Today much if not all of our information is in the cloud, which allows us to access it no matter where we are (as long as we can access the internet). In the next post we will explain what is cloud backup, a form of data backup in which files and folders are copied to a remote server.
This type of cloud backup, allows on the one hand to have all our data on premise backed up in the cloud, and even the information that is already in the cloud to have it protected with a copy. And on the other, it manages to modify versions of our data, restore previous versions of a server or simply back up documents, files or data.
1. How do cloud backups work?
Currently, the vast majority of people, even if they do not know it, have hired one or more cloud services. Whether streaming like Netflix to watch movies and series, or Spotify to listen to music. But in addition to this, if you have an Android cell phone, you also have an app called Google Photos, which makes a copy of the images we have on our device to the cloud. This means that without configuring practically anything we are doing a backup of our photos to the cloud.
But how does it work? Whether we mean personal backups like the ones we mentioned, or a business copy system with sensitive information from an organization, both have basic points in common. First of all, they require user authentication for any action, be it to access, upload new content, view the one that is already stored, delete it or modify it.
On the other hand, youWe also have the type of file on which we make backup copies. In the case of Google photos we can only store images and videos, in the case of Google drive we can make a copy of our stored data no matter what type of file it is. Depending on the need is the type of backup that we will choose in the cloud, also contemplating the benefits that it offers us and the costs that it implies.
2. Benefits of back up in the cloud
With the above mentioned, comes a question that many ask themselves: Why have the information backup in the cloud and not locally?. Either on a PC, a local server or a NAS (a network attached storage device).
First, the cost of having a local backup is high. It is important to take into account the energy consumed by having it active 24 hours, the hardware that is required, maintenance and possible repairs or replacement in case of irreparable damage.
Second, if you want to have a really safe backup It must be taken into account that it is not just storing it on a disk, but having redundancy, this means that if a storage space breaks, we have another one that makes backup of the backup.
Finally, one of the big cons is the internet instability. Any drop, microcut or drop in speed will directly affect our ability to access the information we have.
Depending on the service that we contract, the cost will be in relation to a defined storage space or by consumption, this means that we pay for what we consume. AlreadyIn addition, we will not have to deal with possible incidents in the hardware, connection problems or system maintenance.
3. Why is cloud back-up important?
One of the keys to why it is important to cloud backup has to do with the difference between backup on premise and backup in the cloud.
In this sense, the high availability, the reduction in maintenance inconveniences and costs makes cloud backup a clear winner. This is, among other reasons, because it gives us the possibility of accessing from anywhere with high availability, and without the need to be aware of the Internet connection. Although there are specific cases in which the opposite is needed (which we can also configure), most of the time it is necessary to be able to do a rollback or a backup control by way of quick and easy and this the cloud allows us automatically.
About companies, have a backup not only of the information but of the servers, it is of the utmost importance. They can't afford to lose the images of their machines, with the configurations they have made since reassembling this can take days or weeks, not counting the costs and the impact it would have on its own customers.
And it is also important for the security factor, since clouds like that of Google give us a strong backing layer that protects the information against possible attacks.
4. Cloud backups and protection levels
In terms of protection and securityGoogle takes the service it provides very seriously..
One of the highlights is the more than 6000 types of accesses to Google Cloud Platform Console (GCP), with predefined and custom roles, separated by tools and scopes. And the possibility of generating user groups on which to configure access to all members.
On the other hand, depending on the type of information that we back up and the tool that we use, we can generate specific access configurations. In the case of cloud-storage we can generate a URL for a specific file and share it with specific people or publicly, and thus generate an expiration so that they can only access it for a certain time.
In the case of databases, we have for example BigQuery, where we can build sub-tables and give access to 3rd parties as viewers, thus allowing us to filter what information we share with you, and even give them time slots to which they can access.
In conclusion, all the information we have stored on GCP will be backed by Google security, except for the management of permissions and the sharing of backups, which will be our responsibility. As long as we carry out this process conscientiously, we will hardly have security failures.
5. How to hire a Cloud back-up service?
The backup services in Google Cloud they can be hired quickly thanks to the GCP interface. Once we have access to the Google Cloud console and we activate billing, we can activate the relevant APIs.
In the case of Virtual machines we can manage snapshots automatically at the time intervals we want. This is ideal to not only have the copy, but also to update them constantly.
On the other hand we can have information backup in the module cloud-storage, where all the files we need will be stored.
In this way, there is a great variety of configurations that we can set. Since share files via URL, the management of access to the different “buckets” where we store the information, we can even configure how often we access the stored files (the more distant the times are, the cheaper it will be), until the backup automation from a server on premise or from another cloud.
We can also manage database backups, either in a Data Warehouse, SQL or Postgres, and for this we can use solutions such as BigQuery or Cloud SQL among others. Again all this can be automated, loading new information at the time intervals we want.
