Ultimate Guide to Atlassian Cloud Backup Solutions: Ensure Data Security

Atlassian Cloud backup solutions

With many of our Atlassian customers transitioning from the on-prem server and data center platform to cloud this subject is becoming more and more relevant. With cloud being Atlassian’s main focus, this question has become more actual than ever with our customer base. Specially since the native backup solution offered by Atlassian is not actively in place when running your Atlassian instance. We feel it’s important to support our clients on this subject, as it can lead to unpleasant moments when critical data and value are lost in the process.

In this short blog, we will explain the concepts of backup and redundancy and as a bonus, we will give 9 practical points for setting up an effective backup strategy.

If you already feel overwhelmed at this point and want to get advice on this subject: Contact the Heroes at Idalko to get sound advice on providing a Backup solution for your Atlassian. Whether it’s Jira, Confluence, Service Management, Assets, Bitbucket, or Opsgenie.

Understanding Backup vs. Redundancy

First, it’s essential to distinguish between redundancy and backups to fully grasp their definitions in data protection.

Let’s delve into the specifics of each concept to learn what they are and what purpose they serve:

Redundancy and uptime

Redundancy, in engineering, involves incorporating additional components that are not essential for the basic functionality but serve as a fail-safe against the failure of other elements. The primary aim of redundancy is ensuring reliability and maintaining uptime. Should there be a failure in hardware or the network, redundancy ensures that data remains accessible to users.

This can involve redundant storage solutions, like extra hard drives, or network redundancies such as additional servers or load balancers. In the digital world, the OSI model outlines various layers where redundancy can be applied to prevent failures.

So when Atlassian offers SLAs and uptime, we’re mainly talking about the redundancy part.

The function of Backups

Unlike redundancy, which primarily guards against technical failures, backups are designed to recover data lost due to human errors, such as accidental deletions or misconfigurations.

For instance, if data is mistakenly deleted, redundancy systems would merely replicate the loss across the network.

Here is where backups preserve the original data on a separate storage medium, safeguarding it from such mishaps.

These backups should ideally be stored both locally and externally to prevent data loss if the primary data location fails. The backup process requires automation and regular validation, such as restoring data to a secondary instance to ensure the backup’s integrity and effectiveness. We already mentioned a few points of an effective backup solution. In the next chapter, we will go into more detail.

9 key points for an effective Backup solution

Now that we’ve got the terminology right, we can get into all the key points right for setting up an effective backup strategy.

At Idalko, we find the following points essential in defining an effective Backup solution. No backup solution is complete without addressing, as a start, the following points:

1. Regular Scheduling: Set a regular schedule for backups to ensure data is frequently updated. This can vary from hourly to daily to weekly, depending on the criticality of the data.
2. Automation: Automate the backup process to minimize human error and ensure consistency. Automated backups reduce the likelihood of missed backups.
3. Multiple Copies: Maintain multiple copies of backups in, ideally different locations. To protect against local disasters.
4. Data Encryption: Encrypt backup data both during transfer and while at rest to protect against theft or unauthorized access.
5. Retention Policy: Define clear retention policies for how long backup copies are kept.
6. Testing Restores: Regularly test backup copies to ensure they can be successfully restored. This validates the integrity and the effectiveness of the restoration process.
7. Clear Documentation: Maintain clear documentation on the backup process, storage locations, and restoration steps.
8. Access Controls: Implement strict access controls and audit logs for backup and restore operations to enhance security and track any changes or access to the backup data.
9. Regular Updates: Periodically review and update the backup and restore policy to adapt to new technology solutions, evolving business needs, and emerging threats

Atlassian Backup offering and 3rd party apps

So you want to get started but don’t know what’s available for Atlassian?

For Atlassian Jira and Confluence, Atlassian has a built-in backup and restore solution. One that can be accessed via the GUI but requires manual intervention. It allows the administrator to manually take backups and perform a restore.

Another option is the command line option provided by Atlassian. The Atlassian solution needs to be set up and maintained by a technically skilled person and requires dedicated infrastructure to execute. The backup frequency of the Atlassian solution is also limited to once a day. Plus, both options do not cover all the data. For example, at this date, data from Jira Assets and Opsgenie are not covered.

3rd Party support

Fortunately, in the last years, 3rd party app vendors have stepped into this gap and are offering turn-key solutions that are easy to operate and implement. These apps fill in the gap by Atlassian by offering options like:

• Automated backups including scheduling
  • Including the option for incremental backups, multiple times a day
• Multiple copies with retention settings
• Data Residency options
• (In transit) Encryption for safeguarding your data
• Options to selectively restore data

How can Idalko support your organization with a backup solution?

If you would like to know more about effective backup and restore solutions on your Atlassian stack, then get in touch with us.

Depending on your needs and budget, our heroes can design and implement a solution to advise and cover your backup requirements.

Idalko has experience supporting organizations successfully in setting up backup solutions, ensuring resilience against human errors and business continuity.

Want to know more about how we can help you implement a sound backup strategy for your Atlassian stack? Get in touch now!