Cloud Hosting

Data stored in the cloud may feel safe. But as GitLab users learned the hard way last week, data loss can occur even on well managed public cloud platforms. Here's a look at five examples of cloud data failures on major public clouds.

Cloud data feels safe because professionally managed cloud hosting platforms tend to be more reliable than on-premise infrastructure. Cloud vendors are probably larger and have more resources than your company does. They have sophisticated backup strategies and disaster-recovery processes in place.

For these reasons, it's easy to assume that data you consign to the cloud -- or at least to a part of the cloud that is managed by a major cloud-hosting company -- is safe from permanent data loss.

But even the best-managed cloud data host plans often -- or at least sometimes -- go awry.

Consider the following instances where data loss occurred on major cloud platforms:

What does this all mean for the channel -- and for you? It's simple: No data stored in the cloud (or in any other single location, for that matter) is ever totally safe. That creates an opportunity for companies that can provide back-up and disaster-recovery services to complement those that come with public cloud hosting plans.

And for individuals, incidents like those described above are a reminder that you should still do your own backups. (Yes, I'm writing from a position of hypocrisy here.) Don't rely on the cloud alone.

Read the original:
GitLab's Not Alone: AWS, Google and Other Clouds Can Lose Data, Too - The VAR Guy