24.8. Disaster RecoveryDevising a good disaster recovery (DR) plan is a bit like how many cities paint their bridges. The painters start at one end of the bridge and paint until they reach the end. Then they go to the other side of the bridge and start painting it until they reach the other end. Then they start all over again; they basically never stop painting the bridge. So should it be when you're building your DR plan. You have to build it from the ground up, and it can take months or even years to perfect, at which point you have to go back to the beginning and start all over. Since computer environments are changing constantly, you continually have to change and test your plan to make sure it still works. This section is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to disaster recovery planning. There are books dedicated to just that topic, and before you attempt to design your own disaster recovery plan, I strongly advise you to research this topic further. This part of the chapter gives you an overview of the steps necessary to complete such a plan as well as a few details that are typically left out of other books. |