Disaster Recovery

The need for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning has been highlighted recently by the continuing rapid increase in the dependency of business on technology and the series of headline-grabbing, thought-provoking disasters witnessed in recent years, caused by and including power failures, fuel shortages, storms and floods. As these disasters occupy prominent coverage by the news media, the senior management of virtually every company and governmental entity needs to consider and plan for the prospect of a disaster interrupting their operations by Disaster Recovery planning.

Disaster Recovery is a response to a declared disaster or a regional disaster. In case of IT or Computers, it is the restoration or recovery of an entire agent computer. As part of a Disaster Recovery, the agent computer is rebuilt, operating system installed, and then the agent software installed. The computer's data is then restored from a Network Attached Storage device. The media is delivered to the client at their normal site of operations or a designated alternate site.

Planning is the main part of Disaster Recovery: The focus of Disaster Recovery planning in the IT environment is the quick recovery of technical operations and services in the wake of a technology related disaster. Needless to say, this is no easy task. As can be expected, there is no singular definition for a technology related disaster and Disaster Recovery. Within the IT environment, disasters can arise out of any number of scenarios and consequences, including natural disasters (hurricanes or floods), tangible hardware or software failures, acts of malicious intent, or simple human error. The causes and combinations are so varied, individual events are difficult to predict. So, if we are to plan properly for disastrous events and contingencies by way of Disaster Recovery planning, we must look beyond specific catalysts and into the realm of consequence.

Disaster Recovery improved protection of vital assets occur. May that disastrous despite operation continued in the aiding and records vital organization, reconstructing or salvaging necessary, when and, identifying by of protection improved is plan disaster information an benefit important most The Disaster Recovery is more cost-effective protection of vital department records. The records Disaster Recovery plan is a close partner of business insurance and employee security.

Disaster Recovery plan for reduction of the risk of human disasters. Disaster plan serves as a catalyst for improved safety and security measures to reduce the risk of preventable, man-made disasters. Disaster Recovery management means that the plan encourages each department to review its essential contributions to the total organization, identify and correct potentially hazardous situations, measure the impact of specific disasters on personnel and operations, and assess its own ability to function effectively after a disaster.

For a records disaster prevention and recovery program to be effective, it should cover and involve all departments, divisions, or businesses housed in the same facility. For larger institutions, it could extend involvement in the plan to its off-site facility locations. Often large institutions will rely on separate facility locations as a resource for space, equipment and staff. The point is when departments are located in the same facility, if one goes, they all could go in the event of a disaster.

Many new products on the market and evolving technologies offer data-protection and Disaster Recovery capabilities. for example: HP One-Button Disaster Recovery is built into software and hardware compatibility and HP's entire family of DAT drives, DLT VS, and HP's new Ultrium-format tape drives, the Ultrium 215 and the Ultrium 230. HP One-Button Disaster Recovery has growing support from computer manufacturers and backup application vendors.

Any method of data protection and Disaster Recovery has its pros and cons. In general, depending on the IT funds available, it makes sense to use a combination of technologies that provide quick recovery in the event of data corruption or user error and provide complete recovery in the event of a disaster.

Disaster Recovery Plan

A Disaster Recovery Plan has become necessity in today’s highly competitive and volatile environment. In case of IT industry Disaster Recovery Plan covers both the hardware and software required to run critical business applications and the associated processes to transition smoothly in the event of a natural or human-caused disaster. To plan effectively by a Disaster Recovery Plan, you need to first assess your mission-critical business processes and associated applications before creating the full Disaster Recovery Plan.

Disaster Recovery Plan designed specifically for recovering hardware and software (e.g. data centers, application software, operations, personnel, telecommunications) in information system outages. It is not a two-month project, neither is it a project that you can forget about, once it is completed. An effective Disaster Recovery Plan is a live recovery plan. The plan must be maintained and tested/ exercised regularly.

An effective Disaster Recovery Plan consists of the following stages:

·       Programme description

·       Pre-planning activities (project initiation)

·       Vulnerability assessment and general definition of requirements

·       Business impact analysis

·       Detailed definition of requirements

·       Plan development

·       Testing programme

·       Maintenance programme

·       Initial plan testing and plan implementation.

The first step in drafting a Disaster Recovery Plan is conducting a thorough risk analysis of your computer systems. List all the possible risks that threaten system uptime and evaluate how imminent they are in your particular IT shop. Anything that can cause a system outage is a threat, from relatively common manmade threats like virus attacks and accidental data deletions to more rare natural threats like floods and fires. Determine which of your threats are the most likely to occur and prioritize them using a simple system: rank each threat in two important categories, probability and impact. In each category, rate the risks as low, medium, or high.

