When disaster strikes

In recent times there were crippling natural disasters in China and Myanmar. Fortunately such disasters have been few and far between here in NZ. However, in the IT world we see disasters on a weekly basis – the disasters being extensive IT failures that can quite literally cripple a business.   

IT disaster recovery is a huge business in its own right, as businesses and organisations can pay a lot of money to keep things running without failure.

Here’s a question for your business. If your server(s) or even a core workstation was to completely fail tomorrow - do you have a recovery plan? In other words, what is the timeframe that your company can be operational again? 

For 80% of small to medium businesses this simple question can’t be answered. Most would hope in such a disaster that an IT provider would be able to make a site visit and fix the problems. Unfortunately if proper measures aren’t in place to start with, even an army of IT guru’s won’t get your company operational any sooner.

Here are a couple of options when it comes to disaster recovery: 

Hot Spares:  Some smarter businesses keep a secondary (redundant) server on hand in case of need. In the event of primary system failure, the secondary server can be used once data has been restored from backup. This is a good entry level approach and work can resume as normal without a major loss of productivity. Because it’s a temporary measure, the secondary server doesn’t need to be a high end model.

Image Software: Technically this software takes a snapshot of your system at certain times throughout the day and then sends it to an external device. In the event of failure you can completely restore your system using this snapshot. The external USB device also provides the benefit of being mobile so the snapshots can be taken offsite or stored in a safe place.

Offsite Mirror: If your budget allows, keeping an identical (mirrored) system in a remote location is an ideal form of disaster recovery. The remote server keeps a mirrored version of your core company server and any changes to files are sent over at the smallest level possible over a dedicated link. If the main server fails, the backup server starts automatically.

Understanding how to prevent a major productivity loss during core failure is the first step to Disaster Recovery. Talk to your IT provider today regarding a plan for your business.

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