An Evaluation of Disaster Recovery on Cloud Computing Platforms

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of disaster recovery mechanisms within cloud computing environments. It begins with an introduction to disaster recovery and its importance for business continuity, followed by a review of existing literature on the topic. The report then delves into the advantages and concerns associated with cloud-based disaster recovery, including data security, cost-effectiveness, and implementation complexities. A qualitative data analysis is presented, examining the disaster recovery strategies and their relevance for New Zealand businesses. The research addresses key questions regarding disaster recovery mechanisms, cloud computing applications, and the benefits for business units. The study concludes with recommendations for businesses considering cloud-based disaster recovery solutions, emphasizing the need for robust planning and data protection measures to ensure operational resilience in the face of potential disruptions.

Running head: DISASTER RECOVERY ON CLOUD COMPUTING
Disaster Recovery on Cloud Computing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Acknowledgement
I undertook this research study to improve my knowledge about the subject and my analytical
ability. This has helped me in conquering many challenges that I have faced in the coursework.
This research study would not have been possible without the guidance and help of my
professors and companions who have helped me in gathering advance knowledge about the
subject. I would like to thank my Supervisor __________ for guiding me throughout the
research and helping me out in every step of conducting the research study. I would like to all the
participants of this research work, without whom this research would not have been possible.
Finally, I would like to thank my family members for encouraging me to perform this work with
full dedication.
Thank You.

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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to evaluate the concept of disaster recovery and its effect in
business. A secondary research is executed for understanding the need of having a proper
disaster recovery plan for resuming the normal operations of an organization or business in case
a disaster breaks in. A qualitative data analysis is laid on the disaster recovery mechanism in
cloud computing and the benefits of storing data over cloud. The main aim of the research was to
gather knowledge whether the DR plans for cloud backup would be helpful for New Zealand
business units or not.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................5
1.1. Background of the study...........................................................................................5
1.2. Aims of the Study.....................................................................................................6
1.3. Objectives of the Study.............................................................................................6
1.4. Research Questions...................................................................................................6
Chapter 2: Literature Review...............................................................................................8
2.1. Introduction...............................................................................................................8
2.2. The Disaster Recovery Mechanism..........................................................................8
2.3. Disaster Recovery in Cloud computing platform: Advantages and Concerns.........9
Chapter 3: Research Methodology....................................................................................11
3.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................11
3.2. Method Outline.......................................................................................................11
3.3. Data Collection Process..........................................................................................12
Chapter 4: Data Collection and Analysis...........................................................................13
4.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................13
4.2. Disaster Recovery Mechanism...............................................................................13
4.3. Disaster Recovery Mechanism in Cloud Computing.............................................14
4.4 Major advantages and concerns of disaster recovery in cloud................................15

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4.5. Cloud DR in New Zealand business units..............................................................16
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations................................................................18
5.1. Conclusion..............................................................................................................18
5.2. Recommendations...................................................................................................19
References..........................................................................................................................20

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Background of the study
Disaster recovery is the essential security planning aiming to provide protection in an
organization from the ill impact of certain negative occurrences. It is needed for the
organizations to maintain or resume the mission critical functions that follow a disaster. It is a
documented process or procedures used for protecting a business associated with the IT
infrastructure, when a disaster occurs. Proper disaster recovery plans are followed in form of
documentation in written form, which an organization generally follows in an event of a disaster.
It can be defined as the subset of the business continuity plan, used for resumption of the data
hardware, applications and electronic communication. The different disaster recovery planning
should include a detailed analysis of different business processes and the business continuity
needs that help in creating a robust disaster recovery plan (Suo et al., 2012). It further involves a
set of policies, tools and procedures that aims in protecting an organization from the effects of
the significant negative events that can be a result of a disaster.
Disaster recovery in the cloud is a backup and the restore strategy of the files and data
present in the cloud storage. In is involved with the maintaining different copies of the electronic
records in a cloud environment (Bajpai, Rana & Maitrey, 2013). This essential security measure
helps in backing up of the data so that it can be restored onto on premises hardware in case a
disaster occurs. The disaster recovery technique in a cloud computing, which is based on
virtualization follows an altogether another approach to the disaster recovery techniques
(Snedaker, 2013). The different techniques of disaster recovery in cloud computing includes
encapsulation of the server along with the operating system, applications, patches and the data

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present in them. This process of backup can be completed within a matter of minutes (Gu, Wang
& Liu, 2014). Disaster recovery are mainly the control measures that reduces or eliminates
various risks associated with the storage of data in the cloud. In cloud storage, data security is a
major concern in cloud computing, but with the growing popularity of the cloud, different
organizations choose this environment as an effective means of data storage. Therefore, ensuring
a proper disaster recovery plan is necessary need in a business that uses a cloud computing
(Alhazmi & Malaiya, 2013).
1.2. Aims of the Study
The primary aim of this research study is to analyze the different factors of the disaster
recovery mechanism and the process of disaster recovery in cloud computing along with the
discussion about the usefulness of the DR concepts for business in New Zealand.
1.3. Objectives of the Study
 To understand the different disaster recovery mechanisms
 To identify the different ways in which the disaster recovery works in a cloud
computing platform
 To analyze whether the concept of disaster recovery in cloud computing helpful
for New Zealand business units.
1.4. Research Questions
 What are Disaster Recovery mechanisms?
 How Disaster Recovery works using cloud computing platform? What are major
advantages and concerns?

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 Is this concept helpful for New Zealand business units?

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
This section of the research paper aims in reviewing previous research papers that are
written in the cloud computing platform and the different disaster recovery mechanisms based on
cloud computing. The base of the research is built through a proper review of the different
literatures available in this field. The different disaster recovery mechanism and its use in the
cloud-computing platform are analyzed through the review of the different research studies. This
section discusses the major advantages and the concerns associated with the cloud-computing
platform. Based on the findings of the reviews section, the data collection of the research study
would be done in the following sections of the research paper.
2.2. The Disaster Recovery Mechanism
According to Khoshkholghi et al., (2014) the disaster recovery mechanism should include
the preventive measures, detective measures and the corrective measures as a part of the business
continuity plan. Disaster recovery or DR is counted as a common problem in the IT platforms.
These problems are significantly crucial in case of cloud-based storage, as it is the responsibility
of the cloud vendors to provide uninterrupted services to their clients even if a disaster occurs in
the data center. The DR services, which are provided by the cloud vendors, can be effectively
used by the organizations as an effective disaster recovery technique. A disaster is an event in a
system lifetime that is not expected or foreseen. Cloud DR is an increasing trend as if offers the
ability in tolerating the different disasters along with the maintenance of the data availability and
reliability of the data. It is further useful for small and medium size business enterprises. The
primary requirements of the DR plan include the minimal impact on the performance of an

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application. The different strategies of data protection include different backups made into tape
and sent offsite (Smith, 2012). Backups are to be made into the disk onsite with automatic copy
of the data that can be directly sent to the offsite.
2.3. Disaster Recovery in Cloud computing platform: Advantages and Concerns
According to Liu, (2012), the data stored in the cloud systems are prone to the problem of
the stolen data and unlawful modification of the data. Therefore, one of the significant disaster
prevention technique associated with the cloud-computing platform is the encryption of the data
before it is moved to the cloud system. However, the cloud system exhibits other different types
of security problem therefore the loss of data are a common phenomenon of cloud computing.
This is because if during a certain case, the system meets a certain failure, certain recovery
techniques for fast recovery are essential. Therefore, the disaster recovery in the cloud
computing becomes very important in cloud computing platform. The major concern with the
backup and disaster recovery in cloud is to check whether the cloud provider is using AES
standard for data encryption. This process is essential because it helps in protecting the data from
theft or compromise (Abuhussein, Bedi & Shiva, 2012). The benefit of disaster recovery in cloud
is primarily the faster turnaround time. Cloud computing system regularly backup the company’s
computer programs and data, so that in an event of disaster, the recovery can be completed
within a few minutes (Vimercati, Foresti, & Samarati, 2012). Thus, even on an account of
disaster, normal operations of the company or organization will not be hampered. Furthermore,
the cloud platform offers disaster recovery in minimal downtime expense (Abbas et al., 2015).
The company can save on the cost of fixing the systems because of a disaster along with
financial losses incurred as a result of the significant downtime. The disaster recovery plan of the
cloud is less complex and can be easily implemented. The significant benefit of the cloud

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platform is that application, the data remain on premises in this approach, and the data is backed
up from the cloud (Chen & Zhao, 2012). These data and application are backed up onto on
premises on an event of the disaster. Apart from the benefits of reduced recovery time and less
cost of implementation the disaster recovery in cloud offers increased flexibility and options. The
cloud based disaster recovery services are generally referred to as disaster recovery as service or
DRaaS. Cloud backup furthermore reduces the cost of keeping redundant data centers in an
organization (Alhazmi & Malaiya, 2012).

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Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1. Introduction
Research methodology is the process of collecting information and data that is required
for effective decision-making. It is a specific research policy that deals with the collection and
accumulation of the deliberate information along with the productive assessment of the
examination result. Use of proper strategies is essential for examining the different aspects of the
investigation, which is a primary distinguishing factor of research methodology (Panneerselvam,
2014). Choosing a proper research methodology is essential it is basically a systemic and
theoretical analysis of the process and methods that are applied to the field of a particular study.
It encompasses the concepts of theoretical model, phases, qualitative and quantitative techniques
of research.
3.2. Method Outline
The research methodology used in this approach is secondary data analysis. This process
of research methodology involves the use of the existing data collected in order to pursue a
research work. Secondary data analysis is the use of data that was collected by someone else for
a particular work or purpose. The different research questions are addressed through the proper
analysis of the data collected (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015). This approach is suitable for
the research purpose because secondary data will help in analyzing the advantages and the
concerns of the cloud-computing platform in an effective way. Qualitative data analysis is a set
of process and procedures that provides insights into the problem and helps in developing idea
for potential quantitative research. There are different techniques and processes of secondary
quantitative data collection that are discussed in the next section.