Word of the Day: disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS)

Word of the Day Daily updates on the latest technology terms |June 7, 2017

disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is the replication and hosting of physical or virtual servers by a third party to provide failover in the event of a man-made or natural catastrophe. Typically, DRaaS requirements and expectations are documented in a service-level agreement (SLA) and the third-party vendor provides failover to a cloud computing environment, either through a contract or on a pay-per-use basis. In the event of an actual disaster, an off-site vendor is less likely than the enterprise itself to suffer the direct and immediate effects, which allows the provider to implement the disaster recovery plan even in the event of the worst-case scenario: a total or near-total shutdown of the affected enterprise. With disaster recovery as a service, the time to return applications to production is reduced because data does not need to be restored over the internet. DRaaS can be especially useful for small and medium-sized businesses that lack the necessary expertise to provision, configure and test an effective disaster recovery plan. Using DRaaS also means the organization doesn't have to invest in -- and maintain -- its own off-site DR environment. The biggest disadvantage to DRaaS is that the business must trust its service provider to implement the plan in the event of a disaster and meet the defined recovery time and recovery point objectives. Additional drawbacks include possible performance issues with applications running in the cloud and potential migration issues when returning applications to a customer's on-premises data center. Quote of the Day "Generally, full-service DRaaS works well for SMBs. A software-only approach, with customers renting cloud space, is more economical for larger enterprises." - Jim O'Reilly   Trending Terms replication disaster recovery plan backup as a service recovery time objective recovery point objective   Learning Center Beware of hidden gotchas in DR-as-a-service options The DR-as-a-service market is so competitive, and the available options so varied, that it can be tough for IT decision makers to make a selection. A guide to a better cloud disaster recovery plan A cloud disaster recovery plan allows organizations to cope with service interruptions while staying within their modest DR budgets. Match disaster recovery as a service providers to business needs When analyzing disaster recovery as a service providers, you should break your environment into multiple recovery groups to promote better performance. Using a DRaaS provider could bring unexpected costs Putting your data in the hands of a DRaaS provider is an appealing option, but it also comes with its own risks and costs. Disaster recovery methods: Legacy DR vs. the cloud Disaster recovery methods vary dramatically. Legacy DR may not cut it anymore. Following a TCO review, a shift to DRaaS could be in order. Writing for Business The point of disaster recovery is the same for both large enterprises and _________ need to stay in business. a. SMBs: They b. SMBs; they Answer       Stay In Touch For feedback about any of our definitions or to suggest a new definition, please contact me at: mrouse@techtarget.com   Visit the Word of the Day Archives and catch up on what you've missed!   FOLLOW US About This E-Newsletter This e-newsletter is published by the TechTarget network. To unsubscribe from Whatis.com, click here. Please note, this will not affect any other subscriptions you have signed up for. TechTarget, Whatis, 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466. Contact: webmaster@techtarget.com Copyright 2016 TechTarget. All rights reserved.