{"id":761,"date":"2011-09-09T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T16:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/?p=761"},"modified":"2014-11-08T13:08:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-08T21:08:00","slug":"what-is-a-disaster-recovery-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/what-is-a-disaster-recovery-plan","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Disaster Recovery Plan?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/leaky-pipe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-764\" title=\"Leaky Pipe\" src=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/leaky-pipe-300x227.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/leaky-pipe-300x227.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/leaky-pipe.jpg 430w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A <strong><a title=\"Wikipedia:  Disaster Recovery (Plan)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Disaster_recovery_plan\" target=\"_blank\">Disaster Recovery Plan<\/a><\/strong> is a comprehensive, well thought out, and tested process document that maps out how to respond during disaster scenarios including events such as fires, floods, earthquakes or other disasters. The plan also addresses more mundane situations such as equipment failure, human error, theft, or other localized events.<\/p>\n<p>Generally, a <a title=\"Wikipedia: Disaster Recovery (Plan)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Disaster_recovery_plan\" target=\"_blank\">Disaster Recovery Plan<\/a> (DRP) focuses on Information Technology (IT) systems while a Business Continuity Plan\u00a0(BCP) is a more generalized plan to keep all parts of the business running during disruptive events. \u00a0A DRP for even a small business can run 50 or more pages, and reads like a step by step instruction manual on how to recover each critical application, service, and\u00a0piece\u00a0of equipment in case of failure or disaster.<\/p>\n<h2>Key Disaster Recovery Metrics<\/h2>\n<p>There are two key metrics in DR plans you should become familiar with.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a title=\"Wikipedia:  RPO\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Recovery_point_objective\" target=\"_blank\">Recovery Point Objective (RPO)<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; the maximum acceptable data loss before an event, usually measured in hours.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a title=\"Wikipedia:  RTO\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Recovery_time_objective\" target=\"_blank\">Recovery Time Objective (RTO)<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; the maximum acceptable time a service or application may be unavailable, usually measured in hours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Suppose that at noon on a Monday a business suffers a devastating fire. \u00a0An\u00a0<strong>RPO<\/strong> of one hour specifies that all data created one hour before the event (before 11AM), must be safely available at an alternate location. \u00a0Information (data) created between 11AM and noon may be lost, and is acceptable given an RPO of one hour. \u00a0The <strong>RTO<\/strong> of 24 hours means that the recovery team has until noon on Tuesday to bring the\u00a0application\u00a0back online.<\/p>\n<p>Your business must decide on an RPO and RTO for each application, service, or system in your plan, and they must be decided early on in the process. \u00a0These numbers will drive almost every planning and infrastructure decision later on.<\/p>\n<p>For most small to midsize companies a reasonable RTO and RPO is 24 hours, but it will vary from\u00a0company\u00a0to company and application to application. Keep in mind that as RPO and RTO values are set lower, costs rise significantly.<\/p>\n<h2>Hypothetical Situation<\/h2>\n<p>It is Monday afternoon, and Mary the Engineer, is wrapping up a design project due on Wednesday. \u00a0The <a title=\"Wikipedia: Server (computing)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Server_(computing)\" target=\"_blank\">server<\/a> where her project is stored and manipulated is acting a little slow, but still seems to be working, so she continues on with her work. \u00a0Another hour passes by and Mary receives\u00a0a warning message when trying to save her most recent work: \u00a0&#8220;Write Error.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mary frantically contacts Mark the IT manager at 1PM, who investigates and finds the server hardware inoperable and must be replaced. \u00a0Let&#8217;s see how this situation is likely to play out without a DRP, and then with a DRP in place.<\/p>\n<h3>Without A Disaster Recovery Plan<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-836 alignright\" title=\"Frustration\" src=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/lostfile.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"236\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Luckily, even though Mark does not have a DRP, he did take diligent backups of all data once per day. \u00a0Even with this\u00a0preparation, however, Mark must:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Order a new server from the vendor, and beg for\u00a0expedited\u00a0shipping.<\/li>\n<li>Locate all software required for the replacement server and prepare the recovery data.<\/li>\n<li>Physically install the server, when it arrives on <strong>Wednesday<\/strong>, 36 hours after the event.<\/li>\n<li>Install and configure the operating system, applications, and load recovered data.