Beyond the Data Center

1
Beyond the Data Center

• How Your Data Center Becomes Your Disaster
  Recovery Facility

Presented by Damian Walch, CISA, CISSP, CBCP
T-Systems, Inc. www.t-systemsus.com
2
Internalization

• Although the hot site market is inelastic
  there is a rapidly increasing availability of
  internal hot site solutions for certain types of
  customers depending on their size, their needs
  and the computer equipment that they use.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle,
describing the hot site market during Sungard
Data Systems bid to acquire Comdisco
Availability Services
3
What is your main alternate site strategy for
disaster recovery/business continuity?
Hosted by

• Commercial hot-site vendor
• Mobile recovery site
• Internal
• None

Cross-Tab Label
0 / 499
4
Alternate Site Strategies

• Are companies really moving to internal
  strategies?
• Does the internal strategy work?
• Is there a specific industry that does it more
  than another?

DRJ Survey May, 2002 2,204 respondents
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Agenda

• Reasons for the Trend
• Considerations
• Cost-Benefit Approach
• Typical Pitfalls
• Examples and Approaches

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Why Only 20 of G2000?
Collaboration
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Top 5 Reasons for Trend

• 5. Cant Keep Up with Our Technology!
• 4. Were Too Complex and Interdependent
• 3. Youre Going to Charge How Much for Technical
  Support and Floor Space?
• 2. No Control (all approaches have pitfalls)
• First come, first serve
• Guaranteed access

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1 Reason for Internal

• Recovery Time Objectives are shrinking

and there is enabling technology that assists us
in achieving recovery times!
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Types of Technology Solutions

• Enterprise Storage Solutions
• SRDF
• GDPS, XRC, PPRC
• HXRC
• Remote Journaling
• Standby Operating System
• Standby Database
• DatabaseShadowing
• Replication

Location 2
SBOS Oracle Standby Data Base Oracle Log Apply
Location 1
SAP R/3 Oracle DBMS
SRDF Links - T1 capacity Synchronous Mode Enabled
Symmetrix
BCVs
Symmetrix
10
Have you ever invoked/activated a recovery
subscription at a commercial hot-site vendor?
Hosted by

• Yes, and we recovered at the site
• Yes, but we were unsuccessful in recovery
• We put them on "alert
• No

Cross-Tab Label
0 / 499
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1 Reason Nobody Thinks Of

• Companies wont declare disasters for almost 100
  of the most common causes of interruptions!
• Theyre ONLY used for natural disaster and
  catastrophic events!

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Considerations
Business continuity strategies MUST address all
aspects of IT infrastructure, from basic asset
protection and replacement to ensuring
application continuity for internal operations
and third parties.
Process/Application continuation external
Continuity
Process/Application internal
Operational recovery
Recovery
Infrastructure and data protection
Asset protection and replacements
Protection
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Considerations
Hot Site Solutions DO have a place, but DO NOT
apply them to the wrong business problem (e.g.
recovery objective).
Process/Application continuation external
Load-Balancing Fail-Over Replication Mirroring
Process/Application internal
Operational recovery
HOT SITE SOLUTIONS
Infrastructure and data protection
Asset protection and replacements
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Considerations

• Determine what recovery of full compliment would
  cost with a commercial hot-site provider.
• Do they have all the equipment in one spot?
• What is the most important thing for commercial
  hot site providers?
• People
• Test Time - Do you ever get it when you want it?
• Floor Space, how much does it cost?

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Does your company recover "internally" or are you
considering an internal recovery strategy?
Hosted by

• Yes
• No

Cross-Tab Label
0 / 499
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When is Internal Obvious?

• Do you have two or more data centers?
• Are they within 300 miles of each other?
• Do you have space available (growth projections)?
• Do at least two of your applications require
  recovery in less than 12 hours?
• Do you have a robust wide-area network?
• Do you have significant excess capacity for
  testing and development of applications?

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How Close is TOO Close?

• Different power grid
• Network and carrier diversity
• Can you get your staff there?

DRJ Survey January, 2002 874 respondents
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Positives and Negatives
Obvious plus and minus to a vendor solution.
Positives
Negatives
Dedicated Shared
No Pre-Determined Exit 6 week recovery
Easier to Test Scheduling Tests
Internal Resources Contact, Follow-Up
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Compare the Costs
Dedicated Solution
Hot-Site Solution
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Compare the Costs
Hot-Site Solution
Dedicated Solution

• Must pay for perceived low-value items like
  cabinets and floor space.
• Extra test-time costs money and is difficult to
  schedule.

• Acquired new technology and reallocated servers
  (from test development).
• Having more flexibility for testing SHOULD
  increase the ease and of tests.
• Increase in network is required.
• Workarea Recovery is still required however,
  other offices could be leveraged.

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Typical Pitfalls

• All or nothing analysis
• Dont consider evolving the solution
• Forget about the business functions
• Change management
• No Testing
• Using it forProduction/LoadBalancing

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Typical Pitfalls

• Dont include all components of information flow
• Login and authentication
• Application servers
• Bolt-on servers
• You MUST do the marketing!

Application Server
Database Server
Firewall
Web Servers
BUSINESS
TECHNOLOGY
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Debunking Myths

• Pulling attention away from core competencies.
• Why would you want to create business continuity
  experts?
• Pace of change in IT cant refresh!
• You need multiple copies of data.

24
Do you use some type of "advanced" technology
(e.g. replication, mirroring, vaulting) for
recovery of your critical applications/data?
Hosted by

• Yes
• No, but we're considering it
• No, and we have no immediate plans

Cross-Tab Label
0 / 499
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Reasonable Potential Strategies
Allow the strategies to evolve, it DOES NOT have
to be all or nothing. Review criticality and
then implement the appropriate solution!
Mirroringcritical data
DirectoryServices
VaultingBackups
eMailRecovery
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Conclusion

• It does make sense sometimes!
• Dont be emotional, but logical about decision.
• People, procedures, data and network should be
  the same for either method.
• Evolution implement solutions slowly while
  still covered by hot site.
• Use the resources available to you.

27
Beyond the Data Center

• How Your Data Center Becomes Your Disaster
  Recovery Facility

Presented by Damian Walch, CISA, CISSP, CBCP
T-Systems, Inc. www.t-systemsus.com