Necessities to Your Disaster Recovery Plan

Although this is something no Data Center Manager wishes to implement, having a strong disaster recovery plan is a necessary evil. Natural disasters, human error, criminal activities and equipment failure are all possibilities that a data center disaster recovery plan must be ready for at all times. But what should be included or the main points of a data center disaster recovery plan? Here are the 5 most common suggestions from Data Center Managers across the country.

Risk Profiles

When a disaster does occur, there is a point where a organization determines that enough of the fail safes have failed that the disaster recovery process begins. Knowing exactly where this point is ahead of an event is the risk profile for yours specific business. Certain trigger points are reached and switch the process to disaster recovery. Have these trigger points already acknowledged and in the plan.

Documentation and Hierarchy

In the event of a disaster, the process should be documented for more than one person to be able to execute. There should be a clear process for the implementation of this process with the ability for numerous people to execute dependent on who is at the location. Documentation should be provided that includes step-by-step instructions for execution.

Prioritize

What data is restored in what order can save the business large amounts of money and increase restore efficiency. Having what data is restore first documented can improve the entire experience for all involved, including non-IT employees.

Review & Test 

Ideally, a company will test their plan once per quarter — if this isn’t viable, then twice per year should be the absolute minimum. In the case of highly regulated industries such as healthcare or finance where compliance is a priority, testing should be undertaken as regularly as monthly. Additionally, any time a major vendor or supplier is added to or altered within the infrastructure, testing of the new system should take place.