Cloud costs and complex setups are enough to make any IT manager wary. But what if safeguarding your entire business – from the drawing board to the customer’s doorstep – could be both simple and surprisingly affordable? For organisations that have built their success on a comprehensive, end-to-end value chain, the resilience of their IT infrastructure is non-negotiable. Expanding into Microsoft Azure offers a remarkably convenient and straightforward path to robust disaster recovery (DR), without the traditional headaches and hefty price tags.
Disaster Recovery Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult (or Expensive)
The thought of setting up a full-fledged disaster recovery solution used to conjure images of complex configurations, dedicated offsite hardware, and eye-watering costs. Azure flips this entire model on its head. Azure Site Recovery empowers you to replicate your mission-critical virtual machines (VMs) to the cloud with an intuitive setup process. Forget about intricate, multi-step installations and lengthy configuration manuals. Azure is designed for ease of use.
And the best part? You only pay for what you consume. This consumption-based model means you avoid the significant upfront capital expenditure associated with traditional DR infrastructure. No more long-term licensing lock-ins or the financial burden of maintaining idle hardware that you might never actually use. In a recent real-world scenario, an organisation was able to protect 50 production servers and with more than 33 TB of storage, encompassing their critical ERP, CRM, Databases, and supporting systems, for less than $6000 a month using Azure DR. This demonstrates the tangible cost savings compared to traditional DR methods. Azure offers a flexible and scalable approach, allowing you to adapt your DR coverage as your business evolves – all while keeping costs firmly under control.
Seamless Integration for End-to-End Operations
If your business manages everything from initial product design and manufacturing to sales and after-sales support from a central head office, you understand the intricate dance of interconnected systems. Expanding your DR strategy to Azure offers unparalleled convenience. Instead of wrestling with disparate DR locations or complicated co-lo agreements, Azure provides a unified, integrated platform. This means you can protect your entire IT ecosystem within a single, familiar Microsoft environment.
Imagine the peace of mind knowing that your design software, manufacturing control systems, CRM for sales, and customer support platforms are all securely replicated and ready to go in the event of an outage. Azure provides the backbone for this comprehensive protection, simplifying your DR strategy and reducing the management overhead.
Use Case in Point: Enterprise Manufacturer Safeguards End-to-End Operations with Azure DR
A large manufacturing business based in Queensland, with operations spanning design, production, logistics, and support, needed a better way to protect its critical on-prem workloads. Their existing backup approach wasn’t cutting it—limited recovery options, costly hardware maintenance, and no clear path to fast recovery if an outage was to occur.
With operations depending on tightly integrated systems— design software, ERP, production line automation, customer databases—they couldn’t afford extended downtime. The business needed a disaster recovery solution that could scale with them, without adding complexity or breaking the budget.
They turned to Azure Site Recovery to replicate their key on-prem servers to the cloud. It offered a low-friction setup that integrated directly into their Microsoft-based environment. The IT team avoided upfront capital costs and eliminated the need to maintain idle infrastructure.
Now, their critical systems are protected in a cost-effective, scalable way. DR drills are simpler, recovery is faster, and the business can move forward knowing that everything from the drawing board to delivery is covered—without the traditional pain points.
It’s Not Just Recovery, It’s Opportunity
Thinking about disaster recovery shouldn’t be a source of stress. With Azure, it becomes an opportunity to strengthen your business resilience in a simple, cost-effective, and secure manner. For organisations with intricate, end-to-end operations, the convenience and integration that Azure offers are unmatched. It’s time to move beyond outdated DR strategies and embrace a modern approach that empowers your business to thrive, no matter what challenges lie ahead. Ready to explore how Azure can streamline your disaster recovery and enhance your security posture? Contact us today for a consultation.
Pilot Network Architecture Example
1: On-premises Infrastructure
- Protecting on-premises VMs requires servers for central management and caching of data destined for Azure
- Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS) is the initial backup target for on-premises VMs. Long-term retention is managed in the cloud (Azure Backup Vault).
- Azure Recovery Services Mobility Server is required for the replication of VMs to Azure for DR purposes.
- Network rules are required on existing firewall/s to permit traffic to trusted Azure endpoints
2: Azure Recovery Services Infrastructure (including Azure Backup)
- Azure Recovery Services is a Platform-as-a-Service solution for cloud-based Backup & DR
- This solution is an Azure public-facing offering that is consumed over the internet, securely with end-to-end encryption
- On-premises VMs storage is replicated to Azure and visible as Azure Managed Disks within your own Azure Subscription
3: Azure Compute
- In the event of a disaster, VMs can be recovered in Azure
- Azure Managed Disks are charged at normal consumption rates
- Compute is only charged when Azure VMs are allocated (powered on)