**5.3 Backup requirements in a cloud environment**

In a cloud environment, applications typically run on VMs. Multiple VMs are hosted on single or clustered physical compute systems. The virtualized compute system environment is typically managed from a management server, which provides a centralized management console for managing the environment. The integration of backup application with the management server of virtualized environment is required. Advanced backup methods require the backup application to obtain a view of the virtualized environment and send configuration commands related to backup to the management server. The backup may be performed either file-by-file or as an image. Similarly, recovery requires either/both file level recovery and/or full VM recovery from the image. Cloud services have different availability requirement and that would affect the backup strategy. For example, if the consumer chose a higher backup service level (e.g. platinum) for their VM instances, then the backup would happen more frequently, have a lower RTO, and also have longer term retention when compared to lower-level service tiers. Typically, cloud environment has large volume of redundant data. Backing up of redundant data would significantly affect the backup window and increase the operating expenditure. Service provider needs to consider deduplication techniques to overcome these challenges. It is also important to ensure that most of the backup and recovery operations need to be automated.
