Backups, Disaster Recovery Plans, and Redundant Systems - Lucas Borza Today’s technology systems are always working to support the modern world. Redundancy is key when it comes to backups, recovery plans, and other systems. Every aspect of technology has some kind of backup to hold or store your information even if you’re not even aware of the processes that takes place. The first step in backing up your data is to have a plan. Businesses today require reliable networks for access and connectivity to their resources. Technology isn’t known to be reliable but it is necessary to always be prepared and have a plan of action. Backups Backing up refers to copying information to a secondary source in case of a failure or other kind of error. The process of having a backup system can be essential to a successful system. There can be countless reasons to back up your information such as theft, failure, or you need a document that was on an older device. You should always have a secure and up to date backup of your documents. Larger systems that businesses use back up their information frequently to prevent any loss. The process is administered by predefined backup policies that tell how frequent the data is backed up and how many copies are made of the data. You can have your data backed up locally or cloud based online. Disaster Recovery Plans A disaster recovery plan is by definition a documented process or set of procedures to recover and protect a business IT
Developing backup procedures, implementing company-wide, recovery plans need to be developed and offsite backup locations should also be considered
* Backups – Did not see a backup plan. Ensure backups are conducted daily and the off-site copies are maintained.
The purpose of the disaster recovery plan is to ensure the process of recovering mission critical systems has a plan of action in case of a disaster. The disaster recovery plan makes sure all the steps to bring up the critical to less critical systems
Incremental and full backups of critical information will be performed in accordance with the security policies we have set forth. Appliance set up information must also be backed up regularly in order to maintain a record of all configurations in the event of a failure. This will also be described in the security policies with clear steps to follow regarding how to and frequency. This will help prevent and/or mitigate the chances of internal
Firstly, Disaster Recovery, this is a procedure that needs to be implemented in the case an accident occurs within an organisation that may result in the loss of data, for example fire/ water damage. This is when a plan needs to be applied to allow the recovery of data; an example of this could be recovering the backup files, installing new equipment and uploading the backup on the new network. For this to be effective this recovery policy relies on backups to be done regularly, otherwise recovery would not be eligible. The disaster recovery policy is highly beneficial and important as it saves not only the organisation but their money and reputation.
When it comes to the company XYZ Computers the disaster recovery plan needs to incorporate a lot of different questions that have to be answered before you can implement whatever they want achieved. The main questions that are brought up when assessing any question is,”How do we fix this? What are the costs associated with the plan presented?” Another question that should be asked but often isn’t, is “Can we anticipate this problem to help block it before it happens?” From there different categories should be implemented as manmade although not as common as a natural disaster that will affect your system, it still needs to be considered. There should also be a ranking system in the plan using two categories, these
Due in Week Three: For your selected scenario, describe the key elements of the Disaster Recovery Plan to be used in case of a disaster and the plan for testing the DRP.
A disaster is defined as a sudden, unplanned catastrophic event that renders the organizations ability to perform mission-critical and critical processes, including the ability to do normal production processing of systems that support critical business processes. A disaster could be the result of significant damage to a portion of the operations, a total loss of a facility, or the inability of the employees to access that facility. The disaster recovery process consists of defining rules, processes,
The business continuity & disaster recovery is written into the policy to ensure each department knows and has a plan in case of an unexpected event such as a fire, vandalism, and natural disaster that would disrupt normal business. This part of the plan also states that data administrators are the ones responsible to implement procedures for critical backup of data and how long the recovery time would be which is set by the data stewards and other stockholders.
The disaster recovery plan will identify all sections and departments of the organization that will be part of the disaster recovery process. The DR plan will identify the individual teams and the responsibilities of all personnel; along with contact information of all team members. In addition, the disaster recovery plan will also have the services that will need to be restored and the order of urgency of each service. The procedures for each identified disaster will also be documented in the DR plan; “each listing the duties and responsibilities of the parties involved” (Whitman). The last part of the DR plan will provide the follow-up assessment; the final section will provide “details about what is to be accomplished after disaster strikes, specifically what documentation is required for recovery efforts, including mandatory insurance reports, required photographs, and the after-action review format.”
First, Incident Response (IR) plan “is a detailed set of processes and procedures that anticipate, detect, and mitigate the effects of an unexpected event that might compromise information resources and assets.” (Whitman, 2013, p. 85). Consequently, Incident response planning (IRP) is the planning for an incident, which occurs when an attack affects information systems causing disruptions. On the other hand, Disaster Recovery (DR) plan “entails the preparation for and recovery from a disaster, whether natural or human-made.” (Whitman, 2013, p. 97). For instance, events categorized as disasters include fire, flood, storm or earthquake. Thus, the differences between an Incident Response (IR) plan and a Disaster Recovery (DR)
Disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a clearly defined and documented plan of action for use at the time of a crisis. Typically a plan will cover all the key personnel, resources, services and actions required to implement and manage the DR process (comission, 2014).
“Disaster is an occurrence that disrupts the functioning of the organization resulting in loss of data, loss of personnel, loss of business or loss of time” (Hiatt, 2000). In this case, we are focusing mainly on natural disasters. This makes our focus shift towards the destruction of physical resources more than other types of crises. Before starting the plan, we should be able to secure the necessary support and resources from top management for the plan to be carried out, have a plan development team and have a disaster recovery coordinator (Hiatt, 2000). All companies, especially ones located within areas prone to natural disaster should allocate budget and effort towards disaster preparedness. If the company has special IT personels that are familiar with the matters, it is best. Otherwise, the plan development team should contain members that know about the business network system as well as the company’s operation. These are the necessary steps before making the actual
- Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) focuses on restoring an information system an alternate site after a disaster for an extended time. It does not address interruptions that do not require an alternate site.
(Walzer, 2013). Having this recovery plan will ensure that the IT system at the organisation is able to resume services when disaster hit the organisation and resurrect the services quickly thereby allowing the operation to continue.