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Part 6 - Disaster Recovery

This part is a little longer than other seven, reflecting extreme importance of subject matter.

The term "disaster recovery" means different things to different people. Even confined to events that affect usability of computers in conduct of business, a "disaster" can have a wide range of meanings, and "recovery" can vary quite considerably in scope. In this article I am going to restrict meaning of "disaster" to mean data loss.

Nor will we concern ourselves with how data may have been lost, other than to reflect briefly on fact that events that can cause data loss are many and occur frequently. They include fire, flood, earthquake, electrical surge, theft, vandalism, equipment failure, user error, vindictive acts — to name just nine of many possibilities.

Similarly, we'll use only a narrow definition of "recovery", as in "getting back data that was lost". Beyond that, smart entrepreneurs will have at least a rudimentary Disaster Recovery Plan in place. The DRP will include information on where to quickly source replacement computers (perhaps temporary hire) and all other things that will need to be done to get a business up and running again very quickly after a catastrophic event. Under certain policies insurers may require that a Disaster Recovery Plan be submitted for approval before cover is granted. For information on DRPs, also called Business Continuity Plans, just do a web search — there is a lot of information out there. Thinking about such things now may save your business in future.

In practice a diverse mix of methods is used to take copies of important data, ranging from doing nothing (a disturbingly large number) to complex, expensive and dedicated network-attached storage devices. Methods in common use include burning to CD, copying to floppy (rare these days due to large file sizes), copying to another PC on a network, storing to ZIP, JAZ or now obsolete LS-120 drives, detachable USB storage devices, and so on. And of course venerable Tape Backup Unit (TBU). There are dozens of different tape formats, with most common probably being 4 millimeter Digital Audio Tape (DAT). Regardless of tape format or drive type, this method is usually just referred to generically as "tape backup", with only IT professional concerned with specifications.

But no matter which method or storage media you use, backing up critical data is a pointless exercise if that backup remains in computer, in office or even in building. Considering only nine types of disaster I mentioned above, at least six of those can also render your backups useless, along with original data storage, if backup is not taken completely off-site.

Now before you start to get bored, I'm not going to just repeat admonition you have probably heard ad nauseum — to take your backups off-site. If you haven't been doing that up to now, then my harping is unlikely to make you change your ways. And even if you have been taking your backup's off-site, how effectively have you been doing it? Will you in fact be taking yesterday's backup with you when you leave today, and leaving today's backup running? Hey … I understand. Who wants to hang around after work every day for an extra hour or more waiting for a backup to run? And that's if you are using some automated method with a large capacity removable media, such as tape.

If you are manually backing up to some other media, say CD or ZIP drive, then you have even more work to do and no guarantee that you will be getting every important file off every computer.

Which leads to question about why companies are slow to create corporate blogs in order to promote their organizational goals and ideals. The reason for this lax attitude is that corporate blogs can be misinterpreted for techies and employment of full-time blog administrators as too costly.

Before creating a corporate blog, determine some guidelines. Here are some tips:

Clear Organisational Message

Before starting a corporate blog, you have to be very clear about organizational message and direction. The reason is that your blog will be read by public who may also be potential customers who have different global perceptions. You do not want your blog to convey negative perceptions of your organizational values. Determine Success Targets

The setting up of a corporate blog is not just an opportunity for people to ventilate or post their comments online. There must be clear success targets. Feasible short term targets are generation of new sales leads and increase in customer database. In contrast, a medium term target can be creation of new alliances.

Promote Your Alliance