Data Center Redundancy Critical to Disaster Recovery Plans

With hundreds of Delta Air Lines flights recently grounded in the wake of a power outage, companies of all sizes started taking a hard look at their own IT operations. At the top of the list? An assessment of disaster recovery plans.

More than likely, the overall damage to Delta has yet to be assessed. According to the Wall Street Journal, the carrier not only is facing millions of dollars in lost revenue, it is suffering a major blow to its brand reputation as one of the nation’s leading international airlines.

Companies the size of Delta will survive. Organizations any smaller are not as likely to quickly get back on course after a significant setback. That’s why a solid disaster recovery plan is an essential component of IT operations and planning.
Here are several steps in ensuring that your company is implementing a disaster recovery strategy that will minimize your risks of shutting down in the wake of a natural disaster, a power outage or other event.

Analyze and categorize data. An assessment of your critical data – and non-critical data – can help you determine how to prioritize when setting up a disaster recovery strategy. This is an essential step, as it allows you to establish a foundation for how you will move forward. Talk to key people throughout the company about what data is considered essential to return to a normal schedule as soon as possible. Data and applications that are not required for several weeks can be handled with less urgency.

Back up data and establish redundancy. In addition to back up data on a regular basis, the IT team should also seek expedient redundancy by investing in a data center in another location or by outsourcing to a colocation facility. Many companies are also investing in a cloud backup system.

Appoint a team to regularly oversee the disaster recovery plan. With a disaster recovery plan, it’s important to regularly assess the company’s changing needs and demands, as well as the reliability of the disaster recovery plan.

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Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.