The Pros and Cons of Backup vs. Replication

October 8, 2020

More businesses now operate online, so servers need to stay up at all times. Most companies run online platforms 24×7, so customers can transact at any hour. If the platform goes offline because of a server issue, even briefly, revenue can take a real hit. That is why business services and transactions need constant access to data. When you plan for that, the backup vs replication question comes up fast.

Server downtime and failure are almost inevitable, so what can you do to keep your platforms running? Businesses have relied on backup and recovery solutions for years to prevent data loss and keep operations running. A similar solution in your own environment can limit revenue loss during downtime. It can even save your business.

With that said, choosing backup and recovery options is one of the most important data decisions a business makes. Businesses can protect their data in several ways, but the main choice is backup vs replication.

Backup vs Replication: The Pros and Cons of Backups

“Backup” means making an extra copy of your business data. If something happens to the original, you can restore the copy. When corruption, user error, or hardware failure damages your data, a backup lets you restore an earlier version.

Pros of Backups

Backups offer advantages in cost, tools, and automation. Backups of data are usually at a lower cost to businesses since you only pay for what you use. This solution doesn’t call for significant staff or infrastructure investment, and it is simple to implement. Because of this benefit, this makes backups an ideal choice for businesses with low data volume.

Backups also come with web interface tools, so users can access and restore data easily when needed. You can automate the process, so modern backup systems save the state of the entire system at regular intervals. Backups usually run on a schedule, so you don’t have to worry about whether they finished. They also stay well isolated from threats because the infrastructure relies mainly on hardware and sits inside the facility.

Backups are ideal for long-term data storage and compliance-related requirements. Because backups typically stay in storage for a long time, you can archive data and build a history for audits. Many industries require reliable long-term records, and data backup makes that easy. You can typically use it to store data for everything in your enterprise, from desktops to production servers.

Cons of Backups

The cons of using backups are almost all centered around the speed of the process. Backups typically run once a day, at night, so the most recent copy could be hours or days old. Some businesses can accept losing a little data, but others need full consistency and high availability.

Since backups rely on your connection speed, backups and restorations can take a long time to perform. The process runs infrequently because it taxes the server’s resources. This type of technology can affect the performance of other systems that use the same resources.

Backup is an affordable way to prevent data loss, but it doesn’t keep your operations running. If downtime occurs, you still don’t have a way to avoid it; you avoid losing data during the server failure.

Also, you have to restore manually with this method, which can be tedious and requires supervision. Backups and restores take time, so they are rarely the best option for businesses with large data volumes.

Backup vs Replication: The Pros and Cons of Replication

Replication copies your business data from one storage system to another, so you can recover quickly after a disaster. You can replicate data in two main ways: synchronous and asynchronous replication. With this solution, you design the system around a worst-case scenario to support full-scale disaster recovery.

With synchronous replication, the copy updates the moment you save data on the primary system. That leaves no gap between saving and updating the redundancy.

With asynchronous replication, your data lands on primary storage first. A slight delay follows before it copies to your backup. This form of replication also uses snapshots, which are point in time saves of your data. They let you restore your company data to a specific moment before a disaster or system malfunction.

Pros of Replication

Replication keeps your applications and processes available, even after an outage or server failure. The replication system mirrors server data to another server, and it happens much faster than a backup.

Many businesses with large volumes of data can’t afford downtime or data loss. For them, a second infrastructure that can take over the load during a disaster is critical. The replica system keeps your business running and ready to recover.

Unlike backup, replication uses Continuous Data Protection (CDP). CDP offers very precise recovery points. While a backup system can leave hours or even days between recovery points, replication separates them by mere seconds.

While synchronous and asynchronous replication methods both have their own pros and cons, we will focus on their combined ones. The main pros of replication are little to no downtime or data loss after a disaster. This makes it the leading contender when choosing disaster recovery options for your business. Replication also uses less disk space overall because of its snapshot system. Snapshots essentially create “summaries” of your data and only record files that changed since the last backup.

Cons of Replication

The main cons of replication are higher costs for the needed equipment and software. Building a second infrastructure to support the primary one in a disaster is not cheap. Many businesses don’t have the capital to back up such a high investment.

Backup typically covers everything in the enterprise and keeps data for a long time. Replication, however, targets the applications that must run 24×7. You might not have the same detailed records and history you would typically have with a backup system.

Another con is that malware can spread to replicated data, so replication can be less secure than backup. Some companies combine both solutions in order to revert to a state free of malicious software. To maintain long-term consistency, you are more likely to use both backup and replication for high availability.

Building A Plan That Works:

Each business has its own idea of which backup or replication plan will work for them and its data needs. In the backup vs replication debate, each approach gives your business unique tools for storage and recovery. Keep in mind that what works for one business may not work for another. To decide how to move forward, identify your backup and recovery goals. Then compare backup vs replication and combine both to build a plan. This solution gives you backups to restore as needed throughout the day. It also gives you confidence that if disaster strikes, your business will recover immediately so work can continue.

With Volico as your partner, you can build one of the most reliable backup solutions for your company’s needs. If you partner with Volico, your IT infrastructure sits in a secure facility. The facility offers some of the most advanced backup and recovery solutions to keep your business running.