The Basics of Disaster Recovery Planning

The Essential Steps

Developing a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) can be a difficult task. It requires you to consider different factors such as the varying requirements of each stakeholder and consulting with multiple teams. In addition, the amount of time it takes to consult and plan with everyone can be intimidating. But it doesn’t have to be. In this blog, we’ll go over the basics of developing a fully functional disaster recovery plan. 

Ensure Critical Service Levels are Continually Met

Sometimes a disastrous service disruption is unavoidable. However, having a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) in place can ensure that your organization can quickly recover data and assets needed for productivity. Moreover, it can guarantee that critical services are delivered in the event of an emergency.

A thorough DRP includes:

• Plans, measures, and arrangements to provide uninterrupted delivery of critical services. 
• Identifies key resources to support business continuity. 

In addition, a DRP can benefit you and your business by improving overall organizational efficiency and identifying critical human and financial resources essential for service delivery. 

Simplifying Disaster Recovery

When creating a DRP, an organization can start by ranking critical systems by order of importance and using defined backup levels based on their criticality and restore time. Some people might take budget as the first factor to consider when planning. Budget is an important factor. However, recovery requirements should be prioritized in planning and then make decisions based on the budget.

The 3.2.1 Rule

When developing a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP), having three copies of data on hand is always a best practice. 

1. In production
2. Stored as a local backup copy
3. Stored as a copy off-site with a cloud backup service provider. 

Doing so can help organizations develop an “air gap” between on-premise systems connected to the local area network and the offsite backup. In addition, following the 3.2.1 rule ensures that the organization’s data is safe and unaffected by the risks identified in the Disaster Recovery Plan. 

Source: HostedBizz, https://hostedbizz.com/blog/essential-steps-it-disaster-recovery-plan/ 

Photo Credit: HostedBizz