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Navigating Recovery in a Hybrid World: Physical Systems vs. Virtual Machines

In the aftermath of a cyberattack or system outage, restoring critical systems quickly and effectively is paramount for minimizing downtime and returning to business as usual. However, modern IT infrastructures often include a blend of physical servers and virtual machines (VMs). This hybrid environment presents unique challenges when it comes to disaster recovery strategies.

Physical System Recovery: Hardware Headaches

  • Hardware Dependencies: Physical servers are inextricably linked to their underlying hardware components. In a recovery scenario, hardware might need to be sourced, configured, and have an operating system installed before restoring data. This process can be time-consuming, especially if specific hardware models are required.
  • Legacy Systems: Older physical systems may rely on outdated operating systems or specialized software configurations, adding complexity to the recovery. Restoring these systems often needs meticulous planning and compatibility testing.
  • Single Point of Failure: Physical servers represent a single point of failure. If the hardware itself is damaged or compromised, recovery becomes even more challenging, potentially requiring a complete rebuild from scratch.

Virtual Machine Recovery: Flexibility with Caveats

  • Virtualization Benefits: VMs offer inherent advantages in disaster recovery. They are encapsulated files that can be moved, copied, and restored with greater ease than their physical counterparts. Snapshots and backups also simplify point-in-time restoration.
  • Resource Competition: During a widespread outage, the very resources that VMs rely on (compute, storage, networking) may be strained. Recovery of numerous VMs can put additional stress on an already compromised infrastructure, slowing down restoration efforts.
  • Hypervisor Vulnerabilities: While virtualization offers flexibility, it’s not impervious. Vulnerabilities in the hypervisor (the software layer managing VMs) can expose multiple virtual machines to compromise. Robust hypervisor security and patching are essential.

A Tailored Approach to Recovery

The best approach to disaster recovery in a hybrid environment is a multi-faceted one, considering the specific needs of both physical and virtual systems. Here’s a breakdown of key areas to focus on:

  • Prioritization: Identify mission-critical systems, regardless of whether they are physical or virtual. These should be prioritized in your recovery plans.
  • Backup Strategies: Maintain comprehensive backups for both physical and virtual systems. Consider off-site or cloud-based backups for resilience against localized disasters.
  • Hardware Compatibility: If recovering critical physical systems, maintain a spare hardware inventory or have established relationships with suppliers to expedite replacements when necessary.
  • VM Resource Planning: Have a clear understanding of resource requirements for restoring large numbers of VMs. Build in redundancy and scalability to avoid resource bottlenecks during recovery.
  • Testing and Drills: Regularly test your recovery procedures for both physical and virtual systems. Identify and address any shortcomings proactively.

10 Ways Cristie Software Solves Hybrid System Recovery Challenges

  • Dissimilar Hardware Technology: Cristie recovery software can automate the insertion of drivers when restoring systems to dissimilar platforms. This removes manual intervention to ensure that recovery can take place without interruptions.
  • Legacy System Support: With system support back to Windows 2000 and many early editions of popular Linux distributions customers can confidently protect legacy systems.
  • Bulk System Discovery: System recovery at scale presents many challenges including bulk system discovery which the Cristie Virtual Appliance (VA) can support in many ways including CSV input and API integration.
  • Physical, Virtual & Cloud Recovery in any Direction: Cristie recovery and replication offers complete platform type flexibility between source and targets machines.
  • Automated Provisioning: Systems can me migrated to new target platforms with automatic resource provisioning based on source machine parameters or adapted within the Cristie VA.
  • Elimination of Manual Intervention: Cristie recovery automation features can eliminate manual interventions from the recovery workflow which are the most common cause of prolonged downtime following any disaster recovery scenario.
  • Recovery Direct from Native Backups: Cristie recovery provides full system recovery directly from Rubrik, Cohesity, IBM and Dell Technologies native backups.
  • Cost Effective Offline Replication: Cristie CloneManager replication software offers the choice of replicating systems to live running systems or to offline virtual machine image files which only require storage space. Offline system images can be mounted in the event of a disaster providing cost-effective protection for systems that do not need real-time failover.
  • Cleanroom Recovery: The ability to restore systems to an isolated compute and network environment is a vital asset during a suspected cyberattack as it provides a cleanroom for cyber forensics and recovery image integrity testing, without risk of potential spread of malware to other production systems.
  • Simulated Recovery Testing: Disaster recovery testing is vital to ensure you have confidence that your system recovery process will work when you need it most. Simulated recoveries can be scheduled through the Cristie VA to both monitor recovery success and measure recovery times to ensure that Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) can be met. 

The Evolving Landscape of Recovery

As IT landscapes continue their shift towards cloud-based and highly virtualized environments, recovery strategies must also adapt. However, physical systems will continue to have their place in many organizations due to performance, legacy requirements, or security concerns. Understanding the distinct challenges of recovering both physical and virtual machines is crucial for ensuring effective disaster response in modern IT environments. It’s about preparedness, adaptability, and thorough understanding of your system’s unique dependencies that will pave the way for a swift and successful recovery, no matter the nature of the disruption. With Cristie Software many of these challenges can be resolved with advanced automation and recovery orchestration features within the Cristie VA. Download a free software trial to see the capabilities first hand for your backup environment.
Cristie Software Ltd

New Mill, Chestnut Lane
Stroud, GL5 3EW
United Kingdom

©2024 Cristie Software Ltd. Registered in England & Wales Number: 06395450
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