What are the gaps in disaster recovery plan and how to find them?

Answer 1

The gaps in disaster recovery plan and how to find them:

Disaster recovery plan include backup gaps, Gaps in the testing process, System gaps and gaps related to people.

Backup gaps

Backups are one of the first areas where gaps are identified. Sometimes system backup which we took earlier is not enough as it's not capable of recovering the system at the time of disaster. Or sometime the backup media and methods are not entirely compatible with the hardware and topology of the recovery location.

Testing gaps

Gaps are often discovered in the testing procedure. The gaps are normally not found in the testing session. They often found in the actual testing when tests fail, or when system handed over to the end user and do not performs well.

To actually find the gap in the planning, one thing can be done is to run the test as if it were an actual disaster situation. In this case the actual systems which are at the primary location are left intact and running, but recovery process goes as like it were an actual disaster. When the recovery is complete the entire system is switched from the primary location to the backup location and organization works on recovered system for a period of time. So in this way more of the system gaps could be discovered.

System gaps

Sometime the organization overlooks critical systems in its planning and recovery. But, these gaps can be easily discovered in the testing process or in the recovery process. Sometime organization may overlook a PC or server setting under someone's desk that is business critical to some process. Sometime departments are unknown of the difference between the primary system and the ones that are supported outside official administration circles.

All the mentions gaps could be found in the testing phase of disaster recovery. If they are not uncovered till the true disaster recovery there may be little recourse for an organization other then to attempt to, as rapidly as possible, recreate the system to whatever extend possible and attempt to recover the functionality, possible with the limited or no access to data that might be associated with the system.

If the missing system is identified in the testing situation, extensive notes should be made on what the gap is and what systems are affected by the missing system and its functionality. After the trial recovery of the system care must be taken to see that the system compiles with the organizational standards and on backup and recoverability. As a final step, the contract information and the knowledge of the system should make it into the recovery document.

People gaps

People gaps are not only discovered in the area of disaster recovery where people are involved. But also in the area of planning and end user testing.

Some time people involved in the planning process don't have enough knowledge of the system or they don't have knowledge about how to take a backup to meet the need of recovery. If all level of management of management are not included in the, or all stockholders in the planning process are not taken into account, the potential of not meeting the organization service level agreements prove to be costly to the organization.

Creating disaster recovery planning document in a way that is easily understood. So in the case of disaster anyone can do recovery.