Disaster recovery planning for IT infrastructure
Disaster can hit IT systems in many ways—hardware failure, software glitches, cyber attacks, or natural events. A clear disaster recovery plan helps your team recover faster and reduce downtime. Good DR planning aligns technology with business needs and keeps important data safe.
Start with a simple map of what you rely on. Identify critical assets, such as servers, databases, and line-of-business apps. Map how these pieces connect and where a single failure could halt operations. Then set clear recovery targets: RTO (how long you can be down) and RPO (how much data you can afford to lose). Keep these targets achievable and aligned with your budget.
Next, choose reliable recovery options. You can combine several approaches:
- On-site backups with off-site copies for protection against local disasters
- Cloud-based DR environments that can take over quickly
- Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) for managed failover Document how each option will be used and who is responsible for it. A small table or runbook can help teams act fast during an incident.
People and processes matter as much as technology. Assign roles for incident response, communications, and technical recovery. Maintain up-to-date contact lists and runbooks that describe each step in the recovery process. Schedule regular drills, from tabletop exercises to full failovers, and learn from every test.
An effective DR plan also requires ongoing care. Review your asset inventory after major changes, test your backups, and update recovery procedures. When you practice, you reveal gaps and fix them before a real event.
Example: a regional outage takes down a primary data center. The DR plan calls for failing over to a cloud replica, reconfiguring services, and validating operations within a few hours. A quick DNS switch and verified data restore ensure customers see minimal disruption.
Maintain your DR program with a simple cadence: annual plan review, quarterly tests, and prompt updates after changes in software, vendors, or staffing.
Key Takeaways
- Regular testing and clear roles shorten recovery time
- Plan should cover people, processes and technology
- Review and update annually or after major changes