Disaster Recovery Planning and Network Services Continuity
TCP sessions were running at the primary Data Center. It is still a good idea to consider standby sites as described below since both on-line Data Centers could be unavailable.
3. Configure a 48 hour standby site for the company which is a remote facility that has all the equipment necessary for restoring a specified service level within 48 hours. This is a temporary strategy for continuing network service for a short time frame before the problems are fixed or cutover to a 10 day site. This can be provisioned by company employees or contracted to a third party DRP vendor.
4. Configure a 10 day standby site for the company which is a remote facility that has all the equipment necessary for restoring all specified services within 10 days. This would be utilized in a situation where restoration of Data Center services would require months. This can be provisioned by company employees or contracted to a third party DRP vendor.
Contingency Testing
Test your disaster recovery (business continuity) strategy utilizing the action plan document from the strategy phase. There should be a meeting with specific employees and vendors to discuss responsibilities, time frames, test event sequence and processes. The company strategy and action plan should be changed as problems are identified from the testing phase or company requirements change. Plan on regular testing of the disaster recovery plan 3 – 4 times per year.
Recommendations
The results from contingency testing will be utilized to make sound recommendations for improving the disaster recovery strategy and the testing process. The complexity of your organization will affect how difficult it is to build a workable disaster recovery plan. The recommendations will streamline your DRP and ensure it works when it is required. The on demand circuit is homed to the remote DR facility router where it converges with the company network and employees can utilize the mainframe applications. The DR mainframe should be synchronized with the company mainframe for transactions during that period before service is restored.
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Shaun Hummel is an author of various technical books and has a web site focused on information technology job search solutions and certifications.
http://www.networkjobsolutions.com
Shaun Hummel, CCNP, is a Senior Network Engineer with 11 years experience in enterprise network planning, design, and implementation. He has worked for various private and public companies in Canada and the United States improving infrastructure, security, and management. He has written Network Planning and Design Guide, Cisco Wireless Network Design Guide and Network Assessment Guide. www.networkjobsolutions.com
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