchronized to the cloud in a timely manner. Leverage products like Silver Peak, Riverbed (SteelStore), and others that can cut down transport times from four days to nine hours, and offer monthly subscriptions to help with your customer’s upfront costs.  

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