RTO (recovery time objective) and RPO (recovery point objective) are metrics to determine the disaster recovery goals for how fast you can return to normal operations (RTO) and how much data you can afford to lose (RPO). After many years of IT working on this — from business continuity plans to cyber resilience — many companies find that RTO and RPO are not where they want them to be.
Why?
The reason is that most backup cloud storage providers can’t meet all their requirements. Balancing budgets with performance and security criteria is full of compromises. This article will explore how a modern, regionless approach to backup storage is what companies need to combine with their backup and recovery solutions to lower cost and risk.
What is regionless cloud storage?
Regionless cloud storage is a reimagining of cloud architecture. Instead of relying on replicating data and storing them in multiple regional data centers, regionless cloud storage segments the data and distributes those segments across thousands of storage locations worldwide.
This new approach accomplishes some really important objectives.
Performance
Only a small portion of the segments are needed to rebuild the file. When a download request is made, the fastest segments (typically those located closest to the request) are used. This makes it incredibly fast no matter where in the world the recovery is needed.
Durability
Enterprise-grade durability and availability are delivered without the need for replication, which significantly reduces the cost of storing backups. This is accomplished through a combination of erasure coding (learn how erasure coding works) and a self-healing architecture. Since the files can be accessed quickly from anywhere in the world, this also eliminates the need for multi-region storage.
Immutability
This regionless model uses a range of security constructs, including end-to-end encryption, identity and access management, and credential authorization management to ensure immutable data storage at no extra cost.
Regionless cloud storage is the best way to store backups as it accomplishes requirements for fast and affordable recovery globally. Let’s dig deeper into how it can help RTO and RPO.
How does it make recovery faster?
Should a power grid go down or a ransomware attack get through, IT must get the business operational as fast as possible. The faster recovery time objective (RTO), the better. Of course, it doesn’t matter what the documentation about RTO is, the IT team needs to be confident that the time is achievable in the event of a disaster.
RTO is lowered by improving performance. Restoring from regionless cloud storage is similar to restoring from a content delivery network (CDN). Since the segments can be pulled from the storage nodes closest to the request, users get 11 9s of durability. Geofencing is available to ensure backups are in the right place for a speedy recovery or data sovereignty.
Another reason regionless storage is so fast for recovery is that it was designed for large file transfer. It uses parallelism, pulling from those closest storage nodes, and minimizes the long-tail effect to make downloads as fast as possible. Download performance has been benchmarked against AWS S3 and found to be just as fast near the AWS data center and stays consistently fast as you move away from the data center (AWS S3 doesn’t).
The bottom line is that low latency and higher throughput mean a reduction in RTO and confidence in achieving that time in a real disaster.
How does it decrease data loss?
To reduce the recovery point objective (RPO), backups need to be uploaded more frequently. Unfortunately, this is where many companies hit budget constraints. Cloud storage providers like Wasabi have minimum storage terms, so you get charged extra if you want to replace your data more frequently than 30-90 days.
Another cost restraint is the fact that many providers charge copy and transfer fees to store your backups in multiple regions. This means that RPOs are being compromised due to cost.
Regionless storage eliminates multiregion storage costs since the data is automatically replicated with erasure coding. Regionless storage has no minimum storage limits and doesn’t change for uploads. This means you can hit any RPO the business needs to ensure the most current data is available for recovery.
Of course, data loss isn’t just about how current your backups are but also how secure they are. Regionless cloud storage was built using zero-trust fundamentals. It is the only cloud storage provider with end-to-end data and metadata encryption. Combined with a highly secure backup platform, regionless storage significantly reduces the risk of data loss.
How does it work with Acronis?
Storj is the leading regionless cloud storage provider and integrates with many cybersecurity backup and recovery platforms. (see all integrations here) An example of one of the more prevalent solutions is Acronis Cyber Project — the only cyber protection solution that natively integrates data protection and cybersecurity.
The combination of Acronis and Storj provides comprehensive cloud management capabilities at a competitive cost. Acronis offers reliable backup and disaster recovery solutions for data archiving and organization, seamlessly integrating with Storj's S3 infrastructure for cost-effective storage and retrieval of large datasets.
With Storj's advanced security integrations, users can be confident that data managed on Acronis is safe and secure. Acronis also provides metadata archives that simplify managing and accessing large datasets, while manual and automatic archiving capabilities help optimize storage costs.
How easy is it to switch?
If removing the complexity and cost of backups sounds good, then now’s the time to switch. Storj makes it extremely simple to migrate your data (see migration guides) and connect it to your current backup solution (see integration guides).
If you need more info before making the switch, here are some helpful resources:
- Compare Storj pricing to Wasabi with this interactive calculator
- Learn more about the inherent data protection of Storj
- See how fast Storj performance is compared to AWS S3
- Learn more about how Storj eliminates regional replication
- Discover regionless offsite backup storage with Acronis
If you are ready, take advantage of this limited-time free migration offer!
