Disaster recovery planning is one of the most important steps an organization can take to protect its data and maintain business continuity.
When a disaster strikes, it is imperative that your business be able to resume operations as quickly as possible. This can be accomplished by having a well-defined plan that relies on tried and tested disaster recovery methods.
However, in order to ensure the success of a disaster recovery plan, it helps to understand what some of the disaster recovery best practices are, and how they ensure the safety of your data.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some of the best practices for disaster recovery for 2022, and how they can help you create an effective plan that protects your critical business data to improve your resilience.
How to Create an Effective Plan for Data Center Disaster Recovery
When developing a data center disaster recovery plan to protect your business, there are several things to consider.
First, you need to decide what type of disaster you are preparing for. Is it a natural disaster such as a hurricane or tornado? Is it a man-made disaster such as a fire or data breach? Or will your plan feature elements of both?
Once you have determined the type of disaster, you need to identify the risks associated with that type of disaster. Ask yourself questions like “What could happen if this type of disaster occurred?” and “How would the company be impacted?”
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Planning for Natural Disasters
A natural disaster could potentially cause serious damage to your hardware and cabling, which will force you to repair or replace these components. This will require you to have the budget for the replacement of these often expensive items, or an insurance policy that properly covers them.
Additionally, if a natural disaster occurs, your data recovery solution should cover alternative data protection methods, such as using a backup server. If significant hardware damage occurs, there should be information on how your data can be extracted from the affected devices and moved to another safe location.
Planning for Digital Disasters
A data breach won’t affect the condition of your hardware, but it will result in sensitive data being corrupted or stolen by cyber attackers. It’s also important to note that data breaches can get expensive quickly, with the average cost being $4.24 million.
Statistics from Verizon show that 17% of data breaches involve malware, so your plan should include a comprehensive malware defense strategy. It should also cover other means of improving your digital defences, such as risk assessments, data encryption, and access controls.
If you need additional assistance with improving your data security posturing in accordance with disaster recovery planning best practices, you should consider working with a trusted third-party provider that specializes in advanced cybersecurity services.
Disaster Recovery Testing Best Practices
Before you set your disaster recovery methods in motion, you should test your plan to ensure it works as intended.
This is achieved through disaster recovery testing, which includes:
- Testing the plan through realistic disaster scenarios
- Having a written document that details your disaster recovery plan
- Keeping the plan updated as part of your management-change actions
- Ensuring preparedness for resuming operations in your normal environment
You should also designate a location where you can set up a secondary site, sometimes referred to as a hot site, if your primary facility becomes temporarily inaccessible.
Once you have identified the risks of natural and digital disasters, developing and testing a plan ensures you can respond to each scenario. To further strengthen your plan, you can devise a backup plan and create contact lists for key personnel.
The 9 Best Disaster Recovery Methods
Many businesses often wonder what is the best method for disaster recovery. The truth is, there are several effective disaster recovery best practices that can be included in a plan.
Here is an overview of some of these disaster recovery methods and their functions.
1. Backup and Restore
The first step in any disaster recovery plan is to ensure that your data is backed up regularly. In the event of a disaster, you will need to have a recent backup available so that you can restore your systems and data.
2. Data Redundancy
Data redundancy involves storing the same data in two places simultaneously. For example, the data could be stored in two different locations within a single database, or across several environments or software platforms.
3. Data Replication
Another way to protect your business data is to replicate it across multiple servers. When you create additional copies of data, you ensure that it remains accessible even if one of your servers goes down.
4. Network Redundancy
In addition to having redundant copies of data, you should also have redundant network connections. This will guarantee that you can still access your data in the event of a network outage.
5. Redundant Power Supplies
It is important to have backup power supplies in case of a power failure. This will help keep your systems running in the event of a disaster.
6. Hot Site and Cold Site
A hot site is a facility where you can quickly resume operations in the event of a disaster to maintain business continuity. A cold site is a facility where you can safely store your equipment until the disaster is over.
7. Plan for Every Possibility
No one can predict every possible disaster, so it is important to plan for as many scenarios as possible. This will help ensure that your company is prepared for any type of digital or natural emergency.
8. Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
An effective data center disaster recovery plan should include a Recovery Point Objective (RPO). This is the maximum acceptable amount of data that can be lost after recovering from a major disaster or equipment failure.
9. Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the amount of time in which a business process must be restored post-disaster in order to avoid the negative effects of business continuity interruptions.
Develop a Robust Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Business
Maintain business continuity with a plan based on disaster recovery best practices
Bring Data Recovery Best Practices to Your Business
While natural and digital disasters can potentially cause headaches for your business, the good news is that an effective disaster recovery plan can help your business avoid the pitfalls of data loss.
Even businesses affected by ransomware attacks have shown resilience, with 97% of their data recovered after being decrypted.
If you’re looking to create a backup plan built on disaster recovery planning best practices, VTC Tech can help. Working with us gives you access to a trustworthy partner that specializes in managed services for data backups and disaster recovery.
Since 1999, our team members have helped clients create comprehensive disaster recovery plans tailored to their specific needs. We also offer business continuity services that ensure your company can quickly and smoothly recover while saving money on disaster recovery expenses.
Ensure that your company is prepared for any type of emergency with our proven disaster recovery solutions. For more information on how we can help, contact us today to schedule a call with one of our business continuity specialists.
