These days, most businesses, especially modern ones, expand their need for storage as their data usage, capabilities, and data sources continuously increase. One of the best ways to do this effectively is through the cloud.
Cloud-based storage provides a convenient, efficient, and effective way to be in control of your data storage needs. However, managing data through the cloud can be difficult because of unique security, performance issues, and cost.
- Performance Issues: In some cases, cloud data management is slower than in-house or on-premises storage solutions because it relies on a strong internet connection.
- Cost: How you manage your data through the data cloud may have serious implications for your billing. Not optimizing the cloud may cost your company thousands of dollars.
- Security: Data in the cloud is vulnerable to hacking and breaches because it’s connected to the internet. In this case, you may consult IT services that offer cloud data protection to ensure the security of your system at all times.
These are the challenges businesses often associate with cloud data management. Hence, here are some of the best practices that may help you address all of these and have effective data management through the cloud.
Backup Your Data
Even though today’s technology is highly advanced and sophisticated, the possibility of technical issues always exists. This is why it’s extremely crucial for all businesses to ensure that their data, particularly critical information, is backed up. If such data are lost in the process, your operation might be hindered, leading to financial loss and unsatisfied customers.
These days, most solutions enable you to save your database in multiple versions, which gives you the power to recover data whenever necessary. This will give you peace that your data will never be lost in case of cyberattacks, unintentional deletion, or system errors. With backups, you don’t have to worry about any crucial information being lost during the operation.
If you’re looking for someone to help you back up your data, visit Rubrik or any other data security experts in your area. With their professional help, you can be sure that your data will be backed up in the best way possible.
Encrypt Your Data
Encryption is the process of converting information into undecipherable codes. This discourages hackers from trying to access your data stored in the cloud. Because this process converts your information (plaintext) into ciphertext, it’ll be much more difficult for hackers to understand what they’re accessing.
Only those knowledgeable about advanced hacking skills might be able to read through the codes and access your database. Encrypting your data is one of the most effective ways to add another layer of security to your storage. With this, you can have peace of mind that your information will be safe from cyberattacks and threats.
Transfer Your Data To Different Tiers
One of the best ways to maximize the cost and performance of your cloud-based storage is to make use of data tiers. Many cloud-based storage services provide different tiers—classes to some cloud providers.
Higher storage tiers can cost you a lot, but they’ll allow you to access your data instantly. Lower storage tiers are the less-expensive solution, but it might take you a couple of minutes to an hour to access your data. Since data doesn’t demand frequent or instantaneous access, then it can be stored in lower-cost tiers.
Automate Cloud Data Management Tasks
There are tons of cloud data management tasks that can be automated. These include data monitoring, software integration, testing, reporting, and many more. By automating these simple processes, you’ll be able to free up some time for your IT teams to concentrate on other, more important tasks and innovations. Also, automation will help you reduce the burden on your team, repetitive human errors, and unwanted costs.
Don’t Upload Confidential Data
Of course, the primary purpose of using the cloud is to access all your data in a single, centralized location. However, you want to ensure it is organized ahead of time, excluding all your personal and confidential data from a potential breach. Also, make sure that all documents are free from password and login credentials to lower the chances of possible hacking.
Use Cloud Object Storage
Many organizations use object storage services, such as Azure Blob Storage or AWS S3, to store data in the cloud. These solutions enable you to upload multiple versions and forms of data and retrieve it anytime, anywhere necessary. They don’t require you to structure your data or configure your database, saving you significant time and effort.
However, cloud object storage services usually require additional payment to process your data. For example, if you want to create a list of everything inside your storage or copy a certain document, you’ll need to make payments to grant each request.
But the good news is that additional processing fees are just a fraction of a penny. It’s so small to the point that it’s negligible. However, they can add up to your dues if you’re frequently making changes to your object storage data.
If these additional costs seem burdensome, you may consider trying other cloud storage services. These include cloud databases and block storage, which don’t require extra processing fees for every request. However, this also means you’ll be forgoing the benefits cloud object storage offers.
Build An Anti-Egress Cloud Architecture
Data egress is how data moves out of your cloud environment. It’s also a factor that correlates with cost and performance.
Higher cloud service fees are often associated with higher egress. This is because you’ll be charged based on the number of gigabytes that exit your cloud storage. Also, higher egress often leads to unqualified performance because data will need more time to leave your cloud storage.
To address this issue, you’ll need to prioritize data egress mitigation when building your cloud architecture. Don’t treat egress as if they are inevitable. Instead, always look for ways to manage data without causing problems to the applications or end-users.
Final Words
Cloud data management is a crucial step that contributes to the success of your business and organization. Therefore, it’s extremely important to execute it in the best way possible. In this way, you’ll be able to use your resources wisely and effectively. Above are some of the best practices that may help you achieve proper cloud data management.
