No matter how well-configured your web hosting servers are, there is always the possibility that they will be damaged in a disaster.
Disasters are unavoidable, and they can result in disgruntled consumers, financial losses, and a tarnished brand for your company.
Fortunately, certain precautions can be taken to preserve continuity in the event of a tragedy.
A comprehensive disaster server disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a guaranteed guideline for getting your server up and running as soon as feasible.
So, exactly what is a disaster recovery plan? Let’s take a closer look.
What is Disaster Recovery Plan?
A server disaster recovery plan is a written document that gives detailed instructions on how to manage unexpected events such as natural disasters, cyber-attacks, or human errors.
A disaster recovery plan’s techniques are intended to minimize the negative consequences of a disaster and get your website or online application back up and running as soon as feasible after the disaster.
You never know when a disaster may come, but you can prepare for it in advance. This is the plan for catastrophe recovery.
The more comprehensive your plan, the better prepared you will be in the event of a tragedy.
What Situations Should Be Considered in a DRP?
A Disaster Recovery Plan does not have to be confined to catastrophic data failures, such as a whole data center being knocked down by a natural disaster. It can also include extended DDoS attacks that knock important customer systems offline, equipment failure, and any other event that could result in a business emergency. The more extensive the DRP and the more scenarios studied, the less likely it is to have an impact on business operations.
The central study underpinning any DRP must be the Business Impact Analysis that takes into account all potential perils to the data or hardware such as:
- Data Loss
- Hardware failure
- Network outage
- Power outages
- Water leaks
- Prolonged cyber attacks
- Natural disasters
8 Steps Disaster Recovery Plan
DRP Templates are available online to help organize the disaster response process. Although there are other templates available, IBM has created a particularly handy disaster recovery template that may be copied or recreated for your company.
The steps below can help you design your own Disaster Recovery Plan:
1. Outline the DRP’s Primary Goals
Goals specified on the IBM DRP template that are generally relevant to any firm include:
- To reduce disruptions to routine operations.
- Limiting the scope of disruption and damage.
- To reduce the economic impact of the disruption.
- To plan ahead of time and prepare alternate modes of operation.
- To educate critical people about emergency procedures.
- To ensure a smooth and quick return of service.
2. Make a list of all the IT system hardware and applications.
You should keep an up-to-date inventory of the most crucial systems: hardware (equipment) and software (applications) as part of your disaster recovery plan. This should include the specifications required to initiate the repair, as well as vendor support contact information and emergency and daytime contact numbers. The name of the hardware manufacturer, model and serial numbers, cost, and lease or ownership status should all be included in the inventory.
3. Perform a thorough risk assessment of your company’s systems.
A effective disaster recovery plan examines all potential risks, such as data loss, cyber assaults, and natural disasters.
Include an assessment of potential dangers that could effect the operation of each IT asset with the inventory of hardware and software utilized throughout the organization. (Some hazards, such as potential water leaks, may be location-specific.) Examine electrical and other variables. Determine an acceptable recovery point goal (RPO) and recovery time target (RTO) for each set of applications and data.
4. Create the Budget
With decisions taken by senior management in collaboration with the IT and accounting departments, your business continuity plan entails a practical evaluation of possible and actual expenses for mitigation and disaster recovery.
If your existing server environment does not offer disaster recovery solutions, you need set aside money on a regular basis for useful service providers who can minimize company loss and assist you in quickly restarting corporate operations. Employees from your organization can be a part of a crisis management team, but you might want to think about hiring or retaining professionals to provide leadership in crucial areas.
Disaster recovery services are advantageous to many organizations. These businesses, also referred to as DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service), offer a wide range of services that will speed up your recovery. A “Hot Site” for your data storage might be arranged by a third-party supplier. Hot sites use the data from your main data center to instantly reproduce your current network configuration on backup sites. They frequently arrive as cloud services with the intention of preserving your company’s operations and offering data protection.
In the event of a disaster, they will be present to help with the restoration process so that business may restart as usual. They can frequently assist you in recovering corrupted or deleted data as well as crisis management. Depending on the amount of service, prices change.
5. Create and Prioritize a Three-Tier Disaster Recovery Plan
Hardware, software, and data that have been determined to be absolutely necessary for company operations and to be needed most urgently should be the primary emphasis of the DRP’s first tier. Hardware and software that are likewise crucial but without which the company could function for 10 to 24 hours make up the second recovery tier. The remaining hardware and software that the business requires to function properly make up the third tier and can be restored with minimal disruption in as little as a few days.
6. Focus on the Members of the Disaster Recovery Team
Along with the DRP, an organizational chart should be provided. Building a recovery team that is highly skilled, capable of acting quickly in the event of any crisis, with defined tasks and duties, as well as complete familiarity with the recovery plan stated in the DRP, is essential. Employees from within the company as well as outside professionals qualified to take the lead in crucial areas might make up your team.
Backup employees should also be prepared to fill in should a disaster occur when team members may be absent due to illness, vacation, or the disaster itself because you never know what kind of disaster may strike. Each team member should have particular duties assigned to them by the DRP, which should also outline the team’s important roles. It is crucial to have a clear understanding of the actions that must be taken after a catastrophe has been declared by the recovery team leader, their order, and how team roles and duties interact. A clear understanding of “who is responsible for what” is vitally essential since it fosters a shared understanding of the recovery strategy and supports its successful execution.
7. Develop A Communication Plan
A written communication strategy is essential for the use of team members to ensure business continuity, just as crucial as having an organized approach to disaster recovery, promoted by a well-thought-out DR plan. Recovery Team members must be able to interact with one another through alternate channels in the event that regular channels are disrupted during a disaster, from the initial notification to the finalization of the recovery process.
For how you’re going to communicate with your clients, you’ll need distinct DR plans. Depending on the size of your business, you could need more than one way to contact your clients. Every minute you are down will cost you money if customers can’t access your service. As a result, this strategy should include detail how and who will communicate with customers to keep them informed throughout the outage.
8. Include Details on a Backup Worksite Location.
Any well-designed DRP should have instructions that allow staff to congregate at a different location during a crisis and keep working while the system is down. A ‘cold site’ is a predetermined alternative location such as this. Until the recovery process has advanced to the point where equipment and communications are once again accessible, an alternative site could potentially mean that staff work from home.
How to Maintain Disaster Recovery Plan
Any firm would be wise to invest in a plan, and checking the DRP regularly is advised to be done twice a year. Any modifications to the plan or the replacement of persons who are essential to its implementation should be followed by testing.
When your DR plan is finished and tested, be careful to save many original copies of the document in a secure but easily accessible location off-site. You should also maintain them in physical and electronic form because you never know when or how a calamity will strike.
To make sure the plan is efficient, that the restoration process can be completed in the required amount of time, and that all staff is ready to react quickly and effectively in the event of an actual disaster, a working copy should be used for periodic testing and personnel drills. The DRP should always be updated to address any areas of weakness based on test results. Test often and constantly adjusting the outcomes.
ASPHostPortal Disaster Recovery Plan
It sounds complicated to create a server disaster recovery plan. That is, in fact, the case. Making a thorough DRP is no easy task, and disaster preparedness might take some time.
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Yury Sobolev is Full Stack Software Developer by passion and profession working on Microsoft ASP.NET Core. Also he has hands-on experience on working with Angular, Backbone, React, ASP.NET Core Web API, Restful Web Services, WCF, SQL Server.
