What is disaster recovery as a service in the IT world? Disaster Recovery as a Service, or DRaaS for short, is a cloud based service that allows your business to have a mirror copy of your data, apps and IT infrastructure on a third party server. DRaaS’s main purpose is to have your organization’s services, apps and data back up quickly after a disaster.
In other words, DRaaS provides an easily accessible back up plan for your entire IT infrastructure in case your local servers fail.
What kind of disasters can warrant the use of DRaas?
The three most common types of disasters you would want to prepare for are cyberattacks, local server failures and major local power outages and natural disasters.
How does Disaster Recover as a Service work?
Once you find a reliable provider with the help of JTD Partners, you set up virtual machines on your service provider’s cloud services. Then, through a simple interface, you can set how often you would like your data, apps and IT infrastructure to be backed up, or mirrored. The intervals and the amount of data you can backup vary depending on the provider, so it’s important to talk to a specialist, like JTD Partners, to find the perfect solution for your business.
In case your local servers go down in case of a natural disaster, human error or cyber attack, your DRaaS provider will usually have a plan to execute, or provide either your employees or clients a cloud based version of your apps, or data. The DRaaS data provider will continue to serve the cloud based version until you are able to get your local servers back up. After it is safe to do so, your local server will then migrate the data back and resume operations as usual.
As you can see, this is a great advantage to have as your recovery time after a disaster can be almost instantaneous, depending on your provider.
How much does DRaaS cost?
There are usually two types of payment options associated with disaster recovery as a service. The first, which is the most common, is on a per-use basis. Most providers charge you depending on the bandwidth of data your organization uses during your down time. Some service providers may also charge for testing.
The other payment option that is usually associated with DRaaS is through a subscription model. You pay a monthly or yearly subscription even though you may never need the service.
Disaster Recovery as a Service Benefits
I think the first one to mention here is peace of mind. There are other great benefits such as
- No need for a huge IT team to research, test and implement a disaster recovery plan.
- DRaaS providers have experts on call to help you get all setup and help you get back on line in case of a disaster.
- Reduce your costs of hosting your own mirror copy of your IT infrastructure.
What is the difference between DRaaS and a routine backup?
The major difference between Disaster Recovery as a Service and a routine backup or backup as a service is that in case of a disaster, DRaaS allows your organization to continue operating business as usual. Your employees can continue to connect to your internal systems. Your clients can continue to shop or use your services. Your apps can continue to operate as usual.
This is true, even if your on-site server is completely destroyed by a tornado!
Now that you have a full understanding of what disaster recovery as a service is, is DRaaS a right fit for your company? JTD Partners can help find the best partner for your business. Contact us today!