Playing with Disaster: Why testing in a network lab is critical for disaster planning

 

Few things worry a CIO like disaster recovery. After all, one of the primary responsibilities of any CIO is to ensure that the business can keep operating even if various types of disruptive events occur. And no failure of executive leadership and planning is more glaring than a loss of business continuity. So, if critical IT services are disrupted by some cataclysmic—or not-so-cataclysmic—event, it’s the CIO who is ultimately held accountable.

 

But disaster and recovery planning is not easy. In fact, it may be one of the most difficult things for CIOs to get right. That’s because:

 

• There are a wide range of scenarios to consider (extreme weather, power failures, terrorist attacks, etc.)

 

• There are a variety of ways to protect the business from those scenarios (redundant servers, failover network connections, alternative work locations, etc.)

 

• There are costs associated with each of these measures that have to be weighed against actual business risk

 

• The relentless pace of change in the business requires constant re-assessment of disaster recovery plans

 

• There is always the question of whether the disaster recovery measures put into place will actually work if and when they’re called upon in the event of an emergency

 

For these reasons and others, CIOs need a safe, controlled lab environment where their staff can “play” with a full range of potential disaster scenarios and proposed recovery measures. Only by accurately simulating both disruptive events and corresponding contingency plans can CIOs be sure that the business is adequately and cost-effectively protected. Without such simulation capabilities, businesses can remain exposed to significant risks—and disaster recovery expenditures can easily wind up allocated where they will do little or no good.