How do you plan and execute a disaster recovery scenario for your application?

1 Assess the risks

The first step is to identify and evaluate the potential risks that could affect your application and its data. You should consider the likelihood and impact of different scenarios, such as power outages, hardware failures, network issues, data corruption, malware, or user errors. You should also estimate the recovery time objective (RTO) and the recovery point objective (RPO) for each scenario. The RTO is the maximum acceptable time to restore your application's functionality, while the RPO is the maximum acceptable data loss.

2 Define the strategy

The second step is to define the disaster recovery strategy that best suits your application's needs and budget. You should consider the different options for data backup and recovery, such as local, remote, or cloud-based solutions. You should also decide on the backup frequency, retention period, encryption, and verification methods. You should also determine the roles and responsibilities of your team members, vendors, and stakeholders in the disaster recovery process.

3 Document the plan

The third step in disaster recovery is to document the plan in a clear and concise way. Your plan should include the scope and objectives, risk assessment and strategy, backup and recovery procedures and tools, communication and escalation channels, roles and responsibilities of the disaster recovery team, as well as the testing and maintenance schedule.

4 Test the plan

The fourth step is to test the disaster recovery plan regularly and thoroughly. You should simulate different disaster scenarios and verify that your backup and recovery procedures work as expected. You should also measure the actual RTO and RPO and compare them with the desired goals. You should document the test results, identify any gaps or issues, and update the plan accordingly.

5 Execute the plan

The fifth step is to execute the disaster recovery plan in case of a real disaster. You should follow the steps and instructions in your plan and communicate with your team and stakeholders. You should also monitor the recovery progress and status and report any problems or delays. You should restore your application's functionality and data as soon as possible and minimize the downtime and data loss.

6 Review the plan

The sixth step is to review the disaster recovery plan after a disaster recovery event. You should evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your plan and identify any lessons learned or best practices. You should also collect feedback from your team and stakeholders and document any recommendations or improvements. You should update your plan based on the review findings and test it again.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?