Cloud is a viable option for many use cases, including but not limited to storage, critical workload management, disaster recovery and much more. And as we have covered in our previous concerns related to this series, it can also be made secure, reasonably priced, and migration can be simplified. We found one of the major cloud concerns in last year’s end user survey to be customization. Let’s dive into where customization and the cloud meet.
How customizable is the cloud?
In order to get the most out of their cloud investment, businesses need to be able to tailor the cloud to their exact needs. And even though cloud customization seems to be a concern, there is a general consensus in the IT community that the cloud is customizable. And when you consider the premise of AWS, Azure and other IaaS offerings that allow you to customize services specifically to your needs from day zero, it’s easy to see why. The cloud and customization seems to go hand-in-hand in some respects. Customization is a key component when it comes to the ability to configure cloud security. Being able to customize your cloud environment to meet exact compliance needs depending on what industry you are in, or in which region or country your data resides, makes customization a vital capability within cloud.
Supreme scalability of cloud
Talking about cloud customization would not be possible without also mentioning the flexibility and scalability that come with utilizing cloud over on-premises. If operations are conducted on-premises, then scaling up typically means buying new servers, and will require time and resources to deploy. The cloud offers pay-as-you go models and scaling happens instantly with no manual labor required. If there is a peak in activity, cloud resources can be added and scaled back down when business activity returns to normal. This ability to rapidly scale up or down through cloud can give a business true operational agility.
Customizing your backup data moving to the cloud
When depending on the data management software you use, you can enable a highly customized approach when it comes to handling data moving to the cloud. Veeam offers ultimate flexibility when it comes to the frequency, granularity and ease of backing up data to the cloud, helping you meet 15 minute RPOs which then impact RTOs. What’s great is the products used for backup and replication in Veeam can also be used as a migration tool to make the task of moving to cloud easier than it seemed at first. Let’s go over existing Veeam Cloud offerings and new ones to see how they can be utilized to customize various aspects of cloud backup needs.
Veeam and cloud customization
First and foremost: Backup and replication. The two functions used in virtually any environment to ensure the safety and redundancy of your data. You can send your data off site with Veeam Cloud Connect to a disaster recovery site or you can create an exact duplicate of your production environment that will have 15 minutes between them. And you can use these same options to get your data into the cloud, be it a cloud repository for storing backups or a secondary site via DRaaS, all within a single Veeam Backup & Replication console.
Since Veeam Cloud Connect operates through the network, we’ve made sure that we provide an encrypted traffic and built-in WAN acceleration to optimize every bit of data that is sent over. WAN acceleration minimizes the amount of data sent, excluding blocks that were already processed and can be taken from the cache on site. That comes really handy during migrations since you may be processing a lot of similar machines and files. This acceleration is included in Azure proxy as well as other optimizations that help reduce network traffic usage.
Additionally, you can use Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure to gain an extra level of recoverability. First setup and pre-allocate Azure services, then simply restore to any point of time for your machine in a couple of clicks. What’s really cool is that you’re not limited to restoring only virtual workloads, but can migrate physical machines as well!
Our Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows (beta version soon available), and the now available Veeam Agent for Linux will help you create backups of your physical servers so that you can store them on the Veeam repositories for further management, restores and migration, should you ever need to convert your physical workloads to the virtual and cloud. Not only does Veeam provide multiple means for getting data to the cloud, but you can also backup your Microsoft Office 365 data and migrate it to your local Exchange servers and vice versa with Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365! Many companies have moved their email infrastructure to the cloud, so Veeam provides an ability to have a backup plan in case something happens on the cloud side. That way you’ll always be able to retrieve deleted items and get access to your email infrastructure.
All these instruments are directly controlled by you, and most of them can be obtained with a service provider to take the management off your plate. When working with a provider, it is important to inquire into what can be customized or configured in order to ensure the cloud environment is able to meet your specific needs. This makes working with a cloud service provider a very valuable asset. As they can give you expert advice, reduce any complications and set expectations when it comes to cloud environments and their ability to be customized.