More rules for disaster recovery

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MIKE KARP ON STORAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE
07/19/05
Today's focus: More rules for disaster recovery

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* When to get management involved in disaster recovery, and
  other advice
* Links related to Storage in the Enterprise
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: More rules for disaster recovery

By Mike Karp

First, the winner of last week's Stupid IT Tricks Award goes to:
Iron Mountain! Once again, the company has lost more tapes, this
time from City National Bank of Los Angeles. City National's
depositors shouldn't worry though - the company says the tapes
were "merely lost," and that identity theft was not a factor.

I am sure you City National customers all feel much better about
things now. The tapes are likely warm and safe, perhaps cuddled
up against the tapes from Time Warner that Iron Mountain lost in
March. Looks like it might soon be time for more columns on tape
encryption.

On to a happier note: Last week we published the first set of
responses from IT managers who shared their favorite single rule
for planning for disaster recovery. What follows is a set of
simple rules of the road for disaster recovery - cheap,
elegantly simple, and useful. I'll print more next week.

From reader John Weinhoeft:
* Assume in a disaster that your best people will not be
available. Thus, don't just test the plan; test the plan with
people who have never seen the plan before. That way you find
all the missing assumptions.

From reader Paul Rivers in the U.K.:
* Yes, test the plan, but ensure that senior management also
tries out (through role play) scenarios that might, or might
not, initiate the recovery plan. Not all disasters start with a
big bang! It's a major decision, and a difficult one, to take a
company into recovery mode - especially when the systems
director is confident that the problem will be fixed in a few
hours more .........!
* Also, evaluate and plan (how do you test?) switching back from
the recovery site into full production mode.

Reader Jim Morin (Morin Consulting) has put together the
following business continuity guidelines during his many years
of experience:
1. Categorize applications (A, B, C) by business criticality to
determine protection level requirements.
2. Develop your cost of downtime for these applications.
3. Formulate solutions that balance solution cost for data
protection vs. cost of downtime.
4. Plan for longer implementation period than expected because
of process changes.
5. Implement mandatory periodic testing.
6. Fit data center disaster recovery strategy within overall
corporate business continuity objectives.

Thanks to all who contributed!

RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

Hub data company loses Calif. bank taps
Boston.com (registration required)
http://www.boston.com/

Start-ups reinforce storage intelligence
Network World, 07/18/05
http://www.networkworld.com/nlstorage3404
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Mike Karp

Mike Karp is senior analyst with Enterprise Management
Associates, focusing on storage, storage management and the
methodology that brings these issues into the marketplace. He
has spent more than 20 years in storage, systems management and
telecommunications. Mike can be reached via e-mail
<mailto:mkarp@enterprisemanagement.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Dupont
Reduce Fire Safety Risk in Your Network!

Concerns are rising about the growing number of combustible
cables present in buildings required to service the
ever-increasing demands of IT networks. More workstations are
taxing the infrastructure. These concerns are the thrust behind
new "limited combustible" cables that reduce fire safety risk.
Click here for news, a free demo CD and more. Visit DuPont's
Cabling center today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108640
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Storage newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/stor/index.html

Breaking storage news and analysis:
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/storage.html
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technology cost to roll out and support, and what benefits can
companies expect to reap? Check out NW's step-by-step guide on
how to determine the true cost and benefits of VoIP. Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/research/2005/071105-voip.html>
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