Choosing the Best DR Solution for Your Organization

Disaster recovery options have, for the most part, remained pretty consistent over the years, with a few new technologies emerging recently.  Over the next couple of weeks, we will be posting a 5 part series of blog posts about disaster recovery strategies to help you choose the best “insurance policy” for your data.

With disaster recovery, it is not a case of one solution fits all.  There are several important considerations that dictate how protected your data should be and how much you are willing to spend to ensure this protection.

Key questions that CIOs should ask themselves include:

• What kind of data does your organization store?
• Does your data require high security storage and transfer?
• What impact would the loss of this data have on your business?
• How quickly do you need to recover data in the event of a disaster?
• What kind of technology can your existing IT infrastructure support?
• And, of course, what is your budget?

The answers to these questions will help you determine your disaster recovery requirements in terms of the following key components of a disaster recovery strategy:

• Disaster recovery location – In the event of a disaster, where will you conduct business?  You need to make provisions so that you are able to continue servicing your customers.
• Equipment – In order to recover your lost data, you need equipment on which your data can be restored.  One way to plan for this is to store redundant equipment at your DR location.
• Connectivity – Depending on the DR technology that you choose, you will need varying levels of network connectivity. Ensure that your network is able to support the amount of connectivity required for backing up and restoring your data.
• Recovery Time – You need to determine how much downtime your company can afford.  If your tolerance is extremely low, you must ensure that you choose a DR solution that will provide you with the fastest recovery time possible.

Check back on Wednesday April 14th for our next post in this series: Disaster Recovery Options – Tape.