Disaster Retrieval is 'Make or Break' Studies have shown that most businesses hit by a devastating event, with no no disaster recovery strategy, go out of business in just two years.
Even a simple disaster recovery strategy will increase the probability of retrieval.
Disaster Retrieval Tips and hints Document, document, document! Be sure that the entire recovery process to get you up and working again is documented, and contains the locations of system recovery as well as other crucial disks.
Ensure that key staff are familiar with these.
Save the system passwords in a minimum of two independent safe places.
only one of which is in the same building as your IT equipment.
No less than two staff must have access to these.
Perform the disaster retrieval program on a quarterly cycle or more.
It not just hones your disaster recovery team's abilities it also will also familiarize new employees with all the process, and ensures that the disaster recovery program is kept up to date by revealing any issues with new equipment or software.
Regardless how good the disaster restoration system, it cannot restore files in case you forget to back it up.
Make sure there is a routine for copying data frequently, and make certain this is completed.
Using at least Raid Level 5 (Raid Level 10 when the funds will allow) to make sure data duplication guarantees fault tolerance.
Build as much redundancy in your system as you possibly can to get rid of any kind of single points of failure.
This can include a multi-path data route to the system, to be able to still access your data if one path falls flat.
Prepare to have extra hot hard disk drives already within the system, or otherwise physically available in a similar area as the storage program.
Set up a computerized program to inform crucial staff of disaster by text message.
These staff needs to be completely trained in order to carry out basic disaster recovery/back-up tasks without supervision.
You may be able to perform it through an arrangement with a third-party service provider.
A tape archive strategy is important.
Tapes used on every day basis should be upgraded every six to 9 months to prevent deterioration - backups are no use if they cannot be saved.
Other tapes should be upgraded on a regular, less frequent, schedule based on the frequency of use.
Being able to back up to a remote area is worth just about any price, a fire resistant vault is not an alternative to an off-site location.
Purchase the best, longest-life, most uninterruptible power supply you can.
After that get an additional electric battery back-up for the cache to go with it.
Don't neglect to safeguard oneself from random theft, vandalism and staff malice, they may be as disastrous as anything else.
At the very least ensure that the doorway to your data/server room is locked, day and night.
An automatically closing fire door to the data/server room will keep fire and smoke out of the room for a surprisingly long time Common Faults in Disaster Recovery Strategies Most disaster retrieval plans that fail do so from lack of backups, lack of rehearse, or not enough files.
A simple but documented plan with recent backups and trained personnel will work superior to a grandiose scheme let down on these factors.