What Is Disaster Recovery? Steps & Benefits

You can’t predict what will happen in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. That’s why you need disaster recovery as an effective preventive measure.

Disaster recovery is a concept designed to address the worst-case scenarios in the future. The disaster recovery discussed here involves various software, IT devices, and applications to ensure that a company’s critical information isn’t lost.

If you’re new to this topic, take a close look at the following information.

What Is Disaster Recovery?

Disaster recovery is a concept designed to safeguard all systems, applications, and IT devices from future disasters. The disasters referred to here aren’t limited to natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, or landslides—they also include cyberattacks, economic crises, or even pandemics like COVID-19.

Essentially, disaster recovery is implemented as a preventive measure against unpredictable future events.

{{blogcard id=”102″}}

If an incident occurs that damages systems or data, the company need not worry. Backup data and systems are already in place and accessible, ensuring that the company’s operations can return to normal quickly.

Why Do Companies Need Disaster Recovery?

To operate at full capacity, your business systems must always be up and running. This is why disaster recovery is so crucial for businesses; when errors or disasters occur, your business can resume operations quickly.

In addition to this, there are other reasons why a company needs disaster recovery services:

1. Preventing Data Loss

One of the strongest reasons to use disaster recovery services is to prevent data loss. Certain types of cyberattacks have the potential to steal and/or delete your business data, ranging from customer data to company data.

2. Maintaining Customer Satisfaction

When your business systems are down, customers may switch to competitors who are ready to meet their needs. This not only causes you to lose customers but also forces you to incur additional costs to acquire new ones.

3. Protecting Your Business

Disaster recovery is essentially like insurance for your business. When your business is struck by a disaster—whether due to a natural disaster, a cyberattack, or human error—disaster recovery will quickly get your business back up and running as usual.

{{blogcard id=”102″}}

How Does Disaster Recovery Work?

Simply put, disaster recovery involves backing up data and systems at a location separate from the primary data center. So, if a disaster damages the primary data center, the company won’t suffer significant losses because it can still operate.

For a more comprehensive understanding, let’s explore how disaster recovery works, broken down into the following steps.

1. Data Duplication

Duplication ensures that the critical data needed by the company isn’t stored in just one location. If something happens to damage one of the data centers, there will still be secure data stored elsewhere.

All data on the primary site (main data center) will be duplicated and stored at the secondary site (backup data center). This data storage can be implemented in two ways: virtually (in the cloud) or physically (at a physical location).

{{blogcard id=”183″}}

Each company can choose how it wants to implement disaster recovery. Everything will depend on the needs, circumstances, and resources available to each company.

2. Activating the Secondary Site

If a disaster actually occurs and damages the primary site, the secondary site will be activated immediately. The affected primary site will inevitably cause operations to halt. However, this disruption is only temporary.

The secondary site will be activated immediately so that company operations can resume. Although the situation may still be unstable, at least essential activities can be carried out as they should be.

3. Rebuilding the Primary Site

Once the secondary site is activated, the primary site will also be rebuilt. The primary site will be rebuilt with new infrastructure.

This is done so that the primary site can be used again once the disaster is over. Later, the data saved by employees on the secondary site during the disaster will be copied back to the primary site to ensure that no work activities are disrupted.

4. Switching Operations from the Secondary to the Primary Site

Once the primary site is fully restored, the company’s operations can be shifted back to their original location. Before it can be fully operational, you need to ensure that all activities using data from the secondary site are temporarily halted. Then, the process of transferring all company operations from the secondary site to the primary site can be carried out.

How to Create a Disaster Recovery Plan?

If disaster recovery is the concept or idea, then a disaster recovery plan is the blueprint for implementing that idea. Planning is done to ensure the company does not go bankrupt or collapse when a disaster strikes.

A disaster recovery plan helps the company determine how long it will take to restore operations to normal.

What aspects must be included in a disaster recovery plan? Everything you consider essential for the company’s operations must be included in the disaster recovery plan. Some key elements are listed below:

• Active Directory / Domain Controller
• Databases (SQL/Oracle/MariaDB)
• File servers (e.g., SharePoint)
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Industry-specific software (Accounting, MES, etc.)
• Virtual desktop environment

In addition to identifying the essential components, you need to understand RPO and RTO. RPO, or Recovery Point Objective, is the goal of the recovery plan.

For example, this includes what data must be restored quickly or which operational activities should be prioritized during a disaster. On the other hand, RTO (Recovery Time Objective) refers to the target timeframe to be achieved.

Thus, when a disaster occurs, the company has already established clear timeframes for when operations will be suspended and when they will resume. You can find all these essential aspects in Cloudmatika’s Disaster Recovery service.

Cloudmatika’s Disaster Recovery service provides you with the most comprehensive solution powered by Acronis’s advanced technology. You don’t have to worry about significant losses during downtime because the data recovery process is extremely fast—sometimes taking only a matter of minutes.

All of your company’s operational activities—such as order processing, shipping, and responding to customers—can continue seamlessly with Cloudmatika’s Disaster Recovery service.

What Are the Different Types of Disaster Recovery Plans?

Disaster recovery plans are divided into four types: virtualized, network, cloud, and data center. Here’s an explanation of each.

1. Virtualized

A virtualized disaster recovery plan helps you visualize the process more clearly. You’ll gain a more comprehensive understanding of the plan. Testing the system will also be much easier and simpler.

However, you must ensure that the plan created virtually can actually be implemented in the real world. Make sure you’ve established clear objectives regarding RPO and RTO.

2. Network

Network disaster recovery plans are rarely chosen because they involve complex processes. The larger the amount of stored data, the more difficult the implementation becomes.

However, the most important factor is the company’s ability to execute it. The company must ensure it has sufficient resources, both in terms of materials and personnel.

3. Cloud

A cloud disaster recovery plan is used for “cloud-based” storage rather than physical storage. Using this type of plan actually offers many benefits, such as improved efficiency in terms of space, time, and cost.

{{blogcard id=”124″}}

However, you need to carefully consider and plan to ensure that your data cannot be stolen by hackers.

A robust, multi-layered security system is essential to keep all stored company data secure. You need to choose a cloud service provider that is trusted and has a proven track record of security over time.

4. Data Center

As the name suggests, a data center disaster recovery plan involves storing data at a physical location. This approach actually enables faster recovery times because data can be accessed immediately once the backup data center is activated.

{{blogcard id=”99″}}

However, you need to assess operational risks such as location, available resources, and security.

Now you better understand that preparing a disaster recovery plan is the right preventive measure to take before a disaster strikes. Which type of disaster recovery plan will you choose? If you’re still unsure, you can opt for the disaster recovery solution provided by Cloudmatika.

Cloudmatika uses Acronis technology that can quickly restore your company’s data. No matter what data format you have, this isn’t an issue. The data formats supported by Cloudmatika include Windows, Linux, Bare Metal, Physical Servers, Workstations, Applications, Databases (SQL Server), Virtualization, and Any Hypervisor.

You don’t need to worry about losing data stored in Cloudmatika’s data center because it has been proven to be secure. The data protection provided by Cloudmatika has even received international recognition under the ISO 27001 standard.

What do you think? Cloudmatika’s Disaster Recovery service is very secure, comprehensive, and reliable, isn’t it? Don’t delay any longer in implementing security and disaster recovery systems to ensure your company’s data remains safe. Need further consultation? Contact the Cloudmatika team right away!