| If you're in your office right now, look up. Do you | | | | Building your plan |
| see a sprinkler head? What would you company | | | | The 3 major issues in building a disaster recovery |
| do if that thin piece of red plastic broke? | | | | plan are recovery point, time to recovery, and |
| Unfortunately IT disaster recovery scenarios are | | | | budget. |
| all too common for small businesses. Data gets | | | | Recovery Point |
| stolen. Buildings flood, and hardware fails. The | | | | How much data can you lose? Is some data |
| businesses that survive these interruptions | | | | more important than other data? What data is |
| planned ahead. They brought a life preserver | | | | absolutely critical for the business to survive? |
| despite the seas looking calm. In the case of | | | | Maybe some email can be lost, but the blue prints |
| disaster recovery, the life preserver is a formal | | | | or accounting information is invaluable. Your |
| disaster recovery plan. | | | | recovery point is the definition of what the |
| What goes into a disaster recovery plan? | | | | system needs to look like once everything has |
| Most companies start and stop their plans with | | | | been fixed. |
| tape backup, but that is rarely sufficient. Untested | | | | Time to recovery |
| tape backup fails at jaw-dropping rate, and many | | | | How long can the business be down? Can some |
| times data recovery takes so long that the | | | | parts of the business be down longer than |
| business might as well be retyping every | | | | others? When does everything need to be back |
| document and email. | | | | to normal? Each business will answer this question |
| A disaster recovery plan should be a formal | | | | differently, and this standard will heavily influence |
| document that is printed, laminated, and stored in | | | | the type of solution chosen. |
| multiple places off-site. It not only answers | | | | Budget |
| questions about backing up and recovering data | | | | If money were not object, every business would |
| but also how to rebuild the network and start | | | | want their IT up and running immediately and to |
| over. | | | | the fullest extent possible after a disaster. Of |
| The following are some common elements in a | | | | course, that probably isn't the case. |
| disaster recovery plan. | | | | Budget falls into two categories. First, there is |
| - Definition of responsibilities during a disaster - | | | | some cost for preparing for the disaster. |
| Who can declare a disaster? Who orders new | | | | Developing a disaster recovery plan, setting up |
| hardware, notifies vendors, contacts employees? | | | | the backup solution, and perhaps even buying |
| - Directions for recovering from the disaster. Who | | | | redundant hardware all contribute to this expense. |
| does what, when? | | | | The second cost comes after the disaster has |
| - Phone tree and emergency contact information | | | | struck. This might include the cost to buy new |
| for all employees; | | | | hardware, set up the network, and restore from |
| - Contact information for vendors and key | | | | backup. Estimates for this cost should also be |
| personnel external to the company. | | | | included in the plan. Having a plan is worthless if |
| - Full documentation of existing hardware, | | | | the plan is too expensive to implement. |
| network, and software; | | | | Whatever your disaster recovery plan looks like, |
| - Budget for rebuilding the network; | | | | remember to print it out. If you only have an |
| - Plan for temporary space or access to virtual | | | | electronic copy and your server crashes, you'll be |
| servers as applicable; | | | | starting from scratch. |
| - Key customer information as applicable; | | | | |