Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is a cloud computing software service model that allows an organization to back up it data and provide all the disaster recovery orchestration, all through a SaaS solution in case of an emergency. The organization itself doesn’t have to own all the resources or handle all the management for disaster recovery, instead relying on the service provider.
Having a disaster recovery plan is crucial to businesses today, there are many disasters that have the potential to wreak havoc on an IT organization, including:
· Natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, wildfires and earthquakes.
· Equipment failures and power outages.
· Cyberattacks
Using DRaaS to prepare for a disaster
True DRaaS essentially mirrors or makes a complete copy of an organizations infrastructure on a virtual server. This was if an organization falls victim to a disaster of any kind they can still run applications from the service provider’s cloud environment instead of the disaster-affected physical location. This means recovery time after a disaster can be much faster, or even instantaneous. Once the physical servers are replaced the data can be copied back. It is important to note that since the application will be running from the cloud rather than a physical server, customers will experience higher latency, this is still much better than a complete downtime.
The difference between DRaaS and a backup as a service (BaaS)
Disaster recovery as a service moves the organizations data to a cloud just like a backup as a service would but DRaaS gives the organization the ability to operate their applications and services while their physical server is down. Whereas a simple backup only saves the data and doesn’t give the ability for the organization to still operate off of the server, this results in an extended period of downtime while the physical servers are being repaired etc.
Is disaster recovery as a service right for you?
There are different forms of DRaaS, with there being three main models:
· Managed DRaaS: In a managed DRaaS model, a third party DRaaS provider takes over all responsibility for disaster recovery. This requires the organization and provider to stay in constant and close communication to ensure that their system stays up to date on all infrastructure, application, and services changes. While more expensive, if you don’t have the expertise or time to manage your own disaster recovery, this may be the best option for you.
· Assisted DRaaS: If you prefer to maintain responsibility to some aspects of your disaster recovery plan, or want a more customized plan, an assisted DRaaS would be best for you. It is recommended that you have staff with knowledge and expertise of DRaaS, this option is more cost efficient if you have the staff and time.
· Self-service DRaaS: This is the least expensive model, you are responsible for the planning, testing, and management of disaster recovery. You would also host your infrastructure backup on a virtual server in a remote location. Careful planning and testing are required for this model as well as experience recovery experts on staff.
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