Running head: DRP PAPER
DRP Paper
DRP Paper
The purpose of this paper is to take a look at Disaster Recovery Plans and to try and gain a deeper understanding of what they are, why they are needed, how they work, and what can be done to test and maintain them. In the modern business world anything can happen, natural disasters, extreme weather, power outages, even terrorism can effect a company’s ability to function and in today’s world of tough competition customers and clients don’t really care why their service is not working they just want it to work.
The purpose of a Disaster Recovery Plan is to minimize downtime and have a set procedure for when the unthinkable happens. A good Disaster Recovery Plan is proactive not reactive. The trick is to find a way to continue some level of productivity while the main site is being brought back to safe working condition.
This may mean having Off Site backups or a third party prepared to handle call volume or provide services temporarily while your site is fixed. Another option for larger companies with multiple sites is to have the ability for one site to cover some or all of the duties of another site that maybe down. Often this works best if sites are not located close to each other. Two sites in separate states are not likely to have the same naturally caused disaster afflict them.
There are Five ways to test a Disaster Recovery Plan, the first is a walk through. Key members of business units met to trace their steps through the plan, looking for omissions and problems.
The next is to run Simulations. Important members of the team meet to perform a “dry run” of an emergency, mimicking their duties as closely as possible. This will allow them to test systems. Checklists can also be used to test a DRP. Keeping checklists allows you to take a visual check of the current status of your plan and make sure you have everything taken care of. Parallel Testing is another...