Overview
What is Disaster Recovery?
Organizations and businesses face threats from all angles in our increasingly digital world. Disaster can come from many possibilities: network issues, software malfunctions, or cyber-attacks. Even physical natural disasters such as landslides, floods, or fires that affect IT architecture can be considered a disaster. Businesses rely on data and IT infrastructure to operate smoothly.
It is strategic for a business to have a recovery plan regarding data and infrastructure when preventative measures fail. Businesses can approach disaster recovery using an on-premises solution or move these operations to cloud (for example, with AWS Disaster Recovery).
A disaster recovery plan prioritizes concerns and provides solutions to pressing issues that need to be addressed in order for a business to operate smoothly. In order for a recovery plan to be effective, businesses need to consider two types of objectives: Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). RPO measures how often a system needs to back up storage to be able to continue with relevant data after a disaster. RTO measures how long a system is able to be under repair before there are serious long-term effects.
Why is it Important?
Attacks or malfunctions can disrupt the normal functions of a business. It is inevitable that any large business or organization will be affected by a disaster; a plan needs to be created in order to reduce the negative effects that a disaster can have on operations. Inefficient recoveries from disaster can even cause a business to fail if the solution takes too long to implement. There are many platforms available to plan and implement disaster recovery plans.
In this article, I will discuss available platforms to plan and implement disaster recovery efforts. Almost every business utilizing Information Technology needs a recovery plan, therefore, many options have emerged to expedite planning and testing of a recovery plan. Primarily, I will discuss AWS disaster recovery, a cloud-based recovery method. Cloud –based services are not affected by issues with traditional hardware. After introducing this recovery platform, I will go into detail on best practices while planning your disaster recovery.
AWS Disaster Recovery
Amazon web services is one of the largest platforms addressing disaster recovery and contains multiple disaster recovery complexities. AWS is able to be acquired globally, however, it tailors its solutions to the individual infrastructure that it is being applied to. Therefore, it provides a customized and effective solution. There are many scenarios in which a business may be able to utilize AWS for recovery.
AWS offers crucial features that are designed to quickly restore normal business functions in the event of a disaster. AWS provides multiple storage options for data that have proven reliability and retention measures. Amazon S3 stores data on multiple devices across multiple Availability Zones. If there is a problem with any single Availability Zone, it will not affect data stored because it is distributed amongst multiple zones. AWS also offers secure computing capacity. Amazon EC2 offers cloud-based servers that run applications with full administrative control. Since these servers are virtual, they cannot be affected by disasters that physical servers can be. Amazon also offers a solution to network issues in the case of a disaster. Amazon Route 53 creates elastic IP addresses. If there is an issue with an Availability Zone, AWS allows you to modify network settings so that critical systems are protected.
AWS provides a template to follow that is proven to be effective in disaster recovery and is compatible with their services. AWS uses APIs and testing to pre-determine where application servers need to be rerouted in case of an emergency.
Planning Your Disaster Recovery
What to Account for
- Critical Systems
- Capacity
- Bandwidth
- Key Contacts
- Stakeholders
- Possible Threats
- Solutions to Threats
- Evaluation Criteria
- Facilities and Hardware
Steps in Building a Strategy
- Research
To begin constructing a strategy, risk assessments and business impact analyses need to be conducted. A good starting point is identifying critical systems. For each of these prioritized systems, list any applicable threats, RTO and RPO, and any possible preventative measures.
2. Create Purpose
Develop different scenarios based off of possible threats listed in the previous step. For each scenario, create an introduction that portrays the purpose of the plan. The introduction needs to be brief yet provides enough information to quickly get started in an emergency.
3. Identify Responsibilities
For each scenario, responsibilities need to be assigned to positions within your company. This section would include key contact information, and limitations on how much can be spent in the specific response.
4. Response
Now, you are ready to set the responses necessary for a Disaster Recovery scenario. After receiving alerts or becoming aware of an unusual incident, determine the extent of damage and predict its impact on business functions.
5. Contact
When preventative measures fail, the Action portion of your recovery plan needs to be put into effect. This section relies on decision-makers to contact people who have already been assigned a role in the recovery plan.
6. Document History
Include applicable documents and their most recent revision dates. Also include any materials that may be of relevance such as inventories, contracts, and key stakeholders.
7. Testing
Test your disaster recovery plan to see its effectiveness. By testing your plan, recovery times will be reduced as you will know which resources belong where.
8. Action
Launch your disaster recovery plan. Provide the appropriate scenario plan to responders to the incident. This will guide them on the steps that need to be taken to provide a solution as quickly as possible.
9. Evaluation
Evaluate how effectively the disaster was recovered from. Apply lessons learned from this disaster to future events. Periodically, recovery plans need to be re-assessed to make sure they still contain applicable information and procedures.
Closing Thoughts
If a business relies on any type of data or IT infrastructure to operate, it is essential that they develop a disaster recovery plan before it is too late. It is better to be prepared and have critical systems prioritized than to be caught off guard. Without a pre-set plan, a disaster can be devastating and possible cause business failure. If a business does not currently have a plan in place, I would recommend consulting with an external disaster recovery platform.
Bibliography
disasterrecovery.org, “Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan Steps”
searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com, Margaret Rouse, “disaster recovery (DR)”, December 2016
aws.amazon.com, Jeff Barr, “New Whitepaper: Using AWS for Disaster Recovery”, October 28th 2011
blogs.cornell.edu, Scott Ross, “Disaster Recovery in AWS”
computerweekly.com, “Developing a disaster recovery strategy and detailed DR plans”, July 2011
cloud.google.com, “How to Design a Disaster Recovery Plan”, August 4th 2017
References
Rouse, Margaret , et al. “What is disaster recovery (DR)? .” SearchDisasterRecovery, TechTarget, Dec. 2016, searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.
“Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan Steps.” Disaster Recovery, DisasterRecovery.org, www.disasterrecovery.org. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.
Barr, Jeff. “New Whitepaper: Using AWS for Disaster Recovery.” Amazon Web Services, Amazon, 28 Oct. 2011, aws.amazon.com. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.
Ross, Scott. “Disaster Recovery in AWS.” Cornell Blogs, Cornell University, blogs.cornell.edu. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.
“Developing a disaster recovery strategy and detailed DR plans.” ComputerWeekly, Tech Target, 7ADAD, www.computerweekly.com. Accessed 17 Sept. 2011.
“How to Design a Disaster Recovery Plan .” Google Cloud, Google , 4 Aug. 2017, cloud.google.com/solutions/designing-a-disaster-recovery-plan. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017.