- Yandex has restored access to 97.16% of customer data in Yandex Cloud following drone attacks on its data centers.
- 2.84% of data was irrecoverably lost due to critical hardware damage and the absence of client-side backups.
- The company has enabled default backup for all new virtual machines and restored photo/video auto-upload in Yandex Disk.
Yandex Cloud Data Recovery Update
Russian cloud operator Yandex has announced the restoration of access to 97.16% of customer data within its Yandex Cloud service. This follows a series of drone attacks on its data centers in early October, which, according to Ukrainian press, were ordered by Kyiv. These incidents caused a fire and subsequent outage at Yandex’s ru-central1-b availability zone and disrupted other company cloud and payment services.
The company confirmed that 2.84% of customer data was irrecoverably lost. This loss was attributed to “critical hardware damage and a lack of backups on the platform.” Yandex highlighted that clients who utilized Yandex Cloud’s backup tools experienced no data loss.
Enhanced Data Protection Measures
In response to the incidents, Yandex has decided to enable backups by default for all new virtual machines created by customers in its cloud. This measure aims to bolster data protection, though it will mean customers will consume and pay for more Yandex resources unless they explicitly opt out of the automated backups.
Furthermore, Yandex has restored the auto-upload functionality for photos and videos in Yandex Disk, marking a near-completion of the service’s recovery after the infrastructure damage. The project team continues its efforts to restore other files stored on Yandex Disk, including documents, audio, and video recordings.
New Availability Zone and Hybrid Cloud Strategy
Amid recovery efforts, Yandex also launched a new availability zone named ru-central1-f, located in a “new location.” However, the company has imposed quotas limiting resource access in this new zone and stated it cannot yet handle traffic to private endpoints. These limitations may stem from challenges in provisioning sufficient infrastructure, potentially exacerbated by international sanctions restricting technology product sales to Russia.
Yandex is actively promoting a hybrid cloud approach for data protection strategies, especially given the ongoing geopolitical landscape. The company cites its Stackland product, which brings its cloud stack on-prem, as an example of a hybrid solution. This offers an alternative for businesses seeking greater control over their data. For more on cloud innovation, explore how AMD MEXT offers significant DRAM cost savings for EPYC servers.
| Parameter | Pre-Incident | Post-Recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Yandex Cloud Data Restored | N/A | 97.16% |
| Irrecoverably Lost Data | N/A | 2.84% |
| VM Backups | Optional | Default enabled |
| Yandex Disk Photo/Video Auto-upload | Available | Restored |
For Yandex Cloud customers, this incident underscores the critical importance of implementing robust backup strategies and understanding their data recovery options. The new default backup policy for VMs, while enhancing security, necessitates that users monitor resource consumption and potential costs. In the context of ongoing geopolitical risks and infrastructure constraints, considering hybrid cloud solutions and diversifying data storage becomes increasingly relevant for businesses and individual users relying on cloud services.
While it’s positive that Yandex restored most data, the 2.84% irrecoverable loss is significant for those affected. Mandating default backups is a good step, but it also means increased costs for users, which isn’t explicitly highlighted as a drawback. The new availability zone having quotas and not handling private endpoints also suggests underlying infrastructure challenges that could impact service reliability and scalability, despite the recovery efforts.