Approach to Disaster Recovery

A Systematic, Iterative Approach

• Do what makes business sense
    - There is often a temptation to build the most elaborate Disaster Recovery solution possible, providing protection against any imaginable event.  
• Understand the technical requirements
    - Through an understanding of the desired RTO and RPO, Lumenate can identify the investment necessary to meet your technical needs.  Then, based on business drivers we can work with you to determine what makes the most sense.
• Do NOT neglect your infrastructure
    - Spend the money to duplicate your entire IT infrastructure at a remote
      site is a poor value proposition, but make sure that the desire to be frugal
      doesn't counteract your disaster preparedness.  Remote sites should be able
      to stand alone in the event of a disaster.  This includes internet connectivity,
      DNS, ActiveDirectory, SMTP, and other infrastructure services we often
      take for granted.  During testing, it's recommeded to actually sever the connection between your production site and DR site to shake out any unforeseen dependencies.
• Standardize, standardize, standardize
    - Depending on the scope of your Disaster Recovery initiative it may be
      enough to put a point solution in place that covers a single application.  
      In this case, a replication and recovery solution built-into the application
      may be sufficient. As additional hosts and applications are added, however,
      the complexity involved in supporting multiple point solutions begins to drive
      the value of a common Disaster Recovery framework.
• Do NOT neglect people factors
    - In a true disaster you may not be able to count on having the right people
      in the right place at the right time.  To mitigate this risk, your Disaster
      Recovery plans must be well documented, and as simple as possible. Do not
      assume that the staff you use to perform your DR testing will be the staff in
      place during a real disaster.
• Practice, practice, practice
    - The key to a successful recovery in a real disaster is ongoing practice.  The
      more often you practice your Disaster Recovery plan, the more likely you are
      to identify any issues and problems before a real disaster occurs.