[DR] DRaaS: How Does It Work?

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

This series of articles elaborates on Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). It starts with an overview of how DRaaS works. The following article compares DRaaS with its traditional DR counterparts and introduces its Key features and benefits. It is followed by identifying the three main DRaaS Models. Finally, it concludes by exploring the considerations before Choosing a DRaaS provider.

How Does DRaaS Work?

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) replicates and hosts an organisation’s critical data, applications, and IT infrastructure on a third-party cloud platform to enable rapid recovery during a disruption.

The process begins with setting up data replication, which can be continuous or scheduled at specific intervals, depending on the organisation’s needs.

This replication ensures that up-to-date copies of essential systems and information are securely stored in the provider’s cloud environment, ready to be activated if a disaster occurs.

In an outage, the DRaaS provider initiates a failover, switching operations from the primary site to the backup environment in the cloud.

This transition allows business operations to continue with minimal downtime and data loss, providing seamless access to critical applications and services.

During this period, users interact with the cloud-based systems as if running from the original infrastructure. This quick activation of the cloud environment is a crucial advantage of DRaaS, helping organisations maintain business continuity during various disruptions.

Once the primary site is restored, a failback process begins, during which data and applications are synchronised back from the cloud to the original infrastructure. This process ensures that the primary environment is updated with all changes made during the disaster.

The organisation then resumes its normal operations from the primary systems, concluding the recovery process. This comprehensive approach—spanning replication, failover, and failback—makes DRaaS an essential solution for businesses seeking robust and flexible disaster recovery options.

Breakdown of How DRaaS Works

DRaaS replicates and hosts an organisation’s critical systems, applications, and data on a third-party cloud platform. This enables rapid restoration and recovery in an outage, cyberattack, or other disaster scenarios.

Here is a step-by-step breakdown of how DRaaS typically works:

System and Data Replication

• DRaaS begins by setting up a replication process to copy an organisation's critical data, applications, and server images to the cloud provider’s infrastructure.
  
  
• Replication can be:
  
  • Continuous. 5Ongoing synchronisation of changes, ensuring data and systems are always up-to-date.
  • Periodic. Scheduled backups at intervals (e.g., daily or weekly).
    
    
• Depending on the configuration, this replication can be performed at the level of files, virtual machines (VMs), or entire servers.

Data Storage in the Cloud

• Once the initial replication is completed, the data is stored in a secure cloud environment.
  
  
• Cloud providers use geographically diverse data centres to ensure redundancy and protection against regional disasters.
  
  
• Data is often compressed and encrypted during storage and transmission to ensure security and compliance.

Automated Failover Process

• Failover is the automatic or manual operations switching from the primary environment to the backup environment when a disruption occurs.
  
  
• When a disaster (e.g., hardware failure, cyberattack, or natural disaster) impacts the primary site, the DRaaS provider initiates a failover to activate the replicated systems in the cloud.
  
  
• Applications and services continue to run from the cloud with minimal disruption, maintaining business operations.

Access and Recovery

• Users can access the cloud-based backup environment during failover, just like the primary systems.
  
  
• The DRaaS solution often includes web-based management portals that allow IT administrators to oversee and control the recovery process.
  
  
• If a full-site disaster occurs, the service provider can spin up virtual versions of affected servers and data in the cloud, providing a temporary operational environment.

Failback to Primary Systems

• After the disaster is resolved and the primary environment is back online, DRaaS initiates a failback process.
  
  
• During failback, data and applications in the cloud are synchronised back to the on-premises environment.
  
  
• Once the primary site is restored, systems are switched back from the DRaaS environment to the original setup.

Testing and Monitoring

• DRaaS includes regular testing to ensure the recovery plan works and can be executed effectively.
  
  
• Continuous monitoring ensures that the replicated systems are up-to-date and that any discrepancies or errors in the replication process are detected and addressed promptly.

Summary of How DRaaS Works

• Initial Replication. Data, applications, and server images are copied from the primary environment to the cloud.

• Ongoing Sync. Real-time or scheduled synchronisation of changes.

• Disaster Occurs. The primary site becomes unavailable.

• Failover Initiated. The DRaaS provider activates the backup environment in the cloud.

• Business Operations Run from the Cloud. Users access critical systems and applications hosted on the cloud.
  
  
• Failback. After the disaster is resolved, systems and data are restored to the primary environment.

This process provides businesses with a comprehensive solution to ensure high availability, data integrity, and continuity of operations, regardless of the nature or scale of the disruption.

Summing Up …

DRaaS provides businesses with a powerful, cloud-based solution to protect critical systems and data during a disaster.

By replicating data and applications to the cloud, DRaaS ensures that businesses can quickly initiate failover to a backup environment during disruptions like hardware failures, cyberattacks, or natural disasters.

This rapid activation of cloud-based systems minimises downtime, allowing users to continue accessing vital applications and data without significant interruption.

Once the primary infrastructure is restored, DRaaS facilitates a seamless failback process, synchronising the data to the original environment. This ensures businesses can resume normal operations with all their systems and data intact.

By offering a streamlined and automated approach to disaster recovery, DRaaS enhances business continuity, security, and operational resilience, making it an essential part of modern disaster recovery strategies.