Cloud Backup Vs. Tape: Think Hybrid
Consider a hybrid solution involving both cloud and tape resources for data backup.
When it comes to backup, cloud vendors have solved many of the problems of low bandwidth. The biggest challenge facing cloud service providers is the Internet connection's limited bandwidth. While small data movements like nightly backups and individual file restores are no problem, initial backups and full server recoveries can be a real challenge. In this column we will look at how technological advances compare to tape, the traditional backup transport.
The problem of limited bandwidth has created an ideal role for tape in the cloud. Tape can be used to overcome the initial seeding of data and full server recovery. The "bandwidth" of a box of tapes overnighted dwarfs even the fastest Internet connection. Despite this, some cloud vendors claim to have solved the problem and are adding their voices to the "Tape Is Dead" chorus.
Backup vs. Bandwidth
Cloud backup vendors' response to this is the increasingly common hybrid deployment. In this scenario, an appliance (physical or virtual) is placed onsite and is allocated storage. Then the most recent backup, plus one full backup, are stored both onsite and in the cloud.
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