We are just over a month into the 2012 hurricane season, but have you or your organisation established an IT disaster management and recovery plan?<\/em><\/p>\n
Although the main focus of disaster management and recovery for IT, might be the equipment and data, there is critical information and documentation that will be essential when repairs and\/or restoration must be done. They include but would not be limited to:<\/p>\n
It is crucial to make copies of critical data stored on all PCs, laptops, as well as file servers, web servers and any with other media where data vital to your organisation, business or household is stored. Ideally, images of all storage disks should be created, thus facilitating virtually seamless restoration should it be necessary. However, creating full copies of all existing storage media, does require ample storage, which must be considered and budgeted for. It is also important to note that backing up is most effective when done frequently, at least daily, again, in order facilitate seamless restoration and continuity.<\/p>\n
While creating images of entire storage media (even networks) might be ideal, if that is not possible, at the very least, all user-generated or stored files, including the following, should be backed up:<\/p>\n
Hence, in the event you have to re-install the Operating System (OS) and software applications, your user files could be copied back onto the device, virtually restoring it to its earlier state. However, again, it is important to have the latest version of your files backed up, and with prudent discipline, back them up frequently.<\/p>\n
It is a good practice to ensure that you or your organisation have copies of all software that has been installed. This would include the OS and all applications. As stated in the first point, it is important to safely store all activation or authentication keys, as they will be needed when the software is being reinstalled or updated.<\/p>\n
On a separate note, there has been a growing trend to eliminate optical disk drives from computing devices, especially portable devices. As result, applications must be downloaded, and even installed, directly from the Internet. For those that are downloaded in their entirety, they can be saved for future use.\u00a0 However, for software that is installed over the Internet, it would be advisable to maintain a current list of those applications, so that they can be re-installed when the requisite Internet connectivity is available.<\/p>\n
Coupled with the second point on backing up our data, all copies should not reside at the same premises. If that location experiences a disaster, then all copies of the data could be compromised. Hence it is strongly recommended that a secondary location be identified.<\/p>\n
The data stored in a tangible media (e.g. external hard drive, CD\/DVD) can be physically transported to that secondary location, or alternatively, it is backed up directly to a remote location. Generally, it is considered good practice to implement the two options, as they act as a fail-safe should one of them be unavailable or has been compromised.<\/p>\n
Although every effort ought to be made to safeguard data, loss or damage to equipment is costly and will delay recovery. Hence consideration should also be given to preserving those devices, and should they be damaged, options that support restoration.<\/a><\/p>\n
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Image credits: kakela<\/a>, flickr \/\u00a0marnanel<\/a>, flickr \/\u00a0snowpeak<\/a>, flickr\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
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