The internet is a beautiful place. People around the world can connect with one another and share things in a way that would never be possible otherwise. But unfortunately, it can also be a dangerous place. Malicious events like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks or Man in The Middle (MITM) attacks can put both your server’s functionality and user’s data at risk.
You might be held responsible if sensitive info is leaked, and even if you aren’t, data discrepancies are never good for user retention. The bottom line is that security and disaster recovery are critical to your business’ success. This article will dive into the details of what a Disaster Recovery Plan is and how it can help save your data (and by association your business)
What is a Disaster Recovery Plan?
Even the best-laid plans go awry. It is definitely worthwhile to bring on experts to manage your server’s security and implement things like anti-DDoS protection, but even with protection against malicious attacks, you might find yourself dealing with a data crisis.
Several things could occur that cause damage to your data storage, but regardless of how it occurs what matters is that you are able to respond quickly and effectively. This is where a Disaster Recovery Plan comes in. A DRP is designed for companies that need to protect themselves from data loss, downtime, or other technical issues that may arise. If your servers go down, how quickly can you get them back up and running? If you lose data, where can you find a backup and fill in your missing spots?
There are intricacies to how it works, but the bottom line is a DRP is always going to make your server more secure and trustworthy. DRPs should be easy to implement on your end allowing a hosting provider to take on the responsibility of how to take care of things.
The Value of a DRP
Bringing a dedicated hosting provider on to professionally manage your backup plan may turn out to be one of the wisest decisions you ever make for your business. It’s something that you hope you never have to use, but finding yourself up the creek without a paddle would be much worse than paying for a plan and never using it. DRP’s are essentially insurance on your business’s data, and it’s imperative your properly protect your business’s lifeblood.
A managed provider can give you 24/7 monitoring for security threats such as DDoS attacks as well as update and backup your applications. Keeping your server well oiled ensures easy recovery if something ever does go wrong. A DRP might be crucial for the very survival of your business if you find yourself the victim of a cyber disaster. This doesn’t just include malicious attacks, but also human errors or other technical failures that are out of your control.
Zerto DRP 6.5
Zerto DRP 6.5 is a tool that allows for easy recovery in the event of technical failures. When your on-premises environment experiences an issue Zerto switches your applications over to a hosted private cloud until issues can be resolved. This swap can be done with a single click and ensures minimal downtime and from a user’s viewpoint, nothing changes.
Zerto is easy to implement and offers both a disaster recovery UI and a REST API so that you can preemptively automate tasks and expedite recovery. You can also rest assured that your data transfers are secure during cutovers since data is transferred via a VPN.
Tips for Implementing a Solid DRP
Having a managed plan to take care of your disaster recovery plan can certainly save you headaches, but you should still know what your business protocols are if things go wrong. Make sure that you properly evaluate and assign roles amongst your leadership and team. Understanding who is responsible for what components of your architecture can help reduce the time it takes to track issues down. Your team should also understand when it is their duty to notify up the chain of command if something ceases working.
Along with understanding who is responsible for what comes understanding all of the potential risks and data operations that take place in your organization. A startup for example might move quickly in hopes of competing against giants in the industry, but while doing so it needs to make sure that cybersecurity corners aren’t being cut. If they are and something goes wrong it could be much more costly than if proper preventative steps had been taken in the first place.
Summarizing Disaster Recovery Plans
There are multiple ways to go about prepping for a disaster, but the important thing is that you have a well-formulated plan. Things are going to go wrong, it’s simply unavoidable. What matters is that you can react quickly when things break, and ideally, your end users won’t even notice. Having a solid understanding of how your entire system is architected as well as who is responsible for what increases your chances of success drastically.
Understanding your operations does not require a massive amount of overhaul in the protection department either. Bringing on a trusted company to manage your disaster recovery solutions will make things much easier for you and allow you to focus on what makes your business great.
