Intelligent CIO North America Issue 29 | Page 46

CIO OPINION
Even if IT has a solid understanding of the assets and systems you could lose , an outage can come about in countless ways that no one has likely thought of before .
designation . You want this plan to include a blow-byblow playbook of recovery procedures – specifically , step-by-step instructions and commands that are in writing for anyone in your IT department to execute when needed to resuscitate your environment .
A key clarification needed here is your approach to framing your disaster response protocols . You ’ ll want to design plans based on what assets you might lose or that could be compromised at your company .
3 . Smart automation for ease of management
You ’ re not done yet as the last step is the most important . While a thorough , easy-to-execute process sets you on the right path for DR , your DR strategy won ’ t be complete without smart automation . With automation-ready technology , your systems will be prepared to react at once to a threat or a detected outage , and they ’ ll automatically begin to facilitate your DR processes .
Strive to ensure that your DR management strategy simplifies user experience by minimizing concurrent recovery solutions and unifying your environment . Don ’ t make your IT team deal with separate SQL Server Availability Groups on Linux and Windows .
In conclusion , as you take these steps to create an optimum DR strategy for your company , remember that there ’ s no definite endpoint for DR planning .
For example , your loss categories might include sites , applications or third-party services . Constructing your plan at this level is prudent because even if IT has a solid understanding of the assets and systems you could lose , an outage can come about in countless ways that no one has likely thought of before . So don ’ t base your DR plan on the actual downtime-causing events . By basing your DR response plan around loss categories , you ’ ll never have to stress about whether future events happen to fall into a limited framework of downtime-triggering events .
Avoid complacency and always approach DR as an evolution that ’ s perpetually on-going . If your DR plan is supported by thorough research into the impacts of downtime on your company , and you have stakeholders who share eye-to-eye expectations on DR requirements , then you ’ ll be in excellent shape on the path to creating an ideal DR plan . Add detailed documentation with clear recovery steps for all vulnerable assets , automated technology that ’ s easy-to-manage and you ’ ll enjoy nearest-to-zero total downtime . p
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