5 Tips For Overcoming Virtual Backup Challenges

By Nancy Hurley, president & CEO, Bocada, Inc.

Despite advances in backup and data protection technologies, the proliferation of virtual machines means that there is an increased need to align the business and IT requirements of data protection to achieve optimal efficiency, minimize risk, and increase satisfaction to both users and the organization. I would offer the following five tips to organizations looking to overcome the challenges of data protection in virtualized environments.

1. Planning And Internal Communication Is Needed To Ensure VM Protection

As the ratio of VMs to host machines grows, the challenges of backup and recoverability in virtualized environments are only going to increase in scale. To prepare for growth, organizations that are adopting virtualization need to map out their backup and recovery needs of those virtual machines. Whether the backup responsibilities fall on the same group that manages the virtual environment or the roles are separate, a protection strategy needs to be put into place so that no data is overlooked. Consistent communication is key, as new VMs can be deployed without the involvement of the backup admin.