Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. An isolated disaster such as a building fire could require a temporary relocation, while large-scale disasters like hurricanes can disrupt facilities, infrastructure and staff for long periods of time. Worse, there’s no way to predict where and how the next catastrophe will strike.

Because of the unpredictability of disasters, disaster preparedness should be a crucial part of your business plan. To maximize preparedness, your business should develop different plans that deal with different types of disasters. Each plan should be specific and take into account the different types of disasters you may encounter.

But remember that even the best disaster plans can be flawed. It takes careful planning, frequent review and occasional disaster drills to shape and strengthen your plan.

Plan for continuity
A business continuity plan takes into consideration all of the factors that enable your business to operate during and after a disaster. To determine your needs for continuity, you need to identify your mission-critical applications, determine your recovery goal and decide what your budget allows. Continuity plans exist for every company size and budget. Start with evaluating data accessibility, power availability and telecom needs.

Servers and data storage
To stay up and running, you should consider off-site data-center replication. This means duplicating everything, from applications to Web servers and database servers, at another site. This way, if your main data center goes down, the backup center automatically takes over.

Further boosting continuity are networked storage devices, which house data separate from your servers and are accessible through a network. In this arrangement, data is shared among multiple servers so that if one server goes down, data is accessible on the servers that are still operating.

You have two primary networked storage options: network-attached storage (NAS) devices and storage area network (SAN) devices. NAS devices utilize existing Ethernet connections, while SAN devices use a speedier Fibre Channel interface. For added data protection, storage software can automatically replicate data from a primary storage system to a secondary system in another location.

Even if you replicate data in storage devices at multiple locations, it’s still important to back up the data as a precaution. Backup disks or tapes should then be stored offsite. Backup sites need to be located far enough away from primary sites to limit the possibility of both sites being affected by the same disaster.

Power
Generators and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems ensure that your data center is protected against power outages. When a power outage occurs, UPS systems protect your equipment from power surges and provide battery backup for a short amount of time until your generators can kick in. If you don’t have generator power at your business, having a UPS system still plays a vital role in data protection by allowing you to save data and properly shut down equipment after a power failure.

Telecom services
Continuity experts recommend that you subscribe to multiple telecommunications providers. This way if your main provider fails, you can quickly switch to another service and continue operations. In times of widespread disaster, even if providers are able to operate, call levels into the area are high, and systems are often overloaded, further complicating communication. Be prepared to deal with clogged telecom systems anytime you face a widespread disaster.

To learn more about business continuity, contact your CDW account manager.

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