IT Disaster Recovery
Business IT Disaster Recovery Services
What is IT Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery refers to steps taken by a business to restore its IT functions after things go wrong. A power outage leaves your building in the dark, a natural disaster severs your lines to the outside world, hackers attack your business, a network failure happens, or a global pandemic starts, each of which is equally capable of leaving your day-to-day operations in the middle of a turbulent and uncertain storm.
As a proven Managed Services Provider (MSP), Alexonet can help you batten down the hatches and get things back up and running as soon and as smoothly as possible. Data disaster recovery is about more than just reaction, however. With Alexonet’s IT disaster recovery services, we help you create a disaster recovery plan so you are always prepared, no matter the challenge.
Why Invest in IT Disaster Recovery
You may be wondering how investing in disaster recovery can help you in specific ways, besides the obvious ones. Let’s look more deeply into some of the largest benefits of establishing an IT disaster recovery strategy, and tailoring your disaster recovery plan to your company’s specific needs.
Prevent revenue loss: No matter the cause, when your IT systems go down, you’re immediately going to start losing potential revenue. By having a pre-existing IT disaster recovery plan, you will get a head start that will make all the difference.
Keep customers happy: When your systems go down, you’re not the only one experiencing frustration. Customers are quick to notice any outages, and you’ll be bogged down by the additional hassle of explaining things and reassuring customers while trying to get things back up and running. Avoid losing customers with an effective IT disaster recovery plan.
Improve reliability: Regardless of the best-laid plans, things can and will go wrong. The difference between IT disaster recovery and other types of managed IT services [link to new Managed IT Services page] is found in the details. Be it a hardware failure, an act of God, or anything else that can’t be predicted, through an established IT disaster recovery plan, you’ll be back up and running in no time.
What goes into a Disaster Recovery Plan
When it comes to the actual data disaster recovery plan itself, you have several choices. When it comes to IT disaster recovery, our team of disaster recovery IT specialists have the experience you need. Questions… Alexonet is happy to answer any questions you have about your different options as you set up your custom MSP disaster recovery strategy. First, let’s learn more about your options.
Cold Site: A cold site provides cooling along with power and networking in a basic capacity. Your servers and storage will be unreachable during this time. This is a basic setup that has the potential to impede workflow.
Warm Site: With a warm site, in addition to the cold site elements, you also have storage solutions on standby to help your business operate at a limited capacity.
Hot Site: A hot site is a fully functional backup site that mirrors your everyday IT system. This is often considered to be the best self-managed approach of the three options discussed so far, but it can be more difficult and far more expensive to maintain.
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS): With a well-established DRaaS, backup of your data and infrastructure allows you to quickly resume normal operations with little to no downtime. This option uses a third-party MSP to keep your disaster recovery in the cloud. Not only will you not have to spend time, money, and other resources to set it up and keep it running, but you can also rest easy knowing that experts are always taking care of your IT disaster recovery solutions.
Backup as a Service (Baas): While affordable and simple to work with, we don’t recommend this as it means only your data will be backed up, not the IT system infrastructure as a whole.
Alexonet IT Disaster Recovery Services
While there are many things to consider when looking for a provider of IT disaster recovery services, there are perhaps some aspects that are more pressing than others. The following are crucial factors to take into account when choosing a DRaaS supplier for your business.
Access: If you have applications that can be accessible via the Internet, discuss with service providers, clients, partners, and users how DNS will function in an emergency and whether it should switch to provider-managed DNS or remain with the current DNS (this also depends on whether your DNS is hosted or self-managed). Even if systems are properly switched over following a disaster, they will remain offline because DNS is a mission-critical service.
Work with your DRaaS provider to establish how VPN will function, including whether it will be managed by the provider or redirected, and how users will access internal apps in an emergency. If you utilize virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), consider how a failover event will affect user access and choose a manager for the VDI in case of an emergency.
Reliability: The majority of DRaaS services available today are built using public cloud providers, which have practically infinite capacity. At the same time, even public clouds experience outages, so it’s critical to know what would happen if the DRaaS vendor was unable to offer services in the event of a disaster. Another, more probable scenario is that the DRaaS provider will carry out their obligations but fall short of their SLAs. Know your rights under the contract and how your company will respond and recover in each circumstance.
Small businesses lacking internal disaster recovery expertise will find hosted DRaaS to be extremely helpful. Another advantage for smaller firms is the option to outsource infrastructure since it saves money on the expensive equipment required to run a disaster recovery site. Alexonet offers all of the solutions your business would need to have peace of mind and confidence in the future.
Give our team a call or connect with us through our form to begin your IT disaster recovery strategy today.
Work With Us
IT Disaster Recovery Services
Secure your future and ensure peace of mind with Managed IT Services and Cybersecurity Consulting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main differences between disaster recovery and business continuity planning?
Disaster recovery focuses on restoring IT operations and data after a disruption, aiming to minimize downtime and data loss. Business continuity planning encompasses broader strategies to ensure essential business functions can continue during and after a disruption, addressing people, processes, and technology beyond just IT.
How does cloud backup impact IT disaster recovery strategies?
Cloud backup enhances IT disaster recovery by providing scalable and resilient infrastructure that can replicate and backup data and applications off-site. It allows for faster recovery times, reduces upfront investment in physical infrastructure, and supports remote access and operations during disruptions.
What regulatory requirements should businesses consider when developing an IT disaster recovery plan?
Businesses should consider industry-specific regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and SOX. Compliance with these regulations ensures legal adherence and protects against penalties and reputational damage in the event of data breaches or service interruptions.
What are the key components of an effective disaster recovery plan?
Key components include risk assessment, business impact analysis, a clear recovery strategy (like hot, warm, or cold site setup), data backup and replication strategies, communication protocols, testing and rehearsal procedures, and documentation of roles and responsibilities.
Can Alexonet customize a disaster recovery plan tailored to my business needs?
Yes, Alexonet specializes in customizing disaster recovery plans based on your business's specific requirements, considering factors like industry regulations, IT infrastructure complexity, budget constraints, and desired recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs). Their expertise ensures a tailored solution that maximizes resilience and minimizes downtime during disruptions.