Biles’ Hierarchy of Disaster Recovery Needs
by Simon Biles
It doesn’t take long if you watch the IT News before you come across a good example of bad BCP/DRP – my favourite this month was Vodafone but this is just a retelling of an old story. The fact that a major organisation (a) had a single point of failure in the first place and (b) couldn’t fail it over to another, backup site immediately is more than a little embarrassing…For a smaller outfit however, the loss of even one component (like your laptop or examination machine) could cripple you for days and potentially lose you significant business…
Please use this thread for discussion of Simon's latest column.
What a Great post.. I love the idea of a BCP/DRP at such small scales as your personal laptop…. Something I don't consider when thinking of DRP.. I mean..why would "I" need a DRP..I am not a huge company?.. But you bring up a great example that we should all think about..
Thanks..
Rob
Fine and useful post. Thanks.
I write to underscore your point about the importance of not underestimating the scope of the event which may interrupt operations. A disruption can be so extensive as to make access to a region untenable. When Hurricane Katrina and the levies collapsing flooded New Orleans, even those with backup tapes in bank vaults found that the collapse of the infrastructure and evacuation of personnel meant that their backups were inaccessible for quite a while.
Optimally, backups should reside in a place that is not subject to the same hazards that impact primary data storage and/or be small enough to move with you. Anticipate impossibly quick, big and awful scenarios. Tsunami. Nuclear event. Sustained interruption of internet service. Segregate the volume of data you need or want to keep from that which you absolutely must have to function for a full month. Don't let the legacy data be an anchor on mission critical stuff.
Also, have a grab-and-go plan. If you had just ten minutes and two hands to carry out your stuff, what would you take?
Craig Ball
Biles’ Hierarchy of Disaster Recovery Needs
by Simon Biles
It doesn’t take long if you watch the IT News before you come across a good example of bad BCP/DRP – my favourite this month was Vodafone but this is just a retelling of an old story. The fact that a major organisation (a) had a single point of failure in the first place and (b) couldn’t fail it over to another, backup site immediately is more than a little embarrassing…For a smaller outfit however, the loss of even one component (like your laptop or examination machine) could cripple you for days and potentially lose you significant business…
Please use this thread for discussion of Simon's latest column.
If you had just ten minutes and two hands to carry out your stuff, what would you take?
Craig Ball
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