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Widespread Downtime Found in 99 Percent of Cloud Environments

Downtime and security risks were present in each cloud environment tested, according to 2016 Private Cloud Resiliency Benchmarks, a report from Continuity Software.

The study also found that security and performance risks were found in 99 percent and 97 percent of the environments respectively, with 82 percent of the companies facing data loss risks.

Some of the top risks identified across the private cloud environments include:

■ Configuration drifts between cluster nodes that prevent failover. Examples for such discrepancies range from the most trivial – e.g., a file that is not accessible by all hosts in the cluster – to more complex ones – such as incorrect settings of affinity rules.

■ Virtual networking configuration errors leading to virtual machine isolation and downtime. Examples include incorrect Virtual Machine Port Group configurations and resources misalignment between ESXi cluster hosts leading to a single point of failure.

■ Incorrect storage settings leading to corrupt backups and data store loss. Such risks range from invalid CBT configuration to inconsistent LUN numbering and incorrect UUID settings.

What do these private cloud environments look like?

■ 48 percent of the organizations included in the study run their virtual machines on Windows compared to 7 percent of the organizations that run on Linux. 46 percent of the organizations use a mix of operating systems.

■ Close to three quarters (73 percent) of the organizations use EMC data storage systems. Other storage systems used include NetApp (38 percent), IBM (26 percent), HP (24 percent) and Hitachi (18 percent).

■ 27 percent of the organizations use replication for automated offsite data protection.

■ 12 percent of the organizations utilize active-active failover for continuous availability.

■ Almost all of the organizations (96 percent) use more than one physical path to transfer data between the host and the external storage device.

With a growing level of the complexity, increasing interdependence among infrastructure components, and an escalating pace of change, keeping cloud infrastructure free of risky misconfiguration is becoming a challenge that most organizations fail to meet.

"Sooner or later, every system fails," said Gil Hecht, CEO of Continuity Software. "And when a popular service goes down, it doesn't take long for customers to notice."

Each year enterprises continue to encounter downtime, which currently costs an estimated $740,000 per outage according to Ponemon's most recent report.

"The good news is that most risks lurking in the cloud infrastructure can be identified and corrected before they turn into a service disruption," explained Hecht. "This requires a specialized set of processes and tools, but above all a mindset and strategy focused on early detection and the remediation of risks."

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Widespread Downtime Found in 99 Percent of Cloud Environments

Downtime and security risks were present in each cloud environment tested, according to 2016 Private Cloud Resiliency Benchmarks, a report from Continuity Software.

The study also found that security and performance risks were found in 99 percent and 97 percent of the environments respectively, with 82 percent of the companies facing data loss risks.

Some of the top risks identified across the private cloud environments include:

■ Configuration drifts between cluster nodes that prevent failover. Examples for such discrepancies range from the most trivial – e.g., a file that is not accessible by all hosts in the cluster – to more complex ones – such as incorrect settings of affinity rules.

■ Virtual networking configuration errors leading to virtual machine isolation and downtime. Examples include incorrect Virtual Machine Port Group configurations and resources misalignment between ESXi cluster hosts leading to a single point of failure.

■ Incorrect storage settings leading to corrupt backups and data store loss. Such risks range from invalid CBT configuration to inconsistent LUN numbering and incorrect UUID settings.

What do these private cloud environments look like?

■ 48 percent of the organizations included in the study run their virtual machines on Windows compared to 7 percent of the organizations that run on Linux. 46 percent of the organizations use a mix of operating systems.

■ Close to three quarters (73 percent) of the organizations use EMC data storage systems. Other storage systems used include NetApp (38 percent), IBM (26 percent), HP (24 percent) and Hitachi (18 percent).

■ 27 percent of the organizations use replication for automated offsite data protection.

■ 12 percent of the organizations utilize active-active failover for continuous availability.

■ Almost all of the organizations (96 percent) use more than one physical path to transfer data between the host and the external storage device.

With a growing level of the complexity, increasing interdependence among infrastructure components, and an escalating pace of change, keeping cloud infrastructure free of risky misconfiguration is becoming a challenge that most organizations fail to meet.

"Sooner or later, every system fails," said Gil Hecht, CEO of Continuity Software. "And when a popular service goes down, it doesn't take long for customers to notice."

Each year enterprises continue to encounter downtime, which currently costs an estimated $740,000 per outage according to Ponemon's most recent report.

"The good news is that most risks lurking in the cloud infrastructure can be identified and corrected before they turn into a service disruption," explained Hecht. "This requires a specialized set of processes and tools, but above all a mindset and strategy focused on early detection and the remediation of risks."

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...