Offsite backups and onsite backups refer to where backup data is stored in relation to a company’s main office or data center. Offsite backups store copies of data in a different physical location, while onsite backups store copies locally in the same building or campus.
Key terms:
- Offsite backup – Copying data to a remote facility or to removable media that is transported offsite for storage, such as to a cloud provider.
- Onsite backup – Backing up data to a device or media that remains within the same physical location as the original data.
Accessibility
One of the main advantages of offsite backups is accessibility. Offsite backups can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, even if servers are damaged or unavailable onsite. This provides remote accessibility that onsite backups cannot offer.
With on-premise backups, data remains stored on physical media at the same location as the original data. If a disaster like a flood, fire or earthquake damages the physical servers, both the original data and the backups can potentially be destroyed. This renders the backups inaccessible when you need them most.
Offsite backups store data remotely using cloud or dedicated offsite infrastructure. Users can access offsite backups from any location through internet connectivity. Even if servers are down or facilities are damaged onsite, offsite backups remain available to recover data and restore business operations.
Onsite backups become inaccessible if an onsite disaster like severe weather, fire, flooding or vandalism occurs. Offsite backups avoid this limitation by storing data remotely so it remains accessible despite incidents limited to the physical company location.
Security
Offsite backups stored remotely so protected if physical security breached onsite. Onsite backups vulnerable to same security risks as servers. According to Jetpack, offsite backups provide an extra layer of protection against physical breaches, natural disasters, or malicious attacks that could destroy or corrupt data stored onsite. If an incident occurs onsite, the offsite backup remains secure and unaffected at a remote facility. This geographic separation is critical for security.
As explained by TechTarget, offsite tape backups are especially secure for recovery after ransomware attacks since they are offline and not infected. Onsite backups can be encrypted or destroyed by ransomware that has breached the servers. Storing backups offsite ensures an unaffected copy remains for recovery.
Cost
Offsite backups can be less expensive than onsite backups because they rely on third-party cloud services to store data rather than requiring organizations to purchase their own hardware and systems. According to Cloudwards, cheap unlimited cloud backup costs between $6-$10 per month, while Backblaze offers 5TB of storage for around $70 per year. In contrast, onsite backups require upfront and ongoing investments in storage systems, media costs, maintenance, electricity, and data center space (Backblaze). By leveraging the economies of scale of cloud providers, offsite backups avoid much of this hardware expense.
For example, Cloudways charges $0.033 per GB for offsite backup storage. So a 100 GB backup would cost $3.30 per month. The same amount of storage for an onsite solution could cost hundreds or thousands in hardware costs alone. While bandwidth fees for recovery may be higher with offsite backups, the overall costs are often lower, especially for smaller amounts of data. However, some organizations deal with petabytes of data where onsite systems may be more cost effective. But for most use cases, offsite backups provide lower costs by utilizing cloud infrastructure.
Scalability
One of the key advantages of offsite backups is the ability to easily scale as an organization’s data needs grow. With cloud-based or third-party offsite backup services, storage and bandwidth can be rapidly provisioned to match increasing backup demands. As noted by Technology Solutions, “Beyond just backup, cloud storage offers flexibility and scalability that are hard to match with traditional methods. As businesses grow, so does their data.”
In contrast, onsite backups using local servers or devices have fixed capacity. Expanding onsite backup infrastructure requires purchasing and configuring new hardware. The TechTarget article points out that “Most off-site backup options provide instant scalability, and storage can be increased as needed.” This scalable capacity makes offsite backups ideal for growing companies.
(https://www.technologysolutions.net/blog/what-is-an-offsite-backup/)
Speed
When it comes to speed, onsite backups often have an advantage over offsite backups as they do not rely on internet connectivity and bandwidth.Fastest Online Backup Services 2024 Onsite backups can have faster backup and restore times since the data does not need to be transferred over the internet. The speed of offsite backups depends heavily on your available internet upload and download speeds.
Onsite backups may have faster restore times since the data is stored locally and can be quickly accessed. Offsite backup speeds are limited by internet speeds. With low bandwidth, initial backups and restores from offsite can be very slow. Slow offsite backup
Factors like bandwidth caps and congestion can further slow offsite backups. Higher internet speeds on both ends will improve transfer speeds for offsite backup. Offsite backup – slow upload speed (15Mbit/s) Many recommend at least 30 Mbps upload speed for smooth offsite backups.
Retention
Offsite backup services enable keeping backups for many years, while onsite capacity often limits retention periods. According to TechTarget, offsite backups allow organizations to store data for much longer periods of time compared to onsite solutions. While onsite backups may be limited by available storage capacity, offsite services offer scalable cloud storage and retention policies spanning years or even decades. Organizations can customize backup retention rules to meet compliance regulations. TechTarget recommends establishing retention periods based on recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives.
Bandwidth
One of the key differences between onsite and offsite backups is the use of internet bandwidth. Onsite backups do not require any internet bandwidth as the data is stored locally on external hard drives, tape drives, or other media connected directly to the local network. In contrast, offsite backups are completely dependent on available internet bandwidth to transfer data to the remote location (Source). Offsite backups will consume outbound bandwidth as data is initially transferred, and inbound bandwidth when data needs to be restored.
The amount of bandwidth required for offsite backups depends on factors like the initial backup size, frequency of incremental backups, bandwidth throttling controls, and compression/deduplication mechanisms. According to one analysis, the formula is: Backup Size (MB) / Available Bandwidth (Mbps) = Transfer Time (seconds) (Source). Organizations need sufficient bandwidth to complete backups within designated windows. Bandwidth throttling, limiting backups to 25-50% of available bandwidth, helps reduce impact (Source).
Control
Onsite backups allow organizations to have more control over their data backups since the backups are stored on media at the same physical location as the source data. With onsite backups, organizations determine the backup schedule, retention policies, encryption, and access controls. They are not dependent on a third party provider’s policies.
Offsite backups mean relying on a third party provider to handle and manage the backups. The provider determines factors like geographic location of storage, frequency of backups, retention duration before deletion, encryption level, and restoration timeframes. While reputable providers offer robust backup services, the lack of full control can be a downside for some organizations with specific data compliance needs. As this source notes, offsite backups mean “the data is in someone else’s hands.”
Conclusion
In summary, the key advantages of offsite backups compared to onsite backups are improved accessibility, enhanced security, lower costs, easier scalability, faster recovery speeds, longer retention periods, reduced bandwidth strain, and increased control. Offsite backups are recommended for businesses that have critical data and cannot afford disruption, as it allows constant access to copies of data stored remotely. The geographical separation provides protection if the primary site experiences a localized disaster. Onsite backups are best for less critical data that only needs short-term retention. The convenience and speed of local storage may suffice if operations can continue without immediate data recovery. Ultimately, a hybrid approach with both onsite and offsite backups maximizes benefits while addressing drawbacks of each method.