How to Protect Your Virtual Environment from Data Loss?
More than ten years have passed since the use of virtual environments (VM:Virtual Machine). According to a research by global research firm Gartner, companies subject to the research state that they use virtualization applications at 75% or higher rates, which proves that the virtualization market has moved from niche to mainstream. While virtualization has positive aspects, the risk of data loss is still a potential disadvantage. In this blog, I will try to inform you about how your organization can protect its virtual environments from data loss.
Due to the development of hypervisors over the years, a large part of modern IT systems are now virtualized. Modern hypervisors have reduced the complexity of physical server creation and maintenance and allowed better server utilization while increasing IT flexibility and businesses' ability to respond to needs.
However, whether you use VMware, Hyper-V, Citrix, Oracle, or one of the other hypervisors, the possibility of data loss will never drop to zero. I will give you five essential tips on how to protect your files to prevent unnecessary data loss in virtual environments:
1. Use the right backup software for your virtual environment (VM)
There are various backup software solutions on the market. Some can be used with both VMware and HyperV solutions. The key factor to consider when choosing your backup software is how much time is needed to recover virtual machines (VMs) from backup and VM templates. Also, good backup solutions for VMs can mount the backup while files are being restored to the main system.
2. Snapshot is not a backup
Always create backups if you want to make sure everything can be recovered in case of a failure. If your changes are very important and you don't want to lose data, create snapshots; this will cover the time frame between the last and next backup. If you are using snapshots, do not try to create snapshots built on top of each other, as they not only reduce performance but also make them more prone to errors.
3. Don't save backups and running VMs to the same storage space
If you save your backups to the same hard disk or storage space as your active VMs, you face the risk of losing all your data. If a backup fails and a VM is active, the backup will likely be overwritten. To prevent this from happening, always store your backup virtual machines and active virtual machines in different locations. Making multiple backups and storing them in the cloud or on a backup tape or a different local server or a different hard disk is the best method. Having two additional backups will protect you in case of data loss.
4. Don't try to mix virtualization solutions
Using several virtualization solutions in the same environment can increase the risk of data loss. For example, if a VMware system on a SAN is extended to a second SAN used by HyperV, the second SAN is highly likely to be exposed to serious data loss. This data loss occurs due to the different layers that virtualization tools create when they are connected or extended. Therefore, it is better to keep your virtualization simple and stick to a single solution in a specific environment. Adding too many layers of complexity can be very risky and may waste the necessary data recovery time or may not be possible at all!
5. Think and plan before using VMs
Always keep in mind that virtualization and virtual machines are not error-free and have the possibility of failure, just like other storage options. Therefore, before creating a virtual environment for sensitive applications, think about what is most suitable for your organization's needs. For example, some applications have a high input/output (I/O) speed and are therefore more suitable for physical server environments.
Most of today's virtual platforms have data protection and recovery mechanisms, but it would be wiser not to trust them. They may claim to protect you from data loss, but they do not replace a well-planned backup strategy.
In conclusion;
Even if you apply the five essential tips above, there is still a chance that your virtual machines may experience data loss. Therefore, it is important that your IT department is fully aware of the inputs and outputs of your systems and has a specific plan on how to respond in case of a problem.
Every organization should have a data recovery expert consultant they can trust; downtime and data loss can be extremely costly for an organization, so ensuring that an expert is ready to help is very important to ensure valuable data is recovered.
Do not hesitate to consult Tekniknokta Data Recovery experts for data loss problems you experience in virtual machines and all other environments.