Introducing Google Cloud Backup and DR

By Jaswant Chajed, product manager, Google Cloud, and

Jerome McFarland, product manager, Google Cloud

Backup is a fundamental aspect of application protection. As such, the need for an integrated, centralized backup service is vital when seeking to ensure resilience and recoverability for data generated by Google Cloud services or on-premises infrastructure.

Regardless of whether the need to restore data is triggered by a user error, malicious activity, or some other reason, the ability to execute reliable, fast recovery from backups is a critical aspect of a resilient infrastructure.

A backup capability should have the following characteristics:

1) centralized backup management across workloads,

2) efficient use of storage to minimize costs, and

3) minimal recovery times.

To effectively address these requirements backup service providers must deliver efficiency at the workload level, while also supporting a diverse spectrum of customer environments, applications, and use cases. Consequently, the implementation of an effective, user-friendly backup experience is no small feat.

And that’s why, the company announces the availability of Cloud Backup and DR, enabling centralized backup management directly from the Google Cloud console.

Helping you maximize backup value
At Google Cloud, we have an opportunity to solve backup challenges in ways that maximize the value you achieve. By building a product with our customers in mind, we’ve made sure that Cloud Backup and DR makes it easy to set up, manage, and restore backups.

As an example, we placed a high priority on delivering an intuitive, centralized backup management experience. With Cloud Backup and DR, administrators can effectively manage backups spanning multiple workloads. Admins can generate application- and crash-consistent backups for VMs on Compute Engine, VMware Engine or on-premises VMware, databases (such as SAP, MySQL and SQL Server), and file systems. Having a holistic view of your backups across multiple workloads means you spend less time on management and can be sure you have consistency and completeness in your data protection coverage.

Google Cloud Backup and DR dashboard
Click to enlarge

Even better, Cloud Backup and DR stores backup data in its original, application-readable format. As a result, backup data for many workloads can be made available directly from long-term backup storage (e.g., leveraging cost-effective cloud storage), with no need for time-consuming data movement or translation. This accelerates recovery of critical files and supports rapid resumption of critical business operations.

Making sure you minimize backup TCO
Similarly, we also took care to help minimize TCO of backups. With this objective in mind, we designed Cloud Backup and DR to implement space-efficient ‘incremental forever’ storage technology to ensure that you pay only for what you need. With ‘incremental forever’ backup, after Cloud Backup and DR takes an initial backup, subsequent backups only store data associated with changes relative to the prior backup. This allows backups to be captured more quickly and reduces the network bandwidth required to transmit the associated data. It also minimizes the amount of storage consumed by the backups, which benefits you via reduced storage consumption costs.

In addition, there is flexibility built in to allow you to strike your desired balance between storage cost and data retention time. For example, when choosing to store backups on Google Cloud Storage, you can select an appropriate Cloud Storage class in alignment with your needs.

Start reaping benefits
The introduction of Cloud Backup and DR is a reflection of our broader commitment to make cloud infrastructure easier to manage, faster, and less expensive, while also helping you build a more resilient business. By centralizing backup administration and applying cutting-edge storage and data management technologies, we’ve eliminated much of the complexity, time, and cost traditionally associated with enterprise data protection.

But don’t take our word for it. See for yourself in Google Cloud Console. Take advantage of $300 in free Google Cloud credits, give Cloud Backup and DR a try starting in late September 2022, and enjoy the benefits of cloud-integrated backup and recovery.