Cloud disaster recovery with STACKIT: when the worst case becomes an everyday test

Imagine this: A power failure hits the local data center, a cyber attack paralyzes important systems or a faulty software update brings the entire operation to a standstill. Such scenarios are no longer the exception. They are a reality in the everyday digital life of companies. In sensitive industries in particular, even short downtimes can have massive consequences. Cloud disaster recovery is therefore not a nice-to-have, but a crucial part of any continuity strategy. A reliable provider that can react quickly and confidently in an emergency is crucial.

With STACKIT, you can be sure of a highly available, scalable and superior solution that takes immediate effect in an emergency – regardless of whether it involves natural disasters, technical defects or targeted attacks. The service is based on a managed service model and provides essential resources, backups and flexible recovery plans that are individually tailored to your applications, workloads and compliance requirements.

Find out exactly how Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) works with STACKIT, what benefits it brings and how you can increase your data security through structured planning, smart tools and certified infrastructure here.

Key terms relating to cloud disaster recovery

Cloud disaster recovery (cloud DR): Strategies, tools and processes to quickly restore data, applications and services after failures – such as natural disasters, cyber attacks, hardware defects.
Backup: Regular, automated backup of data and the entire IT environment, which can be used for recovery in an emergency.
Recovery: The process by which data and systems are retrieved from the backup or replicas after a failure.
Recovery Point Objective (RPO): Specifies the maximum amount of data loss that is acceptable – i.e. how old the last backup may be in the event of an emergency.
Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The maximum tolerable time until components and applications are running productively again after a failure.
Geo-redundancy: Storage of data at multiple, spatially separated locations in order to be protected even in the event of regional disasters.
Failover: Automatic switch to a replacement system or another location if the primary system fails.
DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service): Fully managed cloud services that provide backup, recovery and failover as a service.

Cloud disaster recovery with STACKIT: an overview of the key benefits for your company

Cloud disaster recovery is much more than a backup, it is the strategic life insurance for your digital infrastructure. We offer companies, administrations and digital health providers powerful, superior services and solutions that go far beyond traditional backup concepts. Five key advantages make the difference:

Real-time resilience through automated recovery scenarios: With STACKIT, not just data, but entire IT environments, software applications and workloads can be restored in an automated and orchestrated way – and in near real time. Your entire IT environment – whether private, public or hybrid – is consistently reset without manual intervention. This reduces downtime to a minimum and ensures your business continuity even at critical moments.

Georedundant protection for maximum reliability: Your backups and systems are stored in certified data centers in Germany and Austria – georedundantly if required. This not only protects against local failures, but also against power outages or technical defects. The physical separation of the storage environments guarantees fast, secure access and reliable recovery.

Flexible recovery options for different scenarios: From accidental file deletion to ransomware to complete system failure, STACKIT Disaster Recovery also offers you a scalable recovery plan. You decide whether to restore individual files, complete servers or entire environments – depending on your specific needs and individual recovery plan.

Compliance-compliant emergency strategy to the highest standards: The STACKIT solution meets all relevant requirements, from GDPR and KRITIS to ISO 27001, BSI C5 and industry-specific regulations. This ensures that your emergency strategy is secured both technically and in terms of security – a key argument for security-critical industries such as e-government, e-commerce and digital health.

Relieve the burden on IT through self-service and automation: With an intuitive user interface, integrated management functions and open API, STACKIT offers all the necessary tools and managed services to efficiently control backups, test runs and restores. Automated schedules, monitoring, support features and reporting ensure stable operations and give your IT valuable freedom for strategic tasks.

How cloud disaster recovery with STACKIT works in detail

When you opt for cloud disaster recovery with STACKIT, you don’t get a rigid, off-the-shelf concept, but a flexibly adaptable infrastructure solution that rests on three strong pillars: an automated backup architecture, geo-redundant failover and modern self-service control.

Automated backup architecture – secure, granular, encrypted

At its heart is a fully automated backup system that can be adapted precisely to your company’s needs. Using time-controlled processes – daily, hourly or even every minute – the backup can be created reliably and predictably.

Best of all, you can decide for yourself how granular you want the restore to be – from a complete system backup to volume levels and the restoration of individual files or even individual data entries.

All data is stored encrypted in STACKIT Object Storage, including WORM functionality (Write Once, Read Many). This makes archiving not only efficient, but also tamper-proof. A real plus point in terms of data security.

Georedundant failover orchestration – maximum security without downtime

Just in case, STACKIT relies on a clever active/passive principle: critical workloads run synchronously on several servers at different locations – e.g. in Ellhofen and a second certified data center in Germany.

If the primary system fails, the secondary system takes over automatically – within a few minutes, without anyone having to intervene manually.

Integrated DNS rerouting ensures that access for users continues seamlessly: Traffic is simply redirected to the functioning instance. This means that your business remains accessible at all times, even in the event of major disruptions.

