Issue link: https://insights.oneneck.com/i/1190444
7 DISASTER RECOVERY GUIDE – Powered by ZERTO Disaster Recovery as business strategy Since data loss and downtime have direct impact on the business, disaster recovery is an issue that should be decided upon based on strategic business criteria and goals. Questions like how much downtime a business can survive and how much data loss would be acceptable – setting RTO and RPO – are impossible to answer from only a technical level. The answers depend on revenue streams that come from IT systems, the value that is associated with corporate data, logistics and other business processes that heavily depend on IT. The bottom line: though a lot of technology is involved, disaster recovery is a key element to effectively support business goals. Decide what is truly critical When it comes to developing a disaster recovery strategy, it is important to realize that not all systems, applications and data are equally business-critical. For the core applications, a working DR strategy involving a remote DR site, low RTO/RPO (low data loss and short recovery time), and a tested recovery plan, is essential. For other applications and types of data, less expensive solutions and higher RPO/RTO might be more acceptable. Prioritization is a key element for disaster recovery planning. Review what downtime can be tolerated for each application with line of business owners. It will become clear which ones need to be available fast with minimal data loss. There may even be some applications that a business can do without for hours. The important step here is to set the service level across the board, so there is agreement and there are no surprises when a disaster occurs. BC/DR is a financial decision To design a DR solution various structures and many solutions are available. They all come with a cost. The cheapest solution is probably an old-fashioned backup, but this is not enough in modern environments. When implementing a remote DR site, there is a choice between a standby copy of the production site at another location, or a cloud-based service (DRaaS). Choosing between these two is also a choice between Capex and Opex, between the expenses and costs of owning a solution or the operational costs of an online service. Another consideration is the number of tools that will be included in the BC/DR plan. A DR plan that relies on many different and complex technologies will lead to a complex and difficult recovery process. When the pressure is on, using several different tools can lead to errors when they are the most costly. DR is governance When it comes to DR larger enterprises encounter compliance and governance issues as well. Data regulations are becoming stricter and meeting them must be part of a DR strategy as well. To comply, procedures need to be documented and solutions need to be tested and reliable. The question whether and where data is stored in the cloud and who is in control of the cloud data is a question of complying as well.