Storage Area Networks For Dummies®

Chapter 6: SANs and Disaster Recovery
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If your company already has a facility that can be used as a disaster-recovery
site, you’re in luck. You can probably save a lot of money by making use of
that site during a disaster. If not, you will have to outsource your recovery
site to a hosting facility or a company that specializes in disaster recovery,
which may actually be cheaper than building a facility just for DR.
Existing facility
If you can make use of an existing facility, doing so may save you tons of
money. For you to use any facility for disaster recovery, that facility must
cover all the requirements of a good DR site:
✓ How much space is available for your equipment? Will all your servers
and storage fit into the available space? Some hosting facilities lease small
cages to keep your hardware secure. Make sure that they have one that is
sized to fit your needs.
✓ When is the space available? In the event of a disaster, is this firstcome,