Disaster protection/recovery plan for MIS
Currently in place for data protection is a nightly back up of all of the ERP (SX) data which comprises all data since SX was deployed, Web store database and associated files, Exchange Server database containing all email from users that has not been deleted or archived by the user, and all data stored on share partitions of Server (This includes the apps drive, public drive, accounting drive, MIS drive, and all users X drives.) These backups are full backups performed nightly on a two week rotation are stored in a safe in the server room with a two hour burn rating and also protected by the HFC-125 Fire suppression system in the server room Additionally the room is climate controlled and the safe is water tight. In addition to the nightly backups of data we have monthly backups of the SX ERP data.
In the event of Server failure or destruction the plan would be to repair the server or replace it and then install necessary software on it, then restore from the most recent full backups. For additional security measure services for the company are spread over several servers, with some redundancy. For instance the domain control which holds all employees login information is duplicated by another server in case one goes down. Email will be held in queue or could be moved (minus current email) to the spam filter box should the email server go, and vice versa, email can be directed directly to our mail server bypassing the spam filter if something should happen to that box. Through the use of Virtualization the spam filter is backed up and can be redeployed on another machine very quickly if need be. The current VPN solution we are using is also a freely open package that runs across multiple Operating systems and could be redeployed in a matter of minutes if need be to another machine.
We do, however, have points of possible failure specifically the Terminal Server, SX Server, and Web Server, we do not have suitable equipment to redeploy these on and in most cases it would take a great deal of time to redeploy these solutions on new box. This is unavoidable, however, due to prohibitive costs associated with duplicating these systems.
Recommendations: Consider adding a duplicate backup at least weekly or take the last backup of a week and rotate it to an off site location preferably climate controlled and safe, such as a safety deposit box and rotate backups through there. Or alternatively consider looking at alternative offsite storage, such as Online backup for sensitive or important data like the SX ERP system data. This is not inexpensive, however, and that should be taken into decision making. Move our systems as we upgrade to a more virtualized environment so that whole machines can be moved and run on different systems if need be, this may impact overall performance at times if say you have to move several machines to one unit if another goes down, but you will still be able to operate. Decentralize data storage to a SAN and or NAT or a mix so that it is not tied to a specific machine and can be easily moved from one to another if needed.
NOTE: Some of these suggestions are all ready planned to have at least partial implementation as we go through normal upgrade cycles, we ideally will be able to maximize usage while keeping hardware costs down and improving overall recovery plan and redundancy.