Disaster recovery is not about recovering from a disaster, but
planning for one, as business continuity is crucial. This involves
up-to-date technology and well-informed IT staff members (in-house
or outsourced) who will implement several phases of your disaster
recovery plan. Your business must be up and running at all times.
In the small and medium-sized arena, this is even more crucial, as
resources and budgets are usually more scarce, and a disaster --
whether a human error or a technological one -- could easily damage
your credibility. Take a look at these resources, case studies,
advice columns and tips for planning and maintaining a sound
disaster recovery plan.
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visit our main
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Table of contents
Disaster recovery plans: Points to consider
Disaster recovery outsourcing: Simple and cheap
Disaster recovery still not a priority for most CIOs
Disaster recovery checklist: Networks
More
resources
[Greg Schulz, Contributor]Disaster recovery (DR) plans and strategies run the gamut from
relatively simple and straightforward to complex and all
encompassing, depending on need and applicable threats. While
applicable threats are generally the same for small and
medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, the relative
scale of the environment and resulting impact and disruption to
your business are what set SMBs apart. Here are some things to
consider when creating a DR plan:
- What could happen and what is most likely to happen, and how
will it affect your business?
Example: If email is an essential enabler for your business,
then it needs to have a DR focus. Could you revert to manual
processes for some period of time, and if so, for how long and at
what expense to your business? Identify what needs to be protected
along with what is required in order to restart, restore and
recover your business applications and data.
Learn more in "
Disaster recovery plans: Points to consider." Also:
[Herman Mehling, Contributor]The thought of a disaster wiping out or crippling your small or
medium-sized business probably crosses your mind more than you'd
care to admit. One way to minimize the effects of a disaster is to
outsource your DR to a third party.
Assess your needs: Before you begin researching a third
party or service provider, you must determine whether you have
sufficient resources in-house to cope with a disaster. Does your
staff have enough knowledge? Do you have the proper facilities and
hardware?
There are three approaches for ascertaining staff knowledge:
Ask what your staff can do. This is an informal approach.
You can find out a lot by simply asking your staff members what
they can and can't do.
Find out what else you can do in
"
Disaster recovery outsourcing: Simple and cheap." Also:
[Matt Bolch, Contributor]DR and business continuity (BC) plans often fall through the
cracks as IT staffs and company executives focus more on fixing
problems that crop up and keeping up with competitors in an
increasingly nimble global economy.
According to Stephanie Balaouras, a senior analyst at Forrester
Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., a company's organizational chart
can play a huge role in whether it has a plan. While business
continuity plans often fall under the purview of a senior-level
executive, DR plans generally are left to the IT department, which
must make a compelling business case to upper management to receive
approval to spend staff time and resources on developing a
plan.
Learn more in "
Disaster recovery still not a priority for most CIOs."
Also:
[David Davis, Contributor]This checklist, which is broken down into four topical areas --
general network considerations, LAN, WAN and network infrastructure
applications -- can help you focus your disaster recovery planning
effort to make sure your network is adequately protected.
General network considerations
- When preparing a DR plan, remember to take "partial disasters"
into account. For example, if your Internet circuit is down for 48
hours but all other services are functional, what is your plan? Not
all disasters include "total destruction of your primary data
center."
- Diagram your current network and identify network devices. What
is the criticality of these devices? How do those devices fit into
the business-impact studies that determine the criticality of
company infrastructure?
Learn more in "
Disaster recovery checklist: Networks." Also: