In the event of an interruption or loss of data, now is not the time to wonder whether the disaster recovery solution will work. As with anything that protects your business, you need to know that it will work. To ensure you have a proven process for protecting your company's data, we recommend knowing some key information:
Know your data
What is the nature of the data that drives your business?
What is the level of importance for that data?
Where does it reside?
How is it protected?
Who has access to it?
Know your applications
What data is in each application?
Is the application on a physical server or a virtual server?
Who uses the application and what data do they have access to?
How are the applications protected?
Do you know the cost of downtime?
What are the consequences for your customers?
How will the loss of data affect your internal operations?
What is the impact of data loss on your reputation?
To get the best results, you need to practise. This means having a working knowledge of how to perform different types of recovery, from a single file to the entire environment. It also includes knowing where the data resides, how users access it and what the data represents to the company. This will help you prioritise what is being protected and how. With backups, you need to test the recovery process as if an event were occurring.
The following is a list of tests to be performed with the backup solution:
Perform a test of the time it takes to back up a given amount of data
Perform a restore of this same information and record the results
Perform a backup of virtual machines
If your data is in the cloud or in a remote location, you should know how long it takes to recover it from that location
Last but not least, make sure you establish a regular testing schedule, ideally once a quarter. More frequently is even better.