<\/li>\n<li>Test the application and make changes to the configurations that were missed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>After nearly two days waiting for replacement equipment, and one long hard day of work, Mary\u00a0is finally able return to her project on <strong>Thursday<\/strong> morning. \u00a0Mary\u00a0is frustrated that her\u00a0deadline was missed, that she has to work overtime just to submit the project late and explain the\u00a0situation\u00a0to the customer. \u00a0The customer is\u00a0disappointed\u00a0that the work is late, and wonders if they should look for a new vendor.<\/p>\n<p>It could have been even worse. \u00a0This assumes Mark took some reasonable precautions, was available when the problem happened, and actually knew how the server and application were configured\u00a0originally; these are not safe assumptions in many environments.<\/p>\n<p>This was also a\u00a0fairly\u00a0simple problem, just one system was impacted. \u00a0What if there was a flood or theft of multiple key systems? \u00a0Without a disaster recovery plan, chances are all data systems would be unavailable for a week or more, if they could ever be recovered.<\/p>\n<p>Having been in that situation a couple of times myself,<strong>\u00a0it&#8217;s no wonder that half of all companies with a plan in place executed at least part of it in 2008<\/strong>\u00a0[<a title=\"2008 Continuity Insights and KPMG Advisory Services Business Continuity Management Benchmarking Report\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20111119210336\/http:\/\/www.continuityinsights.com:80\/cdn\/cms\/CI-KPMG08-FinalResults.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">2008 Continuity Insights and KPMG Advisory Services Business Continuity Management Benchmarking Report<\/a>]. \u00a0Since half of companies used their DRP over a one year period, your business is almost\u00a0guaranteed\u00a0to execute some of your plan over several years, even if a major disaster does not strike.<\/p>\n<h3>With A Disaster Recovery Plan In Place<\/h3>\n<p>Now assume a disaster recovery plan was created earlier in the year with an RPO of one hour, and an RTO of 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the RPO of one hour, the server data was <a title=\"Wikipedia:  Storage Replication\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Storage_replication#Disk_storage_replication\" target=\"_blank\">mirrored<\/a>\u00a0to another location each hour and Mary\u00a0is reassured only her\u00a0most recent save will be lost. \u00a0Due to the RTO requirement of 24 hours, a spare server was purchased for situations like this.<\/p>\n<p>Mark jumps on the &#8220;disaster&#8221; and quickly begins configuring the spare server to replace the\u00a0damaged\u00a0one. \u00a0Since the recovery steps are well documented and tested in the Disaster Recovery plan, it takes Mark until just 2PM (1 hour) to get the server up and running and ready for the recovery data. \u00a0By 3PM all data is restored, Mary\u00a0is ready to continue on with her\u00a0work, and the Wednesday deadline is met.<\/p>\n<p>Note that this recovery only took about two hours to complete. \u00a0That&#8217;s because this\u00a0situation\u00a0was not catastrophic. \u00a0The RTO of 24 hours assumes the worst case scenario, such as a total building loss due to a fire, earthquake or flood. \u00a0In those cases it would have taken closer to 24 hours to recover.<\/p>\n<h3>Stuff Happens<\/h3>\n<p>Keep in mind that &#8220;stuff\u00a0happens&#8221; often, even when there is no life threatening disaster. \u00a0This video demonstrates just one example that causes major disruptions for computing equipment: \u00a0water. \u00a0Even more common are human errors, such as\u00a0incorrectly\u00a0configured equipment or software. \u00a0&#8220;Stuff&#8221; happens more often than many would like to admit.<\/p>\n<div><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/8lLI79fREJ4\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"420\" height=\"345\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/div>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>Get Started Now<\/h2>\n<p>I hope you now feel comfortable with what a disaster recovery plan is and are assured of its value. \u00a0It&#8217;s important to make a\u00a0commitment to creating your plan now, it is all too easy to put off for another day, and pretty soon it&#8217;s too late. \u00a0Every business needs at least a basic DRP.<\/p>\n<p>A final word of advice: \u00a0<strong>start small<\/strong>. \u00a0Disaster recovery planning can be very overwhelming, so pick a key location, key application, or key system and make sure that piece of your business is well protected. \u00a0If the starter project is chosen wisely, it will have clear and immediate value to your organization, and be an easy win when complete (okay, it won&#8217;t be that easy, but manageable).<\/p>\n<p>Still need help deciding on what is right for your\u00a0disaster recovery plan, or need help implementing an archive system or backup strategy? \u00a0Contact <a title=\"Contact Red Wire Services\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/contact\">Red Wire Services<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0<strong>(206) 829-8621<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Disaster Recovery Plan is a comprehensive, well thought out, and tested process document that maps out how to respond during disaster scenarios including events such as fires, floods, earthquakes or other disasters. The plan also addresses more mundane situations &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/what-is-a-disaster-recovery-plan\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,3],"tags":[37,34,32],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":76,"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}