Disaster Recovery
Planning
A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a documented, structured approach that
describes how an organization can quickly resume work after an unplanned
incident. A DRP is an essential part of a business continuity plan (BCP).
A DRP aims to help an organization resolve data loss and recover system
functionality so that it can perform in the aftermath of an incident, even if
it operates at a minimal level.
Typically, disaster recovery planning involves an analysis of business
processes and continuity needs. Before generating a detailed plan, an
organization often performs a business impact analysis (BIA) and risk
analysis (RA), and it establishes recovery objectives.
Some types of disasters that organizations can plan for include:
·
Application failure
·
Communication failure
·
Data center disaster
·
Building disaster
·
Campus disaster
·
Citywide disaster
·
Regional disaster
·
National disaster
·
Multinational disaster
Recovery plan considerations
A disaster recovery strategy should start at the business level and
determine which applications are most important to running the organization.
The recovery time objective (RTO) describes the target amount of time a
business application can be down, typically measured in hours, minutes or
seconds. The recovery point objective (RPO) describes the age of files
that must be recovered from backup storage for normal operations to resume.
In determining a recovery strategy, organizations should consider such
issues as:
·
Budget
·
Insurance coverage
·
Resources, people and physical facilities
·
Management's position on risks
·
Technology
·
Data
·
Suppliers
·
Compliance requirements
Types of disaster recovery plans
DRPs can be specifically tailored for a given environment. Some
environment-specific plans include:
· Virtualized disaster recovery plan - Virtualization
provides opportunities to implement disaster recovery in a more efficient and
simpler way. Testing can also be easier to achieve, but the plan must include
the ability to validate that applications can be run in disaster recovery mode
and returned to normal operations within the RPO and RTO.
· Network disaster recovery plan - Developing a
plan for recovering a network gets more complicated as the complexity of the
network increases. It is important to detail the step-by-step recovery
procedure, test it properly and keep it updated.
· Cloud disaster recovery plan - Cloud disaster
recovery (cloud DR) can range from a file backup in the cloud to a complete
replication. Cloud DR can be space, time and cost-efficient, but maintaining
the disaster recovery plan requires proper
management.
· Data center disaster recovery plan - This type of
plan focuses exclusively on the data center facility and infrastructure. An
operational risk assessment is a key element in data center DRPs. It analyzes
key components such as building location, power systems and protection,
security, and office space.
NOTE: Especially in the current climate of pandemic, it
is important for organizations to have a Disaster Recovery Plan in place to
secure the vital asset and reduce the impact of the pandemic on organization
within a stimulated period of time.
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