SYNOPSIS

Too many of today's businesses – especially smaller and mid-sized companies – are placing enormous trust in antiquated data protection schemes: Backup tapes stored in a fire safe, or in the trunk of someone's car, does not constitute a disaster recovery scheme or even a data protection plan. In fact, most companies’ disaster recovery tools do very little the meet the company's actual business needs, like quickly recovering the most critical data in the event of a failure. In The Essentials Series: Strategies for Cloud Storage, Data Protection, and Disaster Recovery, IT author and strategist Don Jones examines the new approaches and capabilities offered by cloud storage and cloud-based data protection solutions. He offers a look at these solutions' challenges, and outlines specific considerations that businesses have to keep in mind when using them. Finally, he provides a framework for basic storage strategies that incorporate cloud technologies, positioning you to begin researching a solution that truly meets your business needs.

CHAPTER PREVIEWS

Article 1: What Can Cloud Storage Really Do For You?

How long would it really take you to recover your company's most critical data from your old-fashioned tape backups, or whatever else you're using to make backups? Can you afford that amount of time? Better yet, what can cloud-based storage and data protection solutions offer to improve the situation? In this article, author Don Jones explores new capabilities and techniques, and offers pointers on features and technologies that can make cloud-based storage and disaster recovery more feasible than you may have realized.

Article 2: Challenges and Special Considerations for Cloud Storage

When you move data into the cloud, you're handing it off to someone else – and that means you need to exercise a bit of extra caution and forethought. Are there any regulations or requirements that may affect your use of cloud storage? How will you continue to manage security? How will you actually conduct disaster recovery when your data is living in the cloud? Author Don Jones answers these and other questions, helping you formulate specific requirements for your business' cloud storage strategy.

Article 3: Leveraging the Cloud for Storage and Disaster Recovery: Three Practical Strategies

Once you've started to outline your business' specific needs and requirements for cloud storage, you can start identifying the strategic approach that is the best fit for your organization. Will you move all of your data into the cloud? Rely on on-site data but keep copies off-site for recovery purposes? Or will you leverage a well-planned hybrid approach to meet your specific needs? Don Jones explores the options and permutations, and helps you get ready to start talking to cloud storage vendors.