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Wasabi Backup: How It Works and a BC/DR Tutorial

By integrating N2W with Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, you can create cost-effective, secure, and scalable backup repositories. Here's how.
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How Is Wasabi Used for Backup and Recovery? 

Wasabi is a cloud storage provider that delivers hot cloud storage, meaning data is always immediately accessible without the delays associated with cold storage tiers. Wasabi differentiates itself by eliminating egress and API request fees, making it a predictable and cost-effective option for businesses requiring frequent data access.

Wasabi backup and recovery is a cloud storage solution providing secure and cost-effective data protection. It enables organizations to back up their data without incurring unpredictable costs, such as egress or API fees, making it easier to test and restore backups without financial penalties.

Wasabi’s hot cloud storage is optimized for backup and disaster recovery, offering faster access speeds compared to traditional archive storage. It supports integration with leading backup and recovery platforms, ensuring compatibility with existing IT infrastructure. 

Additionally, Wasabi provides security features like immutable storage with object lock, multi-factor authentication, and compliance with industry regulations such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001.

This is part of a series of articles about Wasabi cloud storage.

In this article:

Key Features of Wasabi for Backup and Recovery 

Wasabi aims to simplify cloud-based backup and disaster recovery. Key features include:

  • Cost predictability: No egress or API request fees, allowing organizations to restore and test backups without unexpected expenses.
  • Fast data transfers: Reduces backup windows and improves recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO).
  • Immutable backups: Wasabi object lock prevents unauthorized changes or deletions, protecting against ransomware and accidental data loss.
  • Security and compliance: Built-in encryption, multi-user authentication, and compliance with major industry standards (SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS).
  • Integration: S3-compatible storage ensures easy interoperability with leading backup and recovery solutions.
  • Scalable and reliable: Supports large-scale data storage needs while maintaining high availability and durability.

Wasabi Backup Use Cases 

Low Cost Storage for Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery

Wasabi provides a cost-effective cloud backup and disaster recovery solution by offering highly durable, instantly accessible storage without egress or API fees. Organizations can back up critical data offsite to ensure business continuity in case of hardware failures, cyberattacks, or natural disasters.

Unlike traditional backup solutions that rely on expensive, complex storage tiers, Wasabi’s single-tier architecture eliminates the need for hot, warm, or cold storage classifications. This simplifies backup management while reducing costs.

Wasabi seamlessly integrates with leading backup software, including Veeam, Commvault, and Veritas, enabling businesses to deploy cloud-based disaster recovery strategies without modifying their existing workflows. Its immutable storage options, including Wasabi object lock, prevent data tampering and ensure compliance with industry regulations.

Cloud Archive Storage

Wasabi’s cloud archive storage provides a scalable solution for long-term data retention. Unlike traditional cold storage solutions, Wasabi’s hot cloud storage ensures that archived data remains instantly accessible while eliminating unpredictable costs like egress and API fees.

With Wasabi, organizations can securely store large amounts of archived data while maintaining compliance with industry regulations. Its zero trust security model includes encryption, object-level immutability, and multi-layered access controls to protect data from unauthorized access or tampering.

Wasabi’s single-tier storage model simplifies data management by removing the need for complex tiering structures. Organizations can retrieve archived files without navigating multiple storage levels or incurring retrieval fees.

Cloud Tiering

Wasabi’s cloud tiering solution provides a cost-effective way to manage long-term data storage without the complexity of traditional multi-tier systems. Unlike legacy storage models that require organizations to balance primary, warm, and archive tiers, Wasabi offers a single-tier approach that combines the affordability of cold storage with the performance of warm storage.

By leveraging Wasabi’s cloud tiering, organizations can free up on-premises storage while ensuring critical data remains instantly accessible. The solution eliminates unpredictable retrieval fees, making it easier to manage large datasets without cost concerns.

Wasabi also provides flexible controls for data management, allowing organizations to automate file movement based on time, file size, or storage thresholds. This ensures efficient use of storage resources while maintaining seamless access to archived data.

Tips from the Expert
Picture of Catalin Voicu
Catalin Voicu
Catalin is a seasoned Systems Engineer at N2W with extensive experience spanning cloud technologies and enterprise IT. He bridges the gap between complex infrastructure challenges and practical, customer-focused solutions. With a deep understanding of AWS and the full spectrum of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, he brings clarity to the cloud—sometimes with a dash of Romanian trivia to keep things interesting.
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  • Combine Wasabi with a secondary backup location for redundancy: pairing it with another backup target (on-premises or another cloud provider) ensures business continuity in the event of an unexpected outage.
  • Use Wasabi object lock alongside versioning: combining the two allows you to roll back to earlier file states in case of partial corruption or unwanted modifications, creating a robust defense against ransomware.
  • Run data verification and integrity checks post-migration: run regular integrity checks (via checksum validation) to confirm that critical backup files remain intact and unaltered. This guards against silent data corruption over time.
  • Optimize backup scheduling with fast restore objectives: design backup schedules that minimize backup windows. If backups are time-sensitive, take advantage of Wasabi’s speed in off-peak hours for maximum performance.
  • Automate backup testing and recovery simulations: automate test runs to ensure that backed-up data can be restored within the target RTO and RPO parameters. Since Wasabi doesn’t charge for egress, regular drills will not incur unexpected costs.

BC/DR Tutorial: Storing Backups in Wasabi with N2W 

N2W is a cloud-native backup and disaster recovery solution designed for AWS and Azure environments. By integrating N2W with Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, organizations can create cost-effective, secure, and scalable backup repositories. 

N2W integration with Wasabi provides affordable, streamlined cross-cloud protection strategy, perfect for strict regulatory demands that require off-site, isolated backups. This tutorial outlines the steps to configure Wasabi as a storage target for N2W backups, ensuring efficient data protection and recovery.

Prerequisites

Before configuring N2W with Wasabi, ensure the following requirements are met:

  • An active Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage account
  • Access to the Wasabi Console as the root user
  • A configured N2W instance with an existing worker setup

Step 1: Create a Wasabi Bucket

  1. Log in to the Wasabi Console as the root user.
  2. Create a new bucket following the instructions in Wasabi’s “Working With Buckets and Objects” guide.
  3. Note: Do not enable Versioning or Object Lock, as N2W does not currently support these features.
  4. Save the bucket name for later use.

Step 2: Configure an IAM Policy

  1. Create a custom Wasabi IAM policy to restrict access to the bucket. Use the following JSON policy, replacing placeholders with your account details:
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:ListAllMyBuckets",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "iam:GetUser",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_NUMBER:user/USER_NAME"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:*",
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME",
        "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME/*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
  1. Replace the following values in the policy:
    • ACCOUNT_NUMBER: Your Wasabi account ID
    • USER_NAME: The username for the IAM user
    • BUCKET_NAME: The name of your Wasabi bucket

Step 3: Create a Wasabi User

  1. In the Wasabi Console, create a new user account.
  2. Select Programmatic (create API keys) as the access type.
  3. Assign the previously created IAM policy to the user.
  4. Download and securely store the Access Key and Secret Key—these are required for N2W integration.

Step 4: Configure Wasabi in N2W

  1. Log in to your N2W instance.
  2. Navigate to Accounts > New > Wasabi Account.
  3. Enter a name for the Wasabi account and provide the Access Key and Secret Key obtained earlier.
  4. Click Save—the Wasabi account should now be visible in N2W.

Step 5: Create a Wasabi Storage Repository

  1. In N2W, go to Storage Repositories > New > Wasabi S3 Repository.
  2. Assign a name to the repository.
  3. Select your Wasabi account and the previously created bucket.
  4. Click Save to finalize the configuration.

Step 6: Modify a Backup Policy

  1. In N2W, navigate to Policies and either select an existing policy or create a new one.
  2. On the Backup Targets screen, select additional AWS or Azure instances if needed.
  3. Under Lifecycle Management, configure the following:
    • Enable Use Storage Repository.
    • Set “Copy one backup every ‘x’ generations to Storage Repository” to 1 (ensuring each backup is stored in Wasabi).
    • Define retention policies for backups stored in Wasabi.
    • Select Wasabi as the target repository.
  4. Click Save to apply the changes.

Step 7: Perform a Test Backup

  1. Navigate to Policies and select the backup policy to test.
  2. Click Run ASAP to initiate the backup.
  3. Monitor the backup process in the Backup Monitor tab:
    • Once the AWS/Azure snapshot is complete, Wasabi storage should show a Lifecycle Status of “Storing to Storage Repository.”
  4. Verify the backup in the Wasabi Console by checking the designated bucket for stored objects.

Step 8: Perform a Test Restore

  1. In N2W, go to the Backup Monitor tab.
  2. Select the test backup and click Recover.
  3. Choose the following restore options:
    • Restore from: Select the Wasabi repository.
    • Restore to Account: Choose the appropriate AWS/Azure account.
    • Restore to Region: Specify the target region.
  4. Click Recover Instance and confirm the action.
  5. Monitor the Recovery Monitor tab until the status updates to “Recovery succeeded.”

By following these steps, you can successfully integrate N2W with Wasabi for efficient, low-cost, and scalable cloud backups.

Learn more about N2W with Wasabi

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