Self-service control – full transparency and flexibility

Whether via REST-API, Terraform or the user-friendly dashboard – with STACKIT, you remain in control at all times. The entire disaster recovery management is based on the “API first” principle.

The intuitive interface not only allows you to control restores and test runs, but also to view real-time data on memory consumption, system status, support tickets and compliance reports.

This type of self-service management takes the pressure off your IT department, speeds up processes, simplifies the handling of complex software and increases security.

Cloud disaster recovery with STACKIT: practical examples

E-commerce – fail-safe despite peak loads

The strength of cloud disaster recovery is evident in online retail. Large e-commerce providers can continuously back up their store data, transactions and customer data with STACKIT. However, during a heavily advertised promotion, there can be a sudden spike in traffic that overwhelms the main system. In such a case, the automated failover to a second, synchronized site allows operations to continue in the shortest possible time. The recovery is seamless and the web store remains accessible. There is no loss of sales and no damage to your image.

Digital health – patient safety despite a cyberattack

For providers of medical platforms, STACKIT Disaster Recovery can ensure comprehensive protection of sensitive patient data and digital health applications. After a targeted ransomware attack encrypts central applications, for example, the geo-redundant backup strategies take effect immediately.

This means that all affected components can be restored from the cloud infrastructure within a few hours – including critical applications and configurations. The platform is quickly ready for use again, patient care is secured and all relevant requirements are met.

Public administration – reliable protection in the event of system failures

Local authorities can regularly back up their sensitive administrative data, specialist procedures and applications using STACKIT Server Backup Management. If there is an unexpected hardware failure that paralyzes the local data center, the central citizen services are also affected.

By setting up automated backups in advance, all applications can be restored quickly and completely from the cloud. The downtime remains short and there is no loss of data. This means that administrative operations can continue without interruption and all legal requirements can be met.

Practical tips for getting started with your cloud disaster recovery plan with STACKIT

Whether it’s a power failure, hardware defect or cyber attack: a professional cloud disaster recovery strategy is your safeguard against digital operational risks. With STACKIT, you can rely on a powerful solution. These practical tips will help you avoid common mistakes and future-proof your infrastructure.

Prioritize systems: Identify business-critical applications, processes and data that need to be restored first in the event of a failure. On this basis, you can set sensible RTO and RPO targets – this saves resources and makes your DR plan realistically implementable.
Automate the backup: Set up regular, automated backups with STACKIT – every minute, hour or day, as required. This avoids manual errors and ensures that your most important applications are continuously protected.
Test emergencies: Carry out recovery tests at fixed intervals – preferably for individual data as well as for the entire system. Only through such tests can you identify vulnerabilities at an early stage and gain security in the event of an emergency.
Use geo-redundancy: Store your backup at several physically separate locations, e.g. in different data centers. This ensures that your data remains available even in the event of regional power failures, fires or natural disasters.
Document processes: Create clearly structured emergency documentation in which all responsibilities and processes are recorded. This helps your team to act quickly and in a coordinated manner in the event of a crisis – without wasting time asking questions.
Set up a monitoring system: Use monitoring tools to keep an eye on your backups, storage capacities and restores at all times. Early warnings help to identify technical problems in good time and take countermeasures.
Check compliance: Ensure that your disaster recovery strategy complies with current legal and industry-specific requirements at all times. Compliance with GDPR, BSI C5 and other requirements is essential, especially in the public or healthcare sector.
Scale the strategy: regularly adapt your DR plan to new systems, increasing data volumes and changing workloads. Only a scalable solution can keep pace with your company’s growth in the long term.

Cloud disaster recovery services with STACKIT: confidently and securely through any crisis

With STACKIT Cloud Disaster Recovery, the exceptional case becomes a manageable routine. The solution fits seamlessly into modern IT strategies and ensures that companies, administrations and digital health providers remain capable of acting even in an emergency.

Thanks to automated backup, orchestrated recovery, geo-redundant infrastructure and permanent monitoring, STACKIT not only protects against data loss, but also ensures the entire operational capability of the entire digital system – reliably, scalably and in compliance with GDPR.

Whether cyberattack, system error or natural disaster: with certified data centers, sovereign data sovereignty and a German provider you can rely on, our customers master every crisis – without loss of control, without compromise.

Frequently asked questions about cloud disaster recovery from STACKIT

How quickly can I recover my systems after a failure with STACKIT?

Thanks to automated data backup and flexible recovery options, critical systems can usually be up and running again within a few hours – depending on your defined RTOs and RPOs.

Does STACKIT meet all compliance requirements for administration and healthcare?

Yes, STACKIT is ISO 27001 and BSI C5 certified and meets all relevant data protection and compliance requirements, including GDPR and KRITIS.

How can I ensure that my DR strategy works in an emergency?

Carry out regular tests and recovery exercises. STACKIT supports you with monitoring and testing functions to ensure that your DR solutions and security plans are always ready for use.