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Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is the ability to recover from an event impacting the functioning of your organization's data center as quickly and completely as possible. The type of disaster may vary, but the end goal is always the same.

It is now generally recognized that Business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning are vital activities. However, the creation of (and maintenance of) a sound business continuity and disaster recovery plan, is a complex undertaking, involving a series of steps. The steps involved in disaster recovery are numerous and wide-ranging. Here is a high-level overview of the process, along with key points to keep in mind.

Creating, Testing, and Implementing a Disaster Recovery Plan

A backup site is vital, but it is still useless without a disaster recovery plan. A disaster recovery plan dictates every facet of the disaster recovery process, including but not limited to:

• What events denote possible disasters
• What people in the organization have the authority to declare a disaster and thereby put the plan into effect
• The sequence of events necessary to prepare the backup site once a disaster has been declared
• The roles and responsibilities of all key personnel with respect to carrying out the plan
• An inventory of the necessary hardware and software required to restore production
• A schedule listing the personnel that will be staffing the backup site, including a rotation schedule to support ongoing operations without burning out the disaster team members
• The sequence of events necessary to move operations from the backup site to the restored/new data center

Hardware and Software Availability

Your disaster recovery plan must include methods of procuring the necessary hardware and software for operations at the backup site. A professionally-managed backup site may already have everything you need (or you may need to arrange the procurement and delivery of specialized materials the site does not have available); on the other hand, a cold backup site means that a reliable source for every single item must be identified. Often organizations work with manufacturers to craft agreements for the speedy delivery of hardware and/or software in the event of a disaster.

Availability of Backups

When a disaster is declared, it is necessary to notify your off-site storage facility for two reasons: To have the last backups brought to the backup site; and To arrange regular backup pickup and dropoff to the backup site (in support of normal backups at the backup site)

Network Connectivity to the Backup Site

A data center is not of much use if it is totally disconnected from the rest of the organization that it serves. Depending on the disaster recovery plan and the nature of the disaster itself, your user community might be located miles away from the backup site. In these cases, good connectivity is vital to restoring production.

Another kind of connectivity to keep in mind is that of telephone connectivity. You must ensure that there are sufficient telephone lines available to handle all verbal communication with your users. What might have been a simple shout over a cubicle wall may now entail a long-distance telephone conversation; so plan on more telephone connectivity than might at first appear necessary.

Backup Site Staffing

The problem of staffing a backup site is multi-dimensional. One aspect of the problem is determining the staffing required to run the backup data center for as long as necessary. While a skeleton crew may be able to keep things going for a short period of time, as the disaster drags on more people will be required to maintain the effort needed to run under the extraordinary circumstances surrounding a disaster.

This includes ensuring that personnel have sufficient time off to unwind and possibly travel back to their homes. If the disaster was wide-ranging enough to affect peoples' homes and families, additional time must be allotted to allow them to manage their own disaster recovery. Temporary lodging near the backup site will be necessary, along with the transportation required to get people to and from the backup site and their lodgings.

Moving Back Toward Normalcy

Eventually, all disasters end. The disaster recovery plan must address this phase as well. The new data center must be outfitted with all the necessary hardware and software; while this phase often does not have the time-critical nature of the preparations made when the disaster was initially declared, backup sites cost money every day they are in use, so economic concerns dictate that the switchover take place as quickly as possible.

The last backups from the backup site must be made and delivered to the new data center. After they are restored onto the new hardware, production can be switched over to the new data center.

At this point the backup data center can be decommissioned, with the disposition of all temporary hardware dictated by the final section of the plan. Finally, a review of the plan's effectiveness is held, with any changes recommended by the reviewing committee integrated into an updated version of the plan.