Working from Home with Google Cloud and Continuous Data Backup

In light of the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, there is now the “new normal” of remote working and working-at-home. With this new reality, the challenge remains how to make the most of that experience especially for companies using Google Cloud.

Recently, we held a webinar with our partner itopia.

Itopia, a Google Cloud Partner of the Year, enables a company’s employees to work from home with secure access to remote apps and corporate data on any device.

When combined with HYCU’s backup as a service for Google Cloud, businesses have a powerful combination to enable remote working in a quick and simple way.

There were several questions that came up that we did not have enough time to cover during the webinar so we wanted to take the time now to answer them.

If you’re interested in learning more about how HYCU can help you get up and running for remote working efficiently and securely, let us know at info@hycu.com. For more information on HYCU for Google Cloud you can find it here. We are also offering a free TB of backup per month through the end of the year to help ensure your data is backed up and available.

If you missed our webinar, you can check out the replay here.

Q: Is itopia hosting our company data on their servers?

A: itopia is simply an orchestration layer that sits on top of your Google Cloud project and automates its configuration and management. itopia does not collect or store your data on its servers -- all of your data lives within your Google Cloud project.

Q: What licenses do I need to use the itopia platform?

A: itopia's solution consists of three distinct parts:

• itopia Licenses: This grants an end-user access to a cloud workspace (desktop and/or apps). itopia licenses are charged as either "per named user" or "per concurrent user." This is billed monthly through Google Cloud Marketplace and will appear as a line item on your Google Cloud bill.
• RDS Licenses: This is required to run Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) in the cloud. You can bring your existing RDS Licenses or procure them from one of the many authorized RDS resellers available. Itopia can recommend a reseller if you need one.
• Google Cloud Consumption: This is simply the consumption that you generate from your deployments on Google Cloud. itopia leverages Compute Engine, BigQuery, among other Google Cloud products & services, and so you will see this on your Google Cloud bill as well.

Q: How are itopia and HYCU integrated?

A: itopia and HYCU can be both assigned to the same Google Cloud project, allowing for continuous backup of any deployments created with itopia.

Q: What are the available RPO options for Google Cloud backups?

A: For HYCU, we offer a number of options, outlined here:

Platinum RPO = 1 – 3 hours

Gold RPO = 4 – 11 hours

Silver RPO = 12 – 23 hours

Bronze RPO = 24 – more hours

Q: Are there any other backup targets you support?

A: For HYCU for Google Cloud, HYCU only supports backups via Google Cloud snapshots and backups to Google Cloud Object storage.

Q: Can you restore from more than 30 days ago?

A: Yes. This is one of the options you can choose directly from the HYCU dashboard.

Q: If I use Itopia, how does HYCU help me backup the desktops?

A: itopia provides API level integration with HYCU for Google Cloud to automatically assign a policy to a HYCU backup newly provisioned desktop. This allows for full support of user profiles.