The flood, part two
The server room is flooded. The backups are safe in another building. But who orders new hardware? How do staff work from home? Which laptops are lost? Who tells the boss?
The plan has to answer those questions before the disaster. Six jobs make the plan work.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Business continuity plan | A plan to keep the whole business running during a disaster. | BCP |
| Disaster recovery plan | A plan to get systems and data working again. | DRP |
| Functionality | What a system can do. | |
| Data integrity | Data is complete and correct, with nothing lost or changed by mistake. | |
| Asset | Anything the business owns that has value, such as a laptop or a switch. | |
| Asset tag | A label with a number that marks an asset as ours. | |
| Change log | A written list of changes made, with dates. | |
| VPN | A virtual private network: a safe link to the office network over the internet. | |
| Network | Computers and devices joined together so they can share data. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can describe the six jobs that support a disaster recovery plan.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Cycle 1: the first three jobs
1. Systems keep their functionality. Plan how to get hardware, for example spare parts, a supplier contact or a spare server, so each system can do its job again.
2. Users can work away from the main site. Staff need laptops, a VPN and accounts that work from home or from another office.
3. Backups are deployed to keep data correct. Restore the right backup in the right order, and check nothing is missing or wrong.
The other three jobs
4. Digital changes keep meeting business needs. After a disaster the company may move to new systems. Check each change still lets staff do their work.
5. Assets are managed and changes logged. Tag every laptop and device. Log each move, repair and replacement. After a disaster you know what you had and what you lost.
6. Changes to the infrastructure are reported to management. The managers decide and pay, so they must know.
Six jobs and an example of each
| Job | Example |
|---|---|
| Systems keep working | A supplier is ready to send a replacement switch |
| Work away from the main site | Staff have laptops and a VPN |
| Deploy backups, keep data correct | Restore last night's backup and check the record count |
| Changes meet business needs | The new system still prints invoices |
| Manage assets and log changes | Laptop A100 is tagged, and its repair is logged |
| Report to management | A short note: "Server replaced, cost 2,000 pounds" |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check: which job?
Have a go
Check: which job?
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.