The term "disaster recovery" is often used these days in an Information Technology context. When you speak of a disaster in a business context, it typically means loss of records, data, hardware and software to such an extent that normal business operations have become severely impaired or even impossible. Most business operations are so heavily dependent on Information Technology that without it, operations can grind to a halt.
Disaster recovery is the process of getting business operations up an running after they have been stopped because of a major information systems failure. The disaster can be the results of a natural disaster or a human action that had disastrous consequences.
How Do You Plan for Disaster Recovery?
Identifying key business data and arranging for regular backup, is a key element of disaster recovery planning. Storing backed up data at a separate location makes it possible to recover the data when a natural disaster destroys the equipment at the primary location. However there could still be data on the damaged system(s) that was not backed up, and this needs to be quantified and a decision made whether or not to manually re-input the data or to attempt a recovery of as much pertinent data as possible from the affected system.
The separate location for backup can be a secure third party Web resource. The location can also be a remote backup facility with storage area networks spread over different sites to ensure the data is doubly protected.
You should regularly test that the backed up data is recoverable. Backup data can become irrecoverable for several reasons, including incorrect backup practices. The backup procedures should be subject to periodical audit.
Minimizing the chances of data loss is another major element of disaster recovery planning. This is done through such precautions as:
Ensuring the quality and continuity of power supply by using surge protectors and UPS/Backup generators
Organizing quick fire detection and easy to use extinguisher facilities
Using anti-virus and firewall software to prevent malicious intrusions by outside entities
Making personnel aware of the serious consequences of data loss and training them in the precautions to be observed
The final element in the disaster recovery plan deals with just that, DISASTER RECOVERY. This plan will list the actions to be taken if a disaster does strike. For example:
Inform staff about the problem and assigning them specific business and data recovery-related tasks
Inform customers about the likely impact of whatever happened and indicate when to expect resumption of operations
Organize to restore data from backups, wherever they happen to be
With the above kind of planning, you would be ready to recover quickly from even a major disaster.
Conclusion
In today's context, disaster recovery typically means recovering from an Information Technology related disaster, such as loss of data, records, hardware and software. Modern business is so heavily dependent on IT support that it can come to a stop if that support is lost.
Disaster recovery has to be planned much in advance. Off-site backups, data loss prevention measures and specific action plans if a disaster does strike are important elements of a disaster recovery plan but also a ready agreed contract with a hard drive rebuilder and data recovery specialist is advised.
Disaster recovery planning (DRP) is of utmost importance in the computing world of today. Modern day businesses rely heavily on multiple computers and automated systems. When computer services in an organisation are rendered unusable, the entire business functioning gets disrupted. The primary aim of a business contingency plan is, therefore, to minimise such work disruption and ensure some form of orderly recovery. Apart from this, the DRP also aims at ensuring the functionality of the standby systems when the need arises, and works at minimising the risk caused by delays.
However, the ultimate aim of such planning is to provide a sense of security to the employees and entrepreneurs, for quite a few among them are adherers of Murphy's Law: ?Everything that can go wrong will go wrong.?
Disaster assumes many forms. It can either be a natural calamity that causes mass destruction or some other problem that plagues the computer system causing a loss of data.
9 out of 10 times occurrences of data loss can be pinned down to human error, or software and hardware-related problems. Virus is another causative factor, though not as significant as the other three factors cumulatively put together.
Any loss of data badly affects businesses, for downtime costs are high. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK could be wasting approximately ? 63.855 billion per annum as a result of downtime loss. 4 out of 10 companies (that have been part of the survey) stated that absence of data for more than 3 days jeopardises their business survival. Every company has to realise the importance of a DRP and formulate one, for half of the data losers are known to close down within a 6-month period.
A Disaster Recovery Plan
A disaster recovery plan should not just take into account the worst case scenarios; it should also have workable alternatives for moderate business impediments too. A proper plan should at least anticipate five problems to business continuity and work out suitable measures to tackle expected eventualities.
Moreover, a DRP does not just pertain to the IT department, as is commonly believed. A proper plan takes into account the employees, process, the technology and the location.
Of these four, technology plays an important role, for technological problems result in a data loss. It is important that all the generated data is backed up in a remote backup server. Sensitive documents should be micro-filmed, and finally creation of storage area networks (SAN) should be considered. SAN is attaching a remote computer data storage device to the servers in such a manner that the operating system recognises it as a locally attached device. Though usage of SAN is turning economical, it is only the big enterprises which avail this facility.
Secondly, upon formulation of a DRP, the employees must be sufficiently informed to make them aware of their role in an emergency. Chaotic employees fail the best laid plans.
Another vital aspect of the business is the location and business locations should be protected by surge protectors and fire protection measures. A backup site should also be selected to enable business relocation in times of emergency. These backup locations are classified into three ? cold, warm and hot. Of these the cold site is the most inexpensive; for it neither includes the requisite hardware nor backup versions of data from the original location. A warm site is one which contains the requisite hardware sans the backup copies of data. The most expensive of these is the hot site which contains the necessary infrastructure to resume normal business operations within hours of a disaster.
The type of location that has to be chosen should be pre-decided considering the entailed cost against the benefit. Formulating an all-comprehensive DRP is important and its nature varies according to the size and nature of the organisation. Some business enterprises, realising the vitality of a DRP, spend about 25% of their resources on it. However, it has also been noted that only half the businesses ever plan for a disaster and those who have planned have not checked the veracity of their planning. An untried plan is as good as no plan.
Both Andy Butler & James Walsh are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Andy Butler has sinced written about articles on various topics from Legal Matters, Data Recovery and Software. About Author:Andy Butler from ABC Data Recovery writes about visit. Andy Butler's top article generates over 1900 views. to your Favourites.
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