Cloud Computing, 2nd Edition

Ensure System Backups

Chapter 6, “Data Storage in the Cloud,” discusses cloud-based backups in detail. As a manager, you should consider different forms of backups. First, your company may backup user files from on-premise computers to disks that reside within the cloud. You should hope you will never require these backups, but that said, you should periodically audit the backups, perhaps by ensuring you can successfully restore a set of different users’ files.

Second, if the cloud provider stores data for your company, you need to understand the provider’s backup process (and include it within the SLA). Again, for governance purposes, you should know whether or not the data is encrypted, which employees have access to the data, and whether ...