Data Recovery Leaders Provide Guidance for Maintaining Business Uptime.
Asigra Inc., a leading Cloud Backup™, recovery and restore (BURR) software provider since 1986 today announced a ten-point checklist for enterprises preparing for events that require disaster recovery. With the potential for severe winter and spring storms over the next several months, the data recovery experts at Asigra recommend that organizations take proactive steps to prepare for a variety of disasters that could negatively impact data stored in local data centers.
Every year, AccuWeather.com issues a U.S. winter forecast, highlighting predictions of temperature and precipitation trends. Last year, winter was unusually warm for much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation. This year, however, above-normal snowfall is predicted for the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and central and southern Appalachians, spanning western Massachusetts to northern portions of Georgia and Alabama. For businesses, severe rain and/or snow storms can result in power outages and flooding. Additionally, tornado season typically starts in March and can last well into July, depending on the region.
The best strategy to protecting an organization’s IT operations from experiencing severe data loss in the event of a disaster is to take proactive steps in order to prepare the physical environment, IT infrastructure and staff responsible for managing these areas. In fact, DR plans are essential to ensuring regulatory compliance, including the Dodd Frank Act (in the financial services space) which requires that organizations have detailed DR plans to ensure policy adherence.
The following is a ten point checklist developed by Asigra and the company’s service providers who support enterprises in regions recently impacted by natural disasters, including Hurricane Sandy. These service providers specialize in data recovery planning, execution and consulting services.
10-Point Enterprise Disaster Recovery Planning Checklist:
1. Have a Written Plan that Evolves with the Organization Create a formal disaster recovery plan in case servers and local backup systems are damaged or destroyed. Put that plan in a secure location such as a lockbox service online and regularly update as infrastructure throughout the organization evolves.
2. Avoid Windows Locate your data center (regardless of size) in a windowless room to minimize the possibility of rain damage.
3. Emergency Power Consider the implementation of uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems on mission critical servers and systems that will allow for the smooth transition from primary (utility) power to emergency power systems during a power outage.
