What is Cloud Disaster Recovery (CDR)?

Your server goes down. Your network won’t work. Or worse…your office suffers a fire, flood, or other natural or man-made catastrophe. Whatever the case, you need to have a disaster recovery plan ready to protect your data as well as your overall business. Cloud Disaster Recovery can be part of that plan.

Often shortened to DR, disaster recovery is a plan put into place if a disaster hits. Cloud DR refers to that component in your disaster recovery plan which involves the use of a cloud environment.

The Cloud Component

The cloud component of a disaster recovery plan can involve various strategies that use a cloud environment.

Online or Cloud Backup: Using an online backup system lets you store copies of your data in an offsite data storage environment at regular intervals. Choose which workstations and servers you want protected, perform an initial data load, and then use only incremental backups to keep your data current and secure.
Disaster Recovery Failover: Disaster recovery failover provides a cloud-based environment that is a complete rebuild of your infrastructure. It sits ready if you should lose access to your primary IT infrastructure.

Benefits of Cloud DR

Using a cloud environment in your disaster recovery plan comes with a number of critical benefits:

Speed, with instant restore capabilities
Security, with an off-site, protected environment
Scalability, with the ability to grow your cloud solution right along with your business
Compatibility, with the ability to work with a number of different servers and systems

Another benefit of cloud DR is the overall low cost, especially when compared to other DR strategies. Cloud DR can be used in combination with other techniques to fully fortify your company and keep your data safe.