The purpose of backup and replication is to prevent catastrophic data loss from unforeseen events such as natural disasters, underlying hardware failures, or malicious software. Therefore, a fully formed data backup strategy is essential.
The first and most important aspect of securing and preserving your data is deciding what disaster recovery setup is necessary. Do you know the difference between backup and replication?
This article examines the distinctions between backup and replication.
Difference Between Backup and Replication
An overview of the differences between backup and replication shows why they are complementary options rather than opposite.
What is Data Backup ?
Other than utilizing dependable hardware, data backup is one of the main tools for data recovery. Contemporary backup systems typically preserve the state of an entire system and do so regularly. This saved copy can then be securely stored offsite and used to restore the original data in the event of primary location malfunctions. By reverting to the most recent copy, you can salvage valuable information that would otherwise be lost irreversibly.
Data backup is a favored option for industries in need of maintaining dependable long-term records for large static data sets. There are various types of data backup, dependent on the amount of data to store and the available resources.
Backing up an entire system can consume substantial resources, and it is not conducted continuously. Therefore, the most recent backup may be several hours or even several days old.While some businesses may find losing a small amount of data acceptable, users now expect complete data consistency and high availability.
The length of time required to retrieve and deploy the latest version is a significant hindrance. Your system would be inaccessible to users until the copy is recovered and deployed.Some of these vulnerabilities can be strengthened through Data Replication.
What is Data Replication ?
Data replication refers to the technologies and processes used to copy, synchronize, and distribute data across a network of servers and data centers. By creating multiple replicas, data access is minimally impacted during a disaster.The system remains highly available, and recovery typically takes only a few minutes.Data replication addresses many of the limitations posed by data backup.
So why do companies continue to use both? Replicas are frequently updated, which means they rapidly lose their historical state.If you exclusively rely on data replication, you would require an enormous parallel system to sustain the replicated data, particularly if you need to maintain long-term records.
Data replication can be severely hindered by malware. As data is copied throughout an entire system, malware can also be copied.Without adequate backup, it may be impossible to return to a state without malicious software.
That’s why most service providers offer both backup and replication solutions to ensure long-term consistency and high availability.
Note: To learn more about backups, compare them to disaster recovery in our article Backup vs. Disaster Recovery. Also, read our Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) Guide to understand how these models can work together.
You now understand the fundamental aspects of Backup and Replication in-depth.
Gather comprehensive and unbiased information about Data Recovery to prepare for emergencies and save time and effort in the future.
