Disaster Recovery
This is everything from your building getting blown-up /flooded and you lose everything, to the staff can’t get in because of the snow and you need to keep working. But most of the logic and cost in ensuring your business keeps working also enables home / remote working
Most backup plans rely on you waiting a few days while your IT infrastructure is re-purchased and re built. For most of us that is just too long.
The first thing to consider is, where is all my data and how do I and my staff access it?
Then how do we communicate with each other and how do our customers reach us?
But we also have the day to day remote access and equipment failure. If your server crashed, what would it mean? How long before you were back in business?
You need somewhere to store all your files and data, traditionally this has been a server that requires licences for each user who wishes to access it. This rapidly becomes expensive, which is why Network Attached Storage (NAS) was developed. It performs exactly the same storage function, but without the licensing costs, can still be backed up to tape/disk, or to storage on the Internet.
If you are backing up to the Internet, why not just keep and access the data from there? We can show you how to enable document collaboration with many people sharing documents and having automatic storage of each iteration.
When you set-up your office, you need your computers and internet access.
But what about printers, copiers, scanners, faxes and cameras?
Where do you save files – what about data storage?
What are you doing to backup things?
How do all the bits connect together?
How do you make it all secure?
How do you access it remotely – at home or on your phone?
How do you link offices together for voice and data?
As well as the traditional people working at desk, more and more you and your staff will need to access your office information from anywhere and how you set up the office has an impact on this. Disaster Recovery planning also requires remote and/or alternate access.
Obviously the equipment in the office will need to be cable or Wi-Fi linked to each other, and linked to the Internet.
Applications
There is no point in having all your data safe but you can’t use it as you don’t have the right hardware (computers, tape drives etc.) to read it. In the worst case scenario where you can’t access your office then you will need the programs and tape drives to read the tapes etc elsewhere (someone’s home) or if they are available you have to wait a day for delivery of new items, or you could backup to the Internet. This is one of the many reasons why Cloud Computing is popular.
Power
Even short power fluctuations can cause IT kit to stop working or even break, a UPS - Uninterruptable Power Supply can stop this from happening and keep things working during a power cut. These are basically a box with some electronics and batteries that provide power when the mains electricity isn't working. The better UPSes isolate your equipment from any fluctuations in voltage - too high as well as too low, and they generate their own perfect sine wave. If you have your own generator, it's output can fluctuate so it is best to run that through a UPS to ensure a smoothed voltage is supplied to your equipment. As the battery uses up the last of its power, some UPSes even do a controlled shutdown on your computers.
What needs protection?
Router /Firewall and the switch that provides the network connections and possibly via PoE powers Wi-Fi points / IP phones / CCTV
These all have a low power consumption so a single UPS can protect them all - you just need to decide how long you want things to keep things working.
Then any devices - Computers / Data Storage that you will need to stay working, these could have a separate UPS as their power draw could be quite high.
Non-IT equipment
You might want to stay warm, your gas boiler won't work with out a small amount of electricity to run the pump that circulates the water around the radiators, gas cookers either need a box of matches or electricity to ignite the flame. Without power you can easily be sitting in the dark, with LED bulbs require little juice, you can run their ring via a UPS at the fuse board.
UPSes around the building
You can provide cover for a whole building, but there are going to be high power users that you can probably do without ie electric cookers / electric radiators / washing machines / dish washers / lifts where a single operation could be enough to drain a UPS or cause a generator to be overloaded. It is normal when building protection is being built in to run separate ring mains for UPS supported equipment and other items.