Developing and maintaining a good IT disaster recovery plan
Scenario
Have you ever thought “what would I do if __________ happened?” Most people do not think through a personal disaster recovery plan in detail. They often assume that they will have to “just handle it” if a disaster occurs. It should not be surprising then, that when a group of individuals comes together (a company or organization), the group also does not naturally develop a detailed disaster recovery plan.
An organization must make a specific effort to develop, monitor, and maintain a disaster recovery plan. IT is no different. In fact, IT is so critical to so many parts of the organization, that a risk assessment and disaster recovery plan for IT should perhaps be a higher priority than for any other part of the organization.
Lessons Learned (Moral)
Developing and maintaining a good IT disaster recovery plan requires specific action and regular formal review.
Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
Conduct research using the library and Internet for information about IT disaster recovery, and respond to the following:
• Summarize at least 2 important issues to address in an IT disaster recovery plan.
• How is risk assessment used in the preparation of an IT disaster recovery plan?
Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 200-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:
• What did you learn from your classmate's posting? What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?
• What clarification do you need regarding the posting?
• What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates' postings?
IT Disaster Recovery Planning
Disasters can happen at any time, and they can have a devastating impact on businesses of all sizes. That's why it's so important to have a disaster recovery plan in place. An IT disaster recovery plan is a document that outlines the steps that an organization will take to recover its IT systems and data in the event of a disaster.
There are two important issues to address in an IT disaster recovery plan:
- Identifying potential disasters. The first step in developing an IT disaster recovery plan is to identify the potential disasters that could impact the organization. This includes natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods, as well as man-made disasters, such as fires and cyberattacks.
- Determining the recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO). The RTO is the maximum amount of time that an organization can go without its IT systems before it starts to suffer significant financial losses. The RPO is the maximum amount of data that an organization can afford to lose in a disaster.
- Offsite backups. One of the most important components of an IT disaster recovery plan is offsite backups. This means that the organization should have copies of its data stored in a secure location offsite. In the event of a disaster, the organization can restore its data from these backups.
- Redundant systems. Another important component of an IT disaster recovery plan is redundant systems. This means that the organization should have multiple copies of its IT systems, so that if one system fails, the others can still function.
- Testing and maintenance. It's important to test the IT disaster recovery plan regularly to make sure that it works as intended. The plan should also be maintained regularly to ensure that it is up-to-date with the organization's IT systems and data.