Ever notice that a lot of my blog post titles are song titles, lyrics, movie quotes, etc.? I’m not sure why, as it gives you no idea of what the topic of the post is really about, but I enjoy doing it. Let’s face it: I can be weird. :)
Last week, when we left our heroes, we were in the middle of a disaster. The thrilling conclusion to that adventure, where we find out if the heroes survived and caught the bad guys did not air as expected. By now, I should know better than to state a specific day or time in my posts – it never works out for me. Instead, I should just say, “In my next post….” Ah well. I won’t change, so don’t expect me to.
Business Continuity
Disaster recovery is, as I mentioned, a larger concern than simply, “Is my data protected?” A real business continuity plan needs to cover, “How would my business recover from a severe data loss?” A couple different scenarios leap to mind, so I would like to discuss each.
Server meltdown
For whatever reason, your server is lost. This could happen for any number of reasons, but for the sake of this discussion, let’s assume it is ONLY the server which has crashed, and the rest of your location is fine. In this case, your business may (or may not) be interrupted while waiting for the server to come back online. Your business continuity plan hopefully outlines this scenario with an expected Recovery Time Objective (RTO), which is nothing more than an estimated time to be back up and running. If you have an extra server in-house, this can be a quick turnaround. Simply restoring your data onto the extra server means you are back up and running in the time it takes for that restore to happen. If you, like most people, aren’t sitting on an extra server, then this is the first consideration – what hardware will my data get restored to? How will I get that server back up and running? The obvious answer to this question is to order a new piece of hardware and restore the data to it. But what does the RTO look like on this plan? It will be however long it takes to get a replacement server, get it delivered, and get the data restored to it. Chances are, this is a longer RTO than you really want.
Our Serenity package includes an on-site device which will act as a virtual server (using your backed-up data) in the event that your server goes down. This means that while you are waiting for your replacement server hardware to be delivered, you are still up and running, leveraging the on-site Serenity device. In this case, your RTO is minimal, since the device is already in place and ready to go in the event of a server meltdown.
Site lost
Let’s look at a more comprehensive disaster scenario. Be it flood, tornado, hurricane, fire, lightning, etc., your site is lost. Your server is destroyed, but so are your workstations, office space, etc. In this scenario, we would assume that your on-site Serenity device would also be destroyed, meaning it could not act as a virtual server. Thus, your business is, at this point, completely offline. What solution does your current business continuity plan provide for such a scenario? Hopefully, you are taking backed-up data off-site on a regular basis, whether it is a physical movement of data or an automatic cloud (Internet) backup. In either scenario, you will still need somewhere to restore that data to (meaning you will need server hardware again). In this scenario, your workstations were also lost, meaning you will need to replace them as well. But this situation is trickier, as your physical space may be a loss as well. Where will you be conducting business while waiting for your office space to be restored? Once again, our Serenity business continuity package has the answer! The product does regular cloud-based (Internet) backup, which means all of your data is being stored off-site in secure datacenters. If your site is lost, we can virtualize your server and 5 workstations (or more) in the cloud. In laymen’s terms, this means that you could run to you local PC retailer and grab PCs right off the shelf. You could then take these anywhere with an Internet connection (your home, a coffee shop, etc.) and use the Internet to remotely login to your virtualized workstations, which would have access to all of your data and applications courtesy of the virtualized server. I realize this may seem complicated, but it really isn’t. Let me break it down a bit further.
When we setup the Serenity package, we determine which machines will be virtualized in a disaster. This includes servers and the workstations of the important people in the organization. (In this case, important refers to “mission critical.” I, for instance, would not be considered as mission critical as our technicians, who needs their PCs and associated tools, databases, etc. in order to keep our clients up and running. Likewise, our CEO, Erik, would not be considered as important as our Service Manager, Jamie.) This plan is put into place and we store all of this information in the event of disaster. If it happens, we go into action, utilizing the plan we already have in place to create a virtual network on the Internet. This virtual network is secure, and features your own workstations and servers, which you will log into via any Internet connection. It’s important to realize how this will work. You will use whatever PCs you have (or purchase) and login through a secure connection to your virtualized workstations, which will look and feel just as they did when you were sitting at them in your office. That means that you don’t have to bother with re-setting up your new workstations during this critical time. All you need is a web browser. Picking up off-the-shelf units from a store like Best Buy or Fry’s will allow you to reconnect to your data and have your business back up and running. The bottom line is that this is a fast, secure, and most of all, complete business continuity plan.
RTO
Earlier, I mentioned RTO, or Recovery Time Objective. Ideally, you want to know the RTO of any business continuity solution you put in place, since this is what determines how long after declaring a disaster you will be back up and running. (Downtime is lost profit, but it can mean a lot more than that. Depending on your business, it could mean that you are not able to help your customers/clients/patients with the services they really need at that time.) The RTO on the Serenity package is 48 hours, meaning from the time the disaster strikes until the time your network is virtualized and available in the cloud is, at most, 48 hours. If you are in a business where 48 hours is too long, you can reduce the RTO even further. This requires some special testing (which comes at an additional cost), but is absolutely available. Not a risk taker? Like to know that your solution is working? One of the features of this product is that we can work together to actually perform a simulated disaster in order to test/demonstrate the virtualization processes. Once it is demonstrated that everything is working as expected (and will in the event of a disaster), then even the most paranoid of business people can rest easy knowing their business continuity plan, as it relates to IT, is sound.
What Do I Need to Do?
Take a look at your current disaster recovery/business continuity plan. If you have one in place, think of the things I’ve mentioned above and ensure you’re covered. If so, great! If not, or if you don’t have a plan in place, why not drop me an e-mail and I will be happy to assist you in figuring out what sort of plan you could put in place.
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