Guide to Multi-Layered Disaster Recovery Planning

January 16, 2025

Disasters come in many forms; cyberattacks, natural calamities, and hardware failures. While disasters are unpredictable, your organization’s response doesn’t need to be. A multi-layered disaster recovery (DR) plan ensures IT continuity, protects critical data, and minimizes downtime.

Definition of a Multi-Layered Disaster Recovery Plan

A multi-layered disaster recovery plan employs multiple protective measures to ensure an organization can swiftly and effectively recover from disruptions. Unlike single-layer solutions, which rely on a single recovery point, multi-layered strategies incorporate redundancy, failover systems, off-site backups, and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). By diversifying recovery mechanisms, you significantly reduce the risk of total system failure.

Key Components of a Multi-Layered Disaster Recovery Plan

To build a robust disaster recovery strategy, incorporate these core elements:

1. Off-Site Backups Storing backups in a geographically separate location ensures that data remains safe from localized disasters. Cloud-based solutions provide an added advantage of accessibility and scalability.
2. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) DRaaS solutions offer rapid recovery by hosting your systems on third-party infrastructure during outages. With DRaaS, businesses benefit from reduced downtime and predictable costs.
3. Redundancy Duplication of critical systems and data prevents a single point of failure from compromising operations. Redundancy spans hardware, software, and network components to ensure seamless failover.
4. Failover Systems Failover mechanisms automatically redirect operations to standby systems in the event of a failure. This capability is crucial for minimizing downtime in industries with high availability requirements, such as healthcare and manufacturing.

There are 7 tiers of disaster recovery. Learn which tier is right for your organization.

Risks of Single-Layer Recovery Solutions

Relying on a single-layer recovery solution can leave your organization vulnerable to extended downtime, impacting productivity and revenue. Without redundant backups in place, data may be irretrievable post-incident. Additionally, industries like healthcare and government have stringent requirements for data availability and recovery times. Failure to meet these standards can result in penalties or loss of business.

Steps to Implement a Robust Disaster Recovery Strategy

Creating an effective multi-layered DR plan involves:

1. Assessing Risks and Needs Identify potential threats to your operations and assess the criticality of various systems. This evaluation will inform your recovery objectives. Contact us about a DR assessment and business impact analysis (BIA).
2. Establishing Recovery Objectives Define Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) to determine acceptable downtime and data loss thresholds. Read more about RTO and RPO as detailed by one of our technology partners, Pure Storage.
3. Choosing the Right Tools and Services Select technologies that align with your objectives, such as cloud-based backups, DRaaS providers, and monitoring tools. Learn about Dewpoint’s cloud services.
4. Testing and Updating the Plan Regularly test your DR plan to identify gaps and adjust based on evolving risks or business needs.

Crowdstrike Incident Summer 2024

In July 2024, Crowdstrike released a faulty software update that resulted in millions of devices crashing across the globe. The Dewpoint team leaped into action to help our clients resolve or find workarounds for issues caused by the outage. With DRaaS, you have a team ready to help you stay online or get back online in the event of an incident.

How Dewpoint Can Help

Dewpoint specializes in IT continuity planning, offering services such as DRaaS, system assessments, and cloud migration support. Whatever your industry, our team can tailor solutions to meet your specific needs.

Schedule a consultation with Dewpoint to discuss how a multi-layered disaster recovery plan can protect your organization. Let’s work together to ensure your business’ resilience.

Sources

1. https://www.wired.com/story/crowdstrike-outage-update-windows/
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/08/07/crowdstrike-reveals-what-happened-why-and-whats-changed/
3. https://internationalbanker.com/technology/key-implications-of-the-crowdstrike-outage/
4. https://blog.purestorage.com/purely-educational/rto-vs-rpo-whats-the-difference/