Preparing for a data loss disaster before it occurs can speed up the Disaster Recovery process tremendously. The dependency on computers exponentially increases the commercial risks associated with failure of any component. Data corruption, viruses, hard disk failure, power failure, accidental or malicious data deletion, theft and natural disasters are all situations that necessitate attention for a meaningful disaster recovery policy.
Typically when a computer crashes, the first and foremost task is to rebuild and reconfigure the system, restoring mission-critical applications without excessive down-time.
The following points need to be considered:
Development of backup and restore procedures with appropriate resources and personnel.
Testing of the procedures, ensuring that you can recover data in a timely manner.
Ensure you have a designated backup and restore administrator.
Backup your entire system volume to prepare for the hopefully unlikely event of a catastrophic disk failure, providing the ability to restore the entire volume in a single operation .
For W2K users, backup your local directory services database (active directory) to prevent loss of user accounting and security information.
Keep backup logs available to enable faster, granular file restores. Keep at least three copies of the backup media, with one off-site in a controlled environment.
Periodically perform trial restorations to verify that files are being backed up properly.
Additional Considerations
Keep detailed descriptions of your main system components, such as CPU, memory, video mode settings, drives, SCSI configuration, Network card configuration, tape drive, etc . You will want to include I/O, DMA, IRQ, and SCSI settings in as much detail as possible. This information will help you in the event of a severe hardware failure and you are forced to rebuild or replace the system.
Ensure that the following are readily available : O/S distribution media, patches, service paks, OEM specific drivers, NetVault distribution media. Always maintain a list of current patches installed on each of the corresponding system environments.
Maintain an updated profile of each system configuration including network settings (TCP/IP config), machine names, domain information, account information, disk configuration, disk partition layouts, partition sizes, partition file system format type, O/S patches installed.
Global Computing can take over the management of back up procedures, providing schedules, software and hardware. Restore tests can be scheduled either on-site, or using one of our range of dedicated restore servers.