Unix® System Management Primer Plus

Formulating a Disaster Recovery Plan

Educating yourself about disasters is an essential first step in understanding the nature of the threats facing your IT department—and your business. To formulate a working disaster recovery plan, you also must understand the impact of potential disasters on your business, so you can create a plan that is cost-effective in light of the losses your business might suffer.

Planning is a labor-intensive process that involves these elements:

• Identifying critical functions

• Allocating resources

• Identifying critical tasks

• Generating plan procedures

• Testing the plan

A disaster recovery plan is usually part of a larger plan, called a business continuity plan (BCP). The BCP encompasses all aspects of your business—including ...