Disaster Recovery: Is yours a disaster?

Important Questions...

• When was the last time you backed up your data?
• When was the last time you checked that the back up ran successfully?
• Could your centre go to back to using pen and paper to operate effectively?

If your answer to the first two questions is anything you are uncomfortable with, minimise this window, get up from your chair and go and check. NOW!

Disaster recovery is one of those things like life insurance- no one likes to talk about it, because no one wants to imagine ever using it, but unlike life insurance, you may end up relying on your DR strategy even when the prospect isn’t that bleak.

Take the worst-case scenario; your centre burns down to the ground overnight. Awful! Terrible! Is everyone ok? Do you still have a job? How are you going to fix this? In this case, DR is probably quite a long way down the list of priorities- safety and security are probably more important.

But, what about other slightly less awful and terrible situations?

Is the server holding your mission critical membership data located under the reception desk? What if someone breaks into your centre overnight and steals your reception PCs and nabs that all important server too? The centre still needs to open, you still need to admit members and allow participants in classes; the show must go on. In this case, backups are vital. If you keep your back ups away from your server, and if you make sure they are up-to-date, then a quick call to your insurance company will mean a new server winging its way to you in a speedy fashion and your centre being back up and running without too much panic. *

Another scenario.

You keep your servers in your back office; many of our operators do. They may be in a corner out of the way, but when the new receptionist comes in one morning with her Starbucks in hand, she forgets that little step that you have signposted and throws latte all over your precious data. Again, not the end of the world, but perhaps the end of today’s takings? Once again, recent backups could save the day. *

And finally...

You know your server is old; it is hard to justify the lump sum for one when the current one is still humming (very loudly) in the corner, but it is too old and one day you come in to discover that it has simply died overnight (it should have bought life insurance). Hopefully in this situation, you have been backing up regularly in the knowledge that this might one day happen, but if you haven’t? You’re in trouble. *

So, in conclusion; back up regularly, keep your back up securely away from your server and for goodness sakes’ check the backups have run.

Alternatively, you could ask about our world class hosting solution; let Gladstone, and our Partner, Rackspace do the heavy lifting. We will ensure your back ups are secure and your data is ready to go when you need it. Click here to learn more or ask your account manager for more info today.

*In case you were wondering, all the above scenarios have happened to Gladstone customers, all with differing outcomes. If you haven’t backed up and something terrible happens, let us know and we will try our best to help; but to make your own life easier, review your strategy now, and ask us about hosting.