Last updated: January 10, 2020
Recovery plans document the measures to be taken to recover an IT system in chronological order. These plans indicate the correct order in which the equipment of entire server rooms or data centres must be switched off and on. Docusnap provides a specific document template for recovery plan creation. Locate this template in the IT Concepts module if you want to create a corresponding document.
You never know before who exactly will have to restore your IT systems or restart the entire server room in an emergency situation. Maybe you will need to rely on an external service provider, or this activity will be assigned to an IT staff member who is absolutely unable to cope with this situation due to a lack of experience. What is needed now are detailed descriptions and a step-by-step procedure. Which IT system must be started when? Which dependencies must be verified? Which data must be restored and from what media? And – the crucial question – where are the passwords?
Not only for emergencies
Your recovery plans can be applied to two different scenarios:
- Restart during normal operation
- Recovery after an emergency
This means that a recovery plan is not only useful in the event of an emergency. The emergency manual describes the circumstances under which an emergency is to be declared. Hopefully you will never be forced to do so. A restart during normal operation, however, is something that actually might arise every day. Common examples are hardware failures or maintenance work on the electrical equipment or the HVAC system. An emergency situation, however, is likely to require more intervention than just a system restart. Depending on the situation, you might need to purchase new hardware. Of course, all this is described in the contingency plan. In this case, the recovery plan will not only include the restart procedures, but also actual recovery procedures, possibly resulting in a different document, i.e. an enhanced recovery plan. If this distinction is desired, however, depends on the corporate recovery policy. In theory, an enhanced recovery plan is more comprehensive than a plan that just describes the restart procedure. Certainly, there are other ways to handle this issue. When you think in terms of process flows, add a decision “Hardware exists?” with “Yes” and “No” paths to your diagram, right at the beginning. Problem solved!
Consider the technical infrastructure
Create your recovery plan directly in Docusnap. Do not forget to account for the technical infrastructure, because HVAC and power supply must be available and run reliably. Otherwise, the next disaster is just around the corner, this time caused by overheating or power failure. Then, you will have to go back and start all over again. Since such infrastructure equipment cannot be inventoried via the network, you need to create it manually in the IT Assets module. Enhance your plans by adding IT system inventory data. Make sure that the entire documentation is really available – especially in the event of an emergency, because this is the situation where you need all parts of your IT documentation.
The best plans will not help you much if they have not been verified continuously. Contingency planning is the keyword here: make sure that the process flows described in the recovery plan are practised regularly. It goes without saying that an entire emergency drill with all system recovery steps, including the purchase of replacement hardware, cannot be simulated. So make sure to check the following issues and add this checklist to your contingency plan – this is absolutely indispensable.
– Do the data backup procedures work correctly? Is the data backup concept implemented correctly?
– Periodically practice restoring vital corporate data to test systems
– Will your suppliers be able to provide the required hardware within the agreed time window? Depending on how critical recovery is, it might be worthwhile to sign agreements with your suppliers.
– Are rooms available where you can (temporarily) put the hardware? Did you think of A/C, power supply, required footprints, and accessibility when selecting the room? Is this location protected against unauthorised access?
– Are the phone numbers listed in the plan still up-to-date? Perform at least some spot-checks. Are there emergency numbers for contacting mechanics and suppliers?
– Is there an update service for hardcopies?