Virtualisation Should Prompt Disaster Recovery Rethink

Small to medium businesses (SMBs) should consider the impact of virtualisation on their backup and disaster recovery plans, according to a report from QuorumSoft.

By encapsulating workloads that can be shifted between physical hosts and clouds, new options for performance, redundancy and disaster recovery exist for companies that have implemented virtualisation, the report noted.

A formal disaster recovery plan can enable an organisation to survive a serious event by eliminating confusion during a disaster, and setting clear expectations for what systems and services will be brought online when and how. Many factors go into the creation and maintenance of a DR plan, including the systems, network, budget, staff, resources and, of course, business requirements, the report explained.

DR Rethink

QuorumSoft researchers explained disaster recovery encompasses a broad set of practices within the broader discipline of business continuity. From an IT perspective, disaster recovery concerns itself with the processes needed to provision for and recover from incapacitation of IT capabilities at a primary site. Incapacitation could result from a natural disaster, terrorism or intentional sabotage, massive hardware failure, and any other adverse event.

“The process of developing a DR plan is complex. Of the many books and professionals dedicated to the topic, most recommend starting with a simple audit of your environment. Itemising and documenting your services, systems and their dependencies can be a big help in understanding your environment, and paves the way for the rest of the work,” the report said. “Identifying the ‘fragile artefacts’ within an organisation allows you to plan for their protection.”

The report also pointed out that for organisations on a tight budget, price is a crucial factor when introducing new backup products and solutions, and IT organisations with a broader mandate and bigger budget to pursue business continuity objectives should consider the total cost of the solution over time, in addition to the up-front sticker price.

Virtualisation Implications

“It is now possible for small and midsized organisations to access and use many of the same powerful IT capabilities once available only to larger organisations with more resources,” said the report.

“Implementing virtualised IT environments is one area. As smaller organisations leverage the potential of virtualisation, it is critical they consider the implications on their disaster recovery planning,” the report concluded.

“By gaining an in-depth understanding of specific strategies for disaster recovery, small and mid-sized organizations can leverage the potential of virtualisation without creating a hidden, potentially costly, risk to their systems and data if a major disruption to their IT systems occurs,” it added.