Tips for Tackling the Challenges of Hybrid Cloud Backups

Hybrid cloud backup is a very popular method and is used by many organizations worldwide through different tools such as Veeam backup to Azure, but the combination of both local and cloud storage can increase complexity and challenges. To overcome this, you, as a business owner, should make sure that you are managing the backed-up data efficiently.

Hybrid Cloud Backups Can Be Costly

One major challenge is the cost. Cloud providers charge users based on the amount of backup storage space they use. Organizations can help to minimize costs by using data lifecycle management policies to prevent any excessive accumulation of backup data in the cloud.

This might help in reducing costs as it can enable users to purge aging backup data or simply move old data to less expensive cloud archival storage.

Bandwidth Issues

Another challenge is bandwidth. There are several things that administrators can do to help keep their cloud backups form using all the available bandwidth. This may include bringing down the cost of cloud backups as many providers bill their customers for the bandwidth they consume with those backups.

Another possible solution could be to use data deduplication for cloud backups. Duplication removes redundant data from backups and can significantly reduce the volume of data transmitted to the cloud.  

Cloud Storage Gateway is also an option in reducing the bandwidth. It often has its own internal storage and it can accommodate the on-premises backups.

Increased Management Complexity with Hybrid Cloud Backups

An additional challenge with hybrid cloud backups is increased management complexity. The backup architecture of an organization that decides to store backups on-premises and in the cloud will be a lot complex than of an organization that decides to back up its data to a single location.

This should be kept in mind when opting for hybrid cloud backups as management of these backups would be a lot complex than regular backups, stored in a single location.

One way to help reduce complexity is to use a single backup appliance for everything. This means, a single backup appliance for on-premises backups and the same for cloud backups. This way, you will be able to manage all of your backup-related resources in one place.

The good news is that most backup applications support both cloud and on-premises backups and so do many vendors, like Dell, Unitrends, StoneFly, etc.

Conclusion

Hybrid cloud backups are a good viable option but only if you can manage them efficiently. It is also best to know how much you keep on-premises and how much you keep in the cloud. This can help you identify and overcome the challenges of hybrid cloud backups and enable you to utilize them to the fullest.