Does Your Business Have A Disaster Recovery Plan?
When most business owners and managers are asked how they would cope in the event
of a disaster that would result in losing all of their data, the answer is overwhelmingly that they wouldnt cope at all. The fact is that many businesses face either closing down their operations permanently if their data records are lost in a disaster. Total data loss can occur in many disaster scenarios, such as fire, flood, a combination of both from a fire sprinkler system, burglary and theft, equipment failure, tsunami; I think you get the idea... And thats just data. There is also loss of connectivity to the Internet, computer hardware loss and internal network disruptions. It seems that the more a business is dependent on technology to run, the more vulnerable it becomes if the technology fails.
So what can be done to prevent the business going under in these scenarios other than avoiding the use of technology or simply relying on insurance to bail you out? The answer is a comprehensive disaster recovery plan.
How Long Can You Go Without Your Data?
The first question to ask yourself, apart from whether your business would survive a catastrophic loss of data: How long can you last without access to your data and the business processes that rely on it? This determines several things, like how often your data needs to be backed up and how quickly your DRP needs to be able to be implemented. If your business cant afford to be without its essential data for more than 24 hours, your DRP needs to take that into account to prevent being down for any longer than that.
Local Backup
In order to protect your data in the case of a disaster, there obviously needs to be a solution in place that will prevent it being unrecoverable. While backing up data to disk on the premises is prudent, do not rely on data being backed up manually. Such a regime is onerous and probably wont be kept up on a regular basis for a long period of time. Theres nothing worse than forgetting to do a backup and then losing everything the next day. While USB drives, flash cards and DVD can be good for moving data from one point to another, capacity is very limited when attempting to back up your entire business data. These mediums are notoriously unstable too, with a generally short lifespan. Also, what about the fire or flood scenario? A proper DRP needs to protect your data from the prospect of your place of business suddenly becoming a hole in the ground, taking all your equipment with it.
Remote Backup
The solution then is to back your data up remotely. Remote backup is best achieved using a hard disk rotation process. In this situation, your data is securely encrypted and transferred over the Internet to a remote server where it is stored on a hard drive. This hard drive is usually mirrored to another hard drive (instantly duplicated) in case the first one has any problems. As the hard drive gets full, the hard disk is swapped with an empty one and stored in a secure location, like a fire proof safe.
Virtual Servers
A virtual server is basically one actual machine that runs a number of virtual machines. This means that you can have your email server, accounting software, and other services that your business might otherwise run on separate machines on just one machine. Because of the increased power of computer hardware these days, one server can now do the work of what used to require multiple machines. This not only saves money on hardware, its much easier to backup. In this case a snapshot can be taken of each virtual machine in one sweep and remotely back it up. Using virtual servers can also save a heap on your power bills, by the way.
Equipment Redundancy
An effective DRP will have a strategy in place for the possibility that your server equipment might suddenly be rendered inoperable. To mitigate this, you need to have replacement hardware close at hand. The best advice is to not have the replacement hardware based on your premises, or if you do, have another set of hardware available in a location other than your business premises, perhaps at your IT support providers premises held in trust. Depending on how critical it is to have your hardware operating in the shortest possible time, you probably dont want to have to be in a position where you need to ring all over town to buy new hardware at short notice. Chances are you may not be able to get the same parts as you had and you can get lost in server hardware compatibility semantics with computer stores. Your DRP should have all that sorted with a duplicate set of hardware that can be transported to replace your clapped server or any of its components with the least fuss and confusion.
Internet Redundancy
If your connection to the Internet goes down, what are the immediate implications to your business? Many businesses come to a grinding halt if they were left without Internet for any amount of time. To mitigate a loss of Internet connectivity a second connection is a good idea. If you have a DSL Internet connection, it makes sense to have a second connection with a second provider. Both should be fast broadband unless your business can actually run on dialup speeds which is doubtful. Having two Internet connections to the same building from the same Internet provider for the purpose of having a backup is a mistake because in most cases if one of the connections fails then both will be out of action. Its important then to get the second connection from a company with its own DSlams at the exchange (if youre not sure what this is, AWD can determine this.) Both connections can be run through a load balancing router so that you can utilise the speed and data from both. A load balancing router can also automatically switch to a single connection if the other fails.
AWD: Your DRP Failsafe
If your business wouldnt survive a data disaster and dont have a disaster recovery plan, you are playing a dangerous game of chance. No business should be operating without a plan to mitigate against data loss, but the plan needs to realistically assess an appropriate strategy based on how the business operates and what your thresholds are for loss. AWD can put a DRP in place that is measured against these factors, as well as set up and deliver on the guarantee that your essential business data is obliteration proof, nuclear attack notwithstanding of course. Contact us today!
by: David Lopez
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