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Preparing for a Disaster

Published on 19 March 15
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Preparing for a Disaster - Image 1

Disaster Recovery (DR) is very important for any business, yet for some reason there are many organizations that set it aside. Typically the reason why DR is set aside is because of budget, and since it doesn’t generate immediate usage, it is easy for people to forget about. This is a massive mistake, because if there is no way to recover data after a disaster, your business will suffer dramatically and may even fail. Fortunately, setting up a DR plan isn’t so bad.

It can’t be understated just how devastating it can be when your business is completely unable to operate because the server that manages the company’s mission-critical applications has been lost in a flood or currently on fire. To put in perspective, according to research by the Meta Group companies in the retail industry can lose $1.1 million per hour and companies in telecommunications can lose $2 million per hour when the business is down due to server downtime and lost data.

Thankfully, there are a few ways to either recover quickly or to even dodge going down at all. If you have virtual desktops in place for your employees, any failure that occurs to their desktops doesn’t impact the business at all since they can simply login somewhere else. The same applies to server infrastructure that is based in the cloud. Finally, if you have the resources to completely build duplicate infrastructure in different geographic areas then you can failover to your back up site. Forget the money though - 40% of businesses do not reopen after a disaster and another 25% fail within a year following the disaster according to reports by FEMA, so it is vital to do everything that can be done to minimize the pain.

Of course, there is the possibility that it isn’t a physical disaster that befalls your infrastructure, but rather a software-based disaster. This is where having a backup service like the one provided by Vault Networks comes in. For all of our services we offer a continuous data protection system that backs up files constantly, as often as every 15 minutes. This helps to minimize risk, and the system is efficient on space as well because it has deduplication in place to prevent backing up the same file hundreds of time. In our cloud platform, we also offer a snapshot system that takes a picture of your system as is and can be used to build a second VM on demand. It isn’t as efficient as the continuous data protection system, but it does have the benefit of being faster in the cloud.

It’s also important to have a plan in place. Have emergency sites in the plan to continue work, and consider having employees relocate temporarily to the other site so that they can continue working. If you can setup an agreement with other businesses in your area to work in their site if you fail and they can work in your site if they fail, that is something that can work as well if you only have your single location. Enabling your team to work remotely is another good option, since they can work from wherever they can find internet connectivity. Always remember that the purpose of disaster recovery is to get back on your feet as quickly as possible following a disaster.
This blog is listed under Development & Implementations and IT Strategy & Management Community

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