Disaster Recovery Plan: NetApp and Microsoft - Essay Example

? Disaster Recovery Plan Table of Contents I. of the Program/Disaster Recovery Plan 3 A. Requirements Definition, Assessment of the Overall Firm Vulnerability 3 B. Analysis of Impact to the Business 3 C. Requirements Definition 4 D. Development of the Plan 4 E. Plan Implementation, Testing 5 II. Objectives and Scope of the Disaster Recovery Plan 5 III. Staffing, Organization for the Disaster Recovery Plan 6 IV. Control of the Project 6 V. Deliverables and Schedules 7 References 8 I. Description of the Program/Disaster Recovery Plan A. Requirements Definition, Assessment of the Overall Firm Vulnerability The company's software and systems assets are based on commercial off the shelf software or COTS coming from Microsoft and NetApp, together with products that are tailored for government. Storage for the company's data is via NetApp Storage, making use of SnapMirror as the technology to partly enable the process of disaster recovery. Microsoft COTS are the Microsoft line of Server products, including Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, and Microsoft SharePoint, among others (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011). B. Analysis of Impact to the Business While software and systems are off the shelf, the data is customized and unique to the company. The customizations on the COTS software can be backed up and reconfigured on copies in the event of disaster, but data is another matter. The impact of data loss due to a disaster can include the company being unable to resume operations, leading to the collapse of the company's viability as a going concern. On the other hand, while data recovery and storage is important, so are the costs associated with making data resilient in the event of disaster. Reliable data storage then becomes of great importance, the absence of which can spell the company's end. A disaster recovery plan relying on NetApp has the opposite impact of the company being able to have some reliability in the storage, at cost-effective levels (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011) C. Requirements Definition Systems have to be reconfigurable in the event of disaster. Redundant data must be the norm, located at different locations, so that a localized disaster will not disrupt vital company processes. Ideally, the setup is to include NetApp storage managing redundant data, and two parallel and identical systems made up of NetApp and Microsoft COTS are to run, with one on standby to kick in and take over from the live environment once the live environment fails in the event of a disaster (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011). D. Development of the Plan An oversight team is to form the different committees in charge of the company's functional departments, interfacing with IT in order to come up with a data backup and recovery plan, as well as a systems backup and recovery plan, for each of the functional departments. The recovery plan will flow from the big picture setup of redundant systems and redundant data residing on different locations, managed by NetApps on the storage side (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011). E. Plan Implementation, Testing The same oversight committee, made up of the company CEO and CTO as the project managers, shall have overall project ownership for the plan, and shall undertake the testing and implementation of the plan. Testing shall be done via simulating a disaster situation and the failure of one of the systems, and the taking over of the redundant systems and the redundant data management from a remote site. The different department representatives, working with IT, shall be responsible for validating the results of the tests to be in line with expectations pre- and post-disaster (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011) II. Objectives and Scope of the Disaster Recovery Plan The key objective of the disaster recovery plan is to be able to leverage the strengths of NetApp and of Microsoft Servers products capabilities to make sure that systems and data are resilient and remain intact in the event of a disaster. Resilience is defined as the ability of the company's systems to be able to continue running in the event of a disaster, with no loss of data, and no adverse impact to the company's operations in the short and long term (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011). III. Staffing, Organization for the Disaster Recovery Plan As discussed above, the oversight committee shall be headed by the company CEO and the CTO acting as project managers, with the department heads and select staff from each of the departments, together with IT, making up the operational teams to test, implement, and manage/maintain the disaster recovery plan and its component systems, key of which are pieces of the data storage infrastructure running on NetApp (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011). IV. Control of the Project The Oversight Committee, headed by the CEO and CTO as co-chairmen/project managers, shall have overall jurisdiction and ownership of the Disaster Recovery Plan, and shall have control and final decision powers with regards to issues that may arise in the course of project implementation. Department heads shall be in charge of the implementation teams for their respective departments, reporting to the oversight committee. The IT department shall have a direct line of reporting to the CEO and CTO, and shall have equal responsibilities with the department heads/implementation teams (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011). V. Deliverables and Schedules The deliverables and schedules shall be drafted by IT working with the implementation teams, to be approved by the CEO and CTO sitting with the department heads as the oversight committee (Bahan, 2003; CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise, 2012; US Small Business Administration, 2010; University of Toronto Information + Technology Services, 2012; Microsoft Corporation, 2012; NetApp, 2012; NetApp, 2011) References Bahan, C. (2003). The Disaster Recovery Plan. SANS Institute InfoSec Reading Room. Retrieved 11 April 2012 from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CIgBEBYwBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sans.org%2Freading_room%2Fwhitepapers%2Frecovery%2Fdisaster-recovery-plan_1164&ei=IvaHT92bM4iTiQfdtOjyCQ&usg=AFQjCNFZbVR55B8-EtK5abJamaUXgvzz0g CXO Media/ IDG Enterprise (2012). Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning: The Basics, CSO Online Business Continuity. Retrieved 11 April 2012 from http://www.csoonline.com/article/204450/business-continuity-and-disaster-recovery-planning-the-basics Microsoft Corporation (2012). Server & Tools. Microsoft. Retrieved 11 April 2012 from http://www.microsoft.com/servers/en/us/default.aspx NetApp (2011). WhiteWater West Drives Agility, Tackles Unprecedented Growth with NetApp and Microsoft. NetApp. Retrieved 11 April 2012 from http://www.netapp.com/us/library/customer-stories/whitewater-west.html NetApp (2012). NetApp Data Storage Systems. NetApp.com. Retrieved 11 April 2012 from http://www.netapp.com/us/products/storage-systems/ University of Toronto Information + Technology Services (2012). Disaster Recovery Planning, University of Toronto. Retrieved 11 April 2012 from http://www.utoronto.ca/security/documentation/business_continuity/dis_rec_plan.htm US Small Business Administration (2010). Disaster Recovery Plan, SBA. Retrieved 11 April 2012 from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CKMBEBYwCA&url=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.sba.gov%2Fidc%2Fgroups%2Fpublic%2Fdocuments%2Fsba_homepage%2Fserv_da_disastr_revcovery_plan.pdf&ei=IvaHT92bM4iTiQfdtOjyCQ&usg=AFQjCNEvnu9SgUQP7MVnN7ldRWj4nbMdlw Read More