Disaster Recovery Plan, for example in a small Internet company (less than 50 employees) located in California could rate an earthquake threat as medium probability and high impact, while the threat of utility failure due to a power outage could rate high probability and high impact. So in this company's risk analysis, a power outage would be a higher risk than an earthquake and would therefore be a higher priority in the Disaster Recovery Plan.

Actually, a Disaster Recovery Plan is a comprehensive statement of consistent actions to be taken before, during and after a disaster. The Disaster Recovery Plan should be documented and tested to ensure the continuity of operations and availability of critical resources in the event of a disaster.  The primary objective of a Disaster Recovery Plan is to protect the organization in the event that all or part of its operations and/or computer services is rendered unusable. Preparedness is the key. The planning process for a well planned Disaster Recovery Plan should minimize the disruption of operations and ensure some level of organizational stability and an orderly recovery after a disaster.

Disaster Recovery Plan establishes priorities for processing and operations: The critical needs of each department within the organization should be carefully evaluated in such areas as:

·       Functional operations

·       Key personnel

·       Information

·       Processing Systems

·       Service

·       Documentation

·       Vital records

·       Policies and procedures

The Disaster Recovery Plan is the most important disaster-planning document you can have on hand. If your library does not have one, steps should be taken to create of one.  Otherwise you can buy Disaster Recovery Plan templates designed specifically for this purpose, like http://www.disasterrecoverysurvival.com. Disaster Recovery Plan Template - well in all honesty we find very few things that are totally free.

Having said that, here is a FREE checklist for the structure of your template and Disaster Recovery Plan template – checklist:

·       Purpose of Information Systems Business Continuity Recovery Plan

·       Business Continuity Philosophy

·       Policy Statement

·       Overview of the Plan

·       Phases of Recovery

For details, please visit: http://www.disasterrecoverysurvival.com/DisasterRecoveryPlanTemplate.html

Business Continuity

Business Continuity is the sum of an organization’s businesses. It includes all of the core business functions which define the organization and their plans and processes that are used to ensure that an organization is able to continue to operate in the event of an unforeseen disaster. Every business needs continuity, or in other words Business Continuity is important at any cost and all possible measures should be taken for smooth Business Continuity.

Business Continuity is the provision of a minimum level of service to clients and customers, regardless of any events or incidents that may occur. Business Continuity Management as the flip side of the emergency planning coin, i.e. rather than preparing organizations to help local communities to face the consequences of unexpected incidents, Business Continuity Planning ensures that organizations can help themselves to recover should the unexpected incident happen to affect them.  The Unit's definition of Business Continuity Management is "a proactive process identifying an organization’s key functions and the likely threats facing those functions so that a plan can be prepared to ensure continuity of service whatever the circumstances".

The Business Continuity planning process consists of six key stages first risk management; second business impact analysis; third Business Continuity strategy development; forth Business Continuity plan development; fifth Business Continuity plan testing and sixth Business Continuity plan maintenance.

Business Continuity planning depends on a clear understanding of business processes and data and associated risks. The Business Continuity process formalizes procedures to (1) identify important business processes, data, and technology infrastructure; (2) identify associated risks and impact; and (3) develop scenarios and Business Continuity strategies. With formal procedures, you can ensure Business Continuity strategies are evaluated and updated continuously.

Business Continuity Service management is a service and must be driven by service levels. These include descriptions of continuous (no downtime allowed) and resilient (some downtime allowed) systems with time-to-restore and point-of-restoration metrics. Northern Micro will provide you with strategic Business Continuity consulting and solutions to ensure your business is well prepared for any outage or disaster.

the  benefits of Business Continuity is its is provide Outstanding business advantage, Maintain 24/7 access to your data and Focus on your Business Continuity Real-time information and communication and Business continuity Provide around-the-clock on-line service and Manageable informational, Flexible and manageable infrastructure.

For example: IBM Business Continuity and Recovery Services can help you achieve continuous availability of, and access to, your enterprise information and critical business processes. Business Continuity consultants will work with you to determine the risks, vulnerabilities and financial impact a disruption can have on your business and plan to effectively manage emergency situations. They can also operate and manage your continuity program for you, so you can focus on your core business.

IBM provides a comprehensive solution in which they assume the responsibility of managing the scope of Business Continuity for you. This solution consists of skilled professionals, proven methodologies, and program management offerings that can help reduce the risk of interruption, improve the efficiency of your operations and allow you to recover quickly if a disruption cannot be avoided. Best of all, the program allows you to do what you do best, your core business.