Solving the Second Site IT Dilemma Executive Brief Understanding the Benefits of Cloud DR for NetApp Storage Environments Introduction This executive brief explores the costs of maintaining do-it-yourself disaster recovery (DIY DR) environments, as well as the benefits of using planned hardware upgrades or colocation contract renewals as opportunities to assess cloud-based DR solutions. Many NetApp customers rely on DIY DR strategies, which typically involve a second data center with a set of redundant mission-critical components these may include NetApp FAS storage systems, compute and networking resources, server virtualization and dedicated second-site staff.
DIY Disaster Recovery Falls Short DIY DR appealed to enterprise IT organizations for a number of reasons. Given the mission-critical nature of key data sources and applications, IT leaders wanted as much control as possible over the DR infrastructure, and many believed they could ensure better recovery capabilities than those provided by outsourced services. A significant number also believed an in-house DR solution would save their organizations money. Nearly 60% of firms using in-house DR capabilities report that they failed to meet at least some of their recovery objectives. Top Reasons for Choosing DIY DR 16% 24% $9,000+ Estimated monthly savings of switching from DR DIY to cloud-based DR $7,000,000 39% More control over infrastructure Belief that DIY would deliver better recovery capabilities Belief it would cost less December 2012 Industry analyst Forrester Research study conducted on behalf of IBM Estimated monthly cost of a disaster event with no DR plan in place Source: Seagate analysis, estimated for a customer spending $160,000+ annually on DIY DR Is your colocation contract coming up for renewal? This is an opportunity to consider the potential savings of upgrading to a cloud-based DR solution. These IT organizations are discovering that do-it-yourself DR is more complex and expensive than expected. Their firms allocate an average of 6 percent of their IT budgets to business continuity and DR activities, and many report significant challenges, including a lack of focus on DR relative to other IT projects, inadequate testing and insufficient funding to keep their DR infrastructures up to date. 2 These challenges result in very real DR performance issues: Nearly 60 percent of firms using in-house DR capabilities report that they failed to meet at least some of their recovery objectives. In addition, as a Forrester Research report recently noted, enterprises that fail to test their DR systems regularly are virtually certain to experience significant failures if these systems are ever needed. 3 The High Cost of DIY DR: Infrastructure Upgrades, Staffing/Training and More Production IT environments, including NetApp storage systems, usually rely on hardware refresh cycles every 3 5 years. This can be an especially painful time for firms with DIY disaster recovery strategies: they can either upgrade their recovery environments at the same time as their production environments, or accept the growing risk that their DR infrastructure will fail to meet key performance and reliability objectives. The ability to shift DR costs from CapEx to OpEx is especially compelling for IT groups facing a hardware upgrade cycle. Rather than committing to yet another major CapEx investment one that may force a firm to commit to 3 5 years with a DIY DR strategy an IT group can instead reallocate these funds to smaller, more predictable and easier to approve monthly fees that are treated as OpEx items. There are other costs associated with maintaining dedicated DR sites, of course. A truly robust DR strategy, for example, requires dedicated IT staff with very specific skills: knowledge of relevant platforms including NetApp FAS storage systems, data protection applications such as SnapMirror and SnapVault, and underlying networking and compute resources. Yet it s also important to combine this knowledge with additional, often very specific, disaster recovery expertise. These are specialized skillsets that even large IT organizations may be unable to support. In theory, enterprises determined to maintain best-in-class DR capabilities can bite the bullet and invest in the staffing, regular hardware upgrades, and other required capabilities. In practice, however, many IT groups will cut corners on staffing, defer hardware upgrades, skip critical system tests, and make other decisions that undermine their control and limit business resiliency following a disaster or disruption the very situations they hoped a DIY DR approach would help them to avoid. 1. http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/rll12356usen/rll12356usen.pdf 2. Forrester Research: The Risks of Do It Yourself Disaster Recovery (http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/rll12356usen/rll12356usen.pdf) 3. The Forrester Wave: Disaster-Recovery-As-A-Service Providers, Q1 2014.
Cloud DR Solutions Offer an Alternative Forward-looking IT leaders must break this cycle. Cloud-based DR solutions are now a compelling alternative to the risk and uncertainty of DIY strategies as long as IT decision-makers understand their options and ask the right questions. First, it s important to understand cloud DR is mature and highly robust; it is no longer a niche market only for early adopters or limited to SMBs. According to Forrester, 41 percent of enterprises have already adopted Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) or plan to do so. Forward-looking IT leaders must break this cycle. Enterprises that adopt cloud DR are reporting a number of benefits, including: Superior performance. Cloud DR providers invest in the storage, compute, networking and other components required to meet stringent SLAs and recovery times; these times typically range from 48 hours to less than one hour, depending on how a DR package is structured. Predictable expenses and flexible contracts. Today s cloud DR services usually employ monthly pricing models that IT groups can treat as OpEx. Contracts are typically flexible enough to support changing technology and business requirements. Security and compliance. Best-in-class providers employ networks of top-tier data centers that comply with SSAE 16 or have ISO and other certifications for meeting SOX, HIPAA, PCI and other regulatory compliance concerns. Upgrades included. Cloud DR customers are automatically upgraded with no upfront CapEx costs. Why wait 3 to 5 years for an IT systems (hardware and software) refresh? Rigorous and methodical testing regimens. DR testing is a key weakness for many enterprises; cloud providers perform regular, automated testing that ensures missioncritical systems will be available within the contracted recovery window. Cloud DR customers are automatically upgraded with no upfront CapEx costs. Why wait 3 to 5 years for an IT systems (hardware and software) refresh?
Cloud DR Cuts the Second Site Out of the IT Picture Gradually, or All at Once Cloud DR, properly executed, can eliminate all dedicated DR resources including hardware, software, infrastructure, facilities and staffing. As a result, cloud DR acts as a force multiplier for enterprise IT organizations; in addition to reducing CapEx, it enables IT leaders to reallocate physical and human IT resources to activities that provide value to the business. Most firms will not want or need to make the leap from DIY disaster recovery to the cloud in a single step. A phased approach might, for example, allow a firm to reallocate planned hardware refresh funds to a cloud DR solution for mission-critical business applications. The existing DR site and hardware might then be devoted to recovering second- or third-tier applications, including some that were not included in the original DR plan due to resource limitations. Over time, as a firm expands its relationship with a cloud DR partner, it can continue to migrate applications, retire legacy systems and eventually close or repurpose its second data center site. Cloud DR acts as a force multiplier for enterprise IT organizations. Cloud DR for NetApp Environments: Picking the Right Solution and Partner There s another factor to consider when evaluating cloud DR solutions and partners: support for IT s chosen storage, software, virtualization, compute, networking and other elements. This issue is especially important for NetApp users, many of whom have invested heavily in the tools and expertise required to optimize and manage their storage environments. A firm that uses NetApp C-mode and 7-mode filers, combined with SnapMirror for data replication, for example, will want to select a NetApp-certified cloud DR partner with proven experience replicating and restoring these NetApp environments. Choosing a NetApp-certified partner will also ensure that no third-party tools are required as part of the replication process eliminating a significant source of cost and risk. There are many ways to evaluate potential cloud DR partners (see Assessing a Cloud DR Partner: 3 Key Questions sidebar). Even when every other aspect of a potential solution looks ideal, however, IT groups that rely on NetApp storage environments should ensure their partners understand NetApp technology, have deep experience implementing and managing NetApp solutions, and can combine this knowledge with specific expertise replicating and recovering mission-critical applications in NetApp environments. 1 2 3 Assessing a Cloud DR Partner: 3 Key Questions Weighing multiple cloud DR options? Ask these three questions to help ensure your IT group is making the best possible choice. How does the provider back up its SLA guarantees? Look for agreements that impose significant consequences on the cloud DR provider for missing recovery objectives. Does the provider disclose its oversubscription rates? Cloud providers assume that customers won t all be using key compute or networking resources at the same time. But not every provider discloses how much it actually oversubscribes these resources. What is the provider s retention rate? Customer churn is a fact of life given the cloud business model, which is defined by flexible and often short-term contracts. The best cloud DR providers, however, boast retention rates of up to 99 percent. Choosing a NetAppcertified partner will also ensure that no third-party tools are required as part of the replication process eliminating a significant source of cost and risk.
Take the Next Step: Find out more about EVault hybrid cloud solutions, from Seagate, by calling us at 1.877.901.DATA (3282), emailing us at concierge@evault.com, or visiting us at www.evault.com Conclusion: Sunsetting the Second Site DR Model For NetApp environments, cloud DR can be significantly more cost-effective and just as reliable as DIY options. IT leaders can successfully join the migration away from DIY disaster recovery when they ask the right questions about a cloud DR provider s NetApp capabilities. It s an attractive sunsetting strategy for expensive colocation contracts, costly hardware upgrades and unnecessary second sites. According to Forrester Research, more than 40 percent of enterprises are either using cloud DR today or have plans to do so in the near future. These firms are aware of the cost, reliability and performance benefits of cloud DR compared to legacy DIY approaches, as well as the benefits of the OpEx-based cloud DR business model. About Seagate Cloud Systems and Solutions Seagate is a world leader in storage solutions. Our new Cloud Systems and Solutions strategy brings innovation and an open approach to Intelligent Information Infrastructure to help all organizations manage their next-generation workloads with scale, performance, and cost aligned to business needs. Our portfolio includes integrated high-performance computing solutions; do-it-yourself components and engineered solutions; custom, modularized systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs); and the EVault line of cloud backup and restore, disaster recovery, and rapid archive services. www.seagate.com 2014 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Seagate, Seagate Technology, and the Wave logo are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. EVault and cloud-connected are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.