Disaster Recovery Plan 3

[xiong]

I am in the process of creating a full and exhaustive Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan. I've done a few before that were very limited in scope to one or two applications or servers. This will be system/company wide. I'd like to get some pointers and thoughts from the community here.

Thanks in advanced.

 

[discgolfer]

A full blown Disaster Recovery Plan and Business Continuity Plan are full time jobs by themselves. Many companies have full time staff to cover both of these areas. To get a better understanding of what you're really dealing with (beyond using simple backups as your base planning methodology), there are some places you can go to. Try doing a search for any of the following: The Disaster Recovery Journal, Contingency Planning and Management, the Association of Contingency Planners, and Globalcontinuity. These organizations can give you a better understanding of the 9 areas of the common body of knowledge (from doing a business impact analysis to crisis management).

discgolfer

 

[sarahol]

The most common approach these days seems to be to avoid over-engineering.... keeping it simple (which often pays when the really chips are down!). To this end, templates are frequently used. Some are poor, some however are very good.

The most well known is called The BCP Generator, documented at:

http://www.disaster-recovery-plan.com.

It is, however, a commercial offering, as most are.

If you are looking for something without charge, perhaps to build something yourself from scratch, you will find a good resource in the form of the Online Business Continuity Guide at:

http://www.yourwindow.to/business-continuity/

This is associated with the above resource, but does offer hundreds of pages of advice on how to build a plan, and best of all, access is free.

If that doesn't suit your needs either, it's probably back to good old Google!

Hope this helps.

Jenni

 

[Robnhood]

I like your link Jenni. I think it is a goodie. Craig

http://www.SecurelySpeaking.com

 

[sarahol]

Thanks Craig... appreciated.

Jenni

 

[agent99invirginia]

Complete, helpful, and appropriate Disaster Recovery Plans and Business Continuity Plans are definitely full time jobs, and they are two different documents. Most organizations have both, and it is probably best to start with the DRP. I recommend hiring someone to work on this process with you, since this is not a fly by the seat of your pants kind of project.

As a Contractor, I work on Disaster Recovery Plans and have a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP)certification. It so happens I am available and looking for a new contract. If you are in the market, let me know and I will send you my resume. Or, you can go to DRII and access their list of other consultants. Be sure to look for the CBCP certification and both a process analysis and DRP background. Knowing CMM and/or ITIL helps.

The best tip I have for you is this: hire someone who has the background to do this and do it well, then give that person access to all your technical knowledge regarding the cost of downtimes and how the organization currently deals with incidents. The two of you will make a great team. Second tip: it takes time to do it right.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. :-D Agent99inVirginia

 

[xiong]

I really appreciate the input. However, in a small business with limited financial resources, such tasks fall (and a plethora of others) fall back to me.

 

[PenthusLennuye]

I have found that tips for DRP and BCPs are a touch scant online. You might want to check out the CISSP certification site (

http://isc2.org)

or invest in some texts, such as the All-In-One CISSP Exam Guide. The reading can be (can be? will be!) pretty dry, but the CISSP bunch have an excellent "big-picture" of the issues, impacts, cost calculations etc.

In addition, you might check out RFC 2196 for Network Security - it has a discussion.

Mansfield University has published their DRP online -- perhaps this might be a template?

http://it.mnsfld.edu/one/disaster recovery plan.html

-PL