Sidebar: DR Tips From the Trenches

By Drew Robb

April 25, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld -

For more-expensive gear, consider sharing an off-site machine with other companies. The Members Group does this with an IBM iSeries server; each company pays its own network services provider to host it.

Use partners and leverage their expertise to make your disaster recovery plans work. Hold them accountable for their technology functioning as promised.
Consider setting up an arrangement where your company and one or two others operate as replication facilities for one another, says Mike Karp, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates.

Don't depend on one operating system. "Use a variety of OSs," says Michael Smith, general manager of operations at Forbes.com. "We use Linux, Sun, Microsoft and others."

Allow enough time to unearth project complexities. That can even mean drilling down into each application to uncover interdependencies and idiosyncrasies. "Proprietary applications are sometimes coded to a specific IP address or machine name, so that when you move them to a replicated facility, they don't work," says Jeff Russell, CIO at The Members Group.

"As well as planning the technical details, you have to plan the financial aspect in the same depth, since DR will be expensive," says Michael Gruth of Deutsche Borse.

"You have to tie excellent change management into the recovery plan," says Michael Croy, director of business continuity at Forsythe Technology Inc. in Skokie, Ill. Things change at a whirlwind rate in any enterprise. Employees come and go, servers and applications change with the seasons, and people have a tendency to not stay where you want them to. "The infrastructure in today's business is in a constant state of flux," says Croy.

Not all applications are created equal. Determine which applications and which data are most critical and then replicate them constantly. Some applications can be down four hours, and others perhaps longer. "We replicate some applications minute to minute and others nightly," said Nick Voutsakis, CTO at Glenmede Trust.

"Perform a business process analysis to truly understand how the business operates, fully understand the dependencies among systems and set priorities accordingly," says Chip Nickolett of Comprehensive Consulting Solutions.

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