Buyer s Guide: DRaaS features and functionality Disaster recovery without a secondary site
DRaaS for the midmarket When a server stops responding, for whatever reason, the fastest way to resume service is to have a secondary environment ready to go. But traditionally, the redundant hardware, server space and additional human resources required have made this a prohibitive option. Most organizations simply cannot afford the costs and resources required to maintain secondary, off-site infrastructure. In the end, many IT departments simply live with the risk of potential business-ending outages. Today, disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) has evolved so that even small and midsize businesses can leverage the rapid recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) performance that DRaaS affords. When an outage occurs, a DRaaS solution should allow you to fail over to a secondary copy with just a few clicks. Within minutes, cloud-based replicas can spin up and be available for use. Once you re ready to fail back to your primary systems, the process should be easily reversed. This guide offers tips on key features and functionality that, when provided in a DRaaS solution, can give you the benefits of having a secondary site without many the infrastructure or administrative costs. 2
What to look for in a DRaaS solution What Continuous replication Self-service testing Orchestration for multi-tier applications Automated discovery Bandwidth optimization Recovery point options DNS redirect Failback Built-in encryption Support for exotic systems Why Achieve recovery times measured in minutes and recovery points measured in seconds. Feel confident that your DRaaS solution will work when a disaster occurs. Ensure applications are failed over seamlessly and reconstructed correctly. Reduce the number of manual steps required and the likelihood of human error. Maximize performance and bandwidth by only sending small amounts of data on an ongoing basis. Recover to the most current replicated data or fail back to a specific point in time. Automatically update DNS and redirect requests to the new system. Get systems and data back to the production site once the issue has been resolved. Maintain security with encryption in flight and at rest in the cloud. Keep legacy applications like iseries, AIX and Solaris systems protected during an outage. Disaster recovery myths Myth: DRaaS is only for the enterprise. Fact: Traditional DRaaS requires an offsite location, one that only large enterprises can afford. But technology advancements and the availability of inexpensive public clouds enables even small and midsize businesses to enjoy the same level of protection. Myth: Backup is enough. Fact: Traditional backup times do not provide the rapid RPO and RTO needed for true disaster recovery. DRaaS gives you a secondary site that you can run on while you perform disaster recovery on your primary site. Professional support Don t do it alone. Make sure there s a team of experts available. 3
Buying tips Since different systems require different levels of protection, it is important to align your recovery objectives for each system with the right level of data protection. After you have established which systems require immediate failover, set up a technical demo. During the demo, ask about the recovery performance of the solution, and whether it enables you to easily run a test failover when you need to. We recommend businesses perform test failovers once a quarter. At the end of the demo, ask about customer support and determine whether a premium support option would best fit your business needs. Because disasters don t follow a schedule, it s important to have the resources available when you need them. Before you end your call, ask whether the vendor can protect less critical systems as well. A complete data protection strategy incorporates both high availability and traditional backup. Having a single data protection provider can save time and money. The Carbonite advantage Carbonite Recover helps businesses enjoy all the advantages of having a secondary copy of critical data available for failover in the cloud, without any of the hassle associated with managing a secondary data center or colocation facility. This keeps both downtime and costs to a minimum, while strengthening resiliency where it s needed most. Carbonite Recover is designed to support complex environments. It automates the orchestration of multi-tier applications to ensure proper boot order across groups of servers when applications are reconstituted. Key features and benefits: 2018 2017 Carbonite, Inc. All rights reserved. Recovery times and recovery points measured in minutes or seconds Orchestration for multi-tier applications, with boot order, scripting and automated discovery of systems Non-disruptive, self-service testing Bandwidth optimized for limited network impact Built-in encryption, both at rest and in flight Carbonite technical support, from initial deployment to testing to failover and failback Support for platforms like iseries and AIX with our Carbonite Disaster Recovery offering 4
How it works Initially, you ll log in to the console, and the solution will push the agents that perform replication onto the systems being protected. It will then configure the service. Our award-winning professional services team will engage with you to ensure the configuration is complete, and to perform the initial failover test. Once configured, your systems will send data continuously to the Carbonite cloud. This will occur at the byte level, minimizing any performance impact to the systems or the network. When an outage occurs, you can trigger a failover from the Carbonite console. Within minutes, the secondary systems in the cloud will spin up and be ready for use. The data on them is barely a few seconds old, and most users won t even sense a disruption in service. Once you re ready to fail back to your primary systems, the process is easily reversed. Carbonite Recover is supported by our exceptional technical team, who will ensure your data protection plan is operational and support you during an outage. Contact us to learn more: Data Protection Sales Phone: +1 (877) 901-3282 Email: DataProtectionSales@carbonite.com WS_0107_0918 5