Comprehensive data protection for all workloads
Post Reply
guitarfish
Enthusiast
Posts: 98
Liked: 11 times
Joined: Mar 06, 2013 4:12 pm
Contact:

Cloud Connect vs cheap online storage

Post by guitarfish »

Presently I use Dropbox to store off-site copies of my backups. At $10 a month for 1TB of storage, it’s ridiculously cheap. 1TB of storage from a Veeam Cloud Connect provider is around $250/mo. As the TBs increase, the costs escalate quickly. I got sticker shock when I looked into this. Why is the latter so much more expensive?

From what I understand, a Cloud Connect setup is an actual repository which can be used as a target for backups and copy jobs. And presumably a VM can be run using Instant VM Recovery via this repository. Still, very expensive.

I like the idea of Cloud Connect, but perhaps I don’t understand all the benefits that make the price justified? I’m looking for some opinions and feedback.
Gostev
Chief Product Officer
Posts: 31457
Liked: 6648 times
Joined: Jan 01, 2006 1:01 am
Location: Baar, Switzerland
Contact:

Re: Cloud Connect vs cheap online storage

Post by Gostev »

We cannot comment on the prices that specific Veeam Cloud Connect provider decides to charge. It is safe to assume the prices will vary significantly between different Cloud Connect providers.

Likewise, $10 for 1TB is an interesting number considering Dropbox has to pay Amazon $27.5 to rent that 1TB (see the official pricing). And that is not counting significant outbound traffic charges and compute, which is extra on top of storage. So, it's hard to imagine they are paying less than $30 to host your 1 TB of backups, for which you pay them back $10. The numbers just don't add up.

Technical benefits of Cloud Connect are as follows:
1. Dropbox approach works for small backups only: it does not scale because it cannot do forever-incremental backup, WAN acceleration, in-cloud backup file compact, in-cloud GFS retention etc.
2. Dropbox cannot provide recovery directly from the cloud (you have to copy the entire backup set down first, which can take a very long time with large backup chains).
3. Dropbox does not provide backup health check (so, you cannot be sure that your backup files sitting in the cloud were not corrupted during transfer, or at rest due to a bit rot).
4. Dropbox cannot provide you with in-cloud recovery of entire VM, or even your entire site (in case of site loss).
5. Dropbox is not integrated with B&R (it's a separate process to monitor and babysit).

It is also important to understand that Dropbox was not tested or certified by Veeam. We know nothing about its ability to work with large backup files (does it do this fast and reliably), and how it can potentially interfere with Veeam jobs and system processes - for example, due to locking backup files during its sync. As such, we will not be able to support you in case of technical issues.

You should also be sure to test backup and restore speed, as for example I get very low performance going to/from Dropbox despite having 100 Mbps pipe at home, perhaps it throttles individual users or something.

Now, all of that probably does not matter for you if you have just a few VMs to protect, and resulting backup files are quite small. So, if it works for you, there is no reason to switch.
guitarfish
Enthusiast
Posts: 98
Liked: 11 times
Joined: Mar 06, 2013 4:12 pm
Contact:

Re: Cloud Connect vs cheap online storage

Post by guitarfish »

Gostev, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this. I doubled check the pricing, and it is $9.99/mo for DropBox Pro, which provides 1TB of storage. I have no idea how they do it.

Regardless, I really appreciate your making the comparisons, this will definitely help me with my design & config.
Gostev
Chief Product Officer
Posts: 31457
Liked: 6648 times
Joined: Jan 01, 2006 1:01 am
Location: Baar, Switzerland
Contact:

Re: Cloud Connect vs cheap online storage

Post by Gostev » 1 person likes this post

No problems, glad to help.

Also, I've checked with our VCP team, and just as I expected, the pricing varies significantly between Cloud Connect service providers. Obviously, I cannot promote specific partners, but just to give you an idea - one of the TOP European service providers charges up to 10 times less for their Veeam Cloud Connect service, comparing to what you have been quoted with. Granted, their pricing model does not map to the above one directly (its per VM, with up to 500 GB storage capacity per VM), but it is obviously times cheaper in any scenario. So, just keep on looking for a better deal ;)

But also, please keep in mind that pricing can be affected by a lot of factors, so never compare on the price alone. If only the price was important, then no one would buy Veeam, because we have plenty of much cheaper competitors ;)

For example, $250 per TB may very well be justified for some super secure geo-redundant storage with premium support, 5 nines SLA guarantee, compatibility with certain hard-to-achieve certifications/policies/regulations, no charges for restores, unlimited restore in-cloud included, bandwidth guarantee, data shipping services etc... many, many factors. Not to mention stuff like reputation, and how long particular service provider has been in the business! Startups will probably charge you the cheapest, but there is understandable risk associated ;)
Sab_user
Lurker
Posts: 1
Liked: never
Joined: Dec 01, 2014 3:19 pm
Contact:

Re: Cloud Connect vs cheap online storage

Post by Sab_user »

Hey guys. I saw your discussion and decided to collaborate. :)

As guitarfish wrote - $250/mo is really too expensive for 1 TB. I work in a start-up company in Slovenia (EU) and we have $15/mo for 1 TB.

There are many other cloud storage providers (besides Dropbox)...so keep on searching :)
dellock6
Veeam Software
Posts: 6137
Liked: 1928 times
Joined: Jul 26, 2009 3:39 pm
Full Name: Luca Dell'Oca
Location: Varese, Italy
Contact:

Re: Cloud Connect vs cheap online storage

Post by dellock6 »

Sab, but you're talking about plain cloud storage, or prices for Cloud Connect?
Really, the compute part of cloud connect is the main difference, also for the price. You simply cannot do what you can with Cloud Connect using a simple storage service in the cloud. I wrote about this few months ago by the way:
http://www.virtualtothecore.com/en/clou ... e-compute/

It's like buying an empty field to store your stuff, on finding a secure vault already built on top of that field.

Luca.
Luca Dell'Oca
Principal EMEA Cloud Architect @ Veeam Software

@dellock6
https://www.virtualtothecore.com/
vExpert 2011 -> 2022
Veeam VMCE #1
Gostev
Chief Product Officer
Posts: 31457
Liked: 6648 times
Joined: Jan 01, 2006 1:01 am
Location: Baar, Switzerland
Contact:

Re: Cloud Connect vs cheap online storage

Post by Gostev »

Agree, it's a classic apple to oranges comparison. Sure, a bicycle is cheaper than a bike, but it can only take you as far. Similarly, Cloud Connect should not be directly compared to Dropbox-like alternatives, for the reasons I have listed in my original post.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Amazon [Bot], Bing [Bot], chris.mcdonald, Google [Bot], Ivan239, RValensise and 135 guests