Data Recovery Services in Data Centre Hosting
Posted on May 9th, 2012
The security of client data should be fundamental to every web host’s strategy and data centre architecture. Guaranteeing a bullet proof system that secures and restores data in case of system failure is one of the key differentiators in the data centre hosting industry. For this reason, data recovery should not just be an afterthought in case of failure but an integral part from the start of every customer engagement.
Nowadays, managed business web hosting services include state-of-the-art security measures. These usually encompass, but are not limited to, “performance monitoring, site management reports, data backup and content delivery and management services.”* All of these services are in place to ensure the same thing: securing a client’s data in case of disaster.
A disaster in data centre hosting can mean various incidents including “facility failures, fires, earthquake, flood, telecommunications failure, sabotage, vandalism and similar events.”* Although most of these potential disaster scenarios might seem to appear rather scarcely, many of the most experienced web hosts have witnessed at least one of the above listed or a similar disaster throughout the course of their operations.
Depending on the gravity of a disaster, it can cause the loss of the most integral part of a business: its internal data. “When they occur, they result in the inaccessibility to data centres, IT infrastructure, and could even lead to loss of data in the servers and storage due to system failure.”** The latter represents the worst-case-scenario and probably the nightmare of every professional data centre operator.
To ensure a smooth restoration of data in case of system failure, data protection should cover much more than just regular backups. Although providers should partly rely on snapshot technologies, this should never be the only security measure at place. “Disaster Recovery Services (DRS) are a combination of hardware and software solutions which enable data backup, recovery, retrieving, and archiving of the mission or business critical data files.”** Thus, in case of any disaster, such sophisticated recovery services provide maximum tolerance.
The disparity between minutes and hours make the difference and decide between extension or termination of a client-provider-relationship. In fact, the temporary loss of data in the case of a disaster might not even matter that much as long as restoring them is an easy and fast process. That’s why web hosting providers should ideally have an integrated backup solution that restores large volumes of data easily in a few clicks and within a few minutes.
Despite these ideal expectations on a data recovery system, putting a sophisticated data recovery system in place, requires large upfront investment in cutting edge solutions, as well as expertise and time that IT engineers and technicians need in order to install it. “The initial costs and set-up costs of Disaster Recovery Services are very high.[…] The set-up of the Disaster Recovery Service and its successful implementation are highly complex.”** Regardless of these initial investments, maintenance, and upgrade costs, a bullet proof security system is more than likely to pay off in case of a disaster
To summarize this article, cutting-edge disaster recovery systems are integral to a data centre provider’s business success. One can think of it as the most rock-solid insurance in web hosting. Even if a data centre’s operations keep running smoothly, the availability of sophisticated recovery solutions is of significant value as it secures peace of mind for both the provider’s, and the buyer’s team.
* Wintergreen Research. Web Hosting Data Center-Application Services Market Strategies and Forecasts. 2000. SKU: WGR38.
** IDC. IDC’s Worldwide Disk-Based Data Protection and Recovery Taxonomy. 2012. SKU: IDC6789727