Disaster Recovery in the Philippines

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is the process of regaining access to the data, hardware and software necessary to resume critical business operations after a natural or human-induced disaster. A disaster recovery plan (DRP) should also include plans for coping with the unexpected or sudden loss of key personnel, although this is not covered in this article, the focus of which is data protection. DRP is part of a larger process known as business continuity planning (BCP).

Business data protection

With the rise in information technology and the reliance on business-critical data, the landscape has changed in recent years in favor of protecting irreplaceable data. This is especially evident in information technology, with most large computer systems backing up digital information to limit data loss and to aid data recovery.

It is believed that some of the companies spend up to 25% of their budgets on disaster recovery planning; this is intended to avoid larger losses. Of companies that had a major loss of computerized records, 43% never reopen, 51% close within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term.

The current data protection market is characterized by:

• Rapidly changing customer needs that are driven by data growth, regulatory issues and the growing importance to access data quickly by retaining it online.
• An ever-shrinking time frame for backing up data, which is burdening conventional tape backup technologies.

Events that necessitate disaster recovery

There are many different risks that can negatively impact the normal operations of an organization. A risk assessment should be performed to determine what constitutes a disaster and which risks a specific company is most susceptible to, including:

• Natural disasters
• Fire
• Power failure
• Terrorist attacks
• Organized or deliberate disruptions
• Theft
• System and/or equipment failures
• Human error
• Computer viruses
• Legal issues
• Worker strikes
• Testing

Preventions against data loss

• Backups sent off-site in regular intervals
  •  Includes software as well as all data information, to facilitate recovery
•  Create an insurance copy on Microfilm or similar and store the records off-site.
  •  Use a Remote backup facility if possible to minimize data loss
• Storage Area Networks (SANs) over multiple sites are a recent development (since 2003) which make data immediately available without the need to recover or synchronize it
• Surge Protectors — to minimize the effect of power surges on delicate electronic equipment
• Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and/or Backup Generator
•  Fire Preventions — more alarms, accessible extinguishers
•  Anti-virus software and other security measures

Source: http://www.wikipedia.org