Data Backup Digest

With Amazon's AWS amongst the frontrunners in cloud computing throughout 2018, it should come as no surprise that they're expanding their presence in 2019. In fact, they've already started with their first product of the New Year – AWS Backup.

Adding Strength to the Backup Functionality of AWS

As the name implies, AWS Backup is focused on data backup and recovery within the AWS platform. Current users of AWS might note that the system already includes backup and recovery functionality among its current features – but AWS Backup takes it one step further.

It achieves this in several ways. For starters, AWS backup centralizes data from all the possible sources an enterprise might be using – including internal and external databases, block- or object-based storage, file systems, and more. Not only does this replace the custom user scripts that were annoying and cumbersome, but it makes the whole system much more efficient in general.

Bill Vass, vice president of storage, automation and management services with AWS, spoke about the new service in a recent blog post by saying: "Today, we are proud to make AWS Backup available with support for block storage volumes, databases, and file systems, and over time, we plan to support additional AWS services."

He went on to say that AWS Backup was designed for "two distinct types of builders." This includes tinkerers – those who want full control over the systems and processes within – and those who want results that are quicker and more efficient.

According to this statement, AWS Backup was designed for "This second type of builder who has told us that they want one place to go for backups versus having to do it across multiple, individual services."

The team with AWS touts three primary benefits associated with AWS Backup, including:

Centralized management of backups: A central backup console lets users configure policies as needed.

Fully automated backup processes: AWS supports automated backup scheduling, retention management, and data lifecycle management. Individual backup policies are easily applied simply by tagging the appropriate resources within AWS.

Greater backup compliance: With full support for backup encryption and auditing, all from the central command console, AWS makes it easier to maintain security and compliance in the 21st century.

While future updates and upgrades are expected, AWS Backup is only integrated with a few services on the AWS platform at the time of this writing, including Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Storage Gateway, Amazon Elastic File System, Amazon Elastic Block Store and Amazon Relational Database Service.

AWS Backup can be applied in many different instances and scenarios, but the team at Amazon touts cloud-native backup operations, hybrid backups and on-premises backups amongst its primary usage. Service pricing is determined on a per-customer basis and is calculated according to region and total storage space usage.

For more information on AWS Backup or any of its features, or to get started using AWS and AWS Backup today, please visit their official website at aws.amazon.com/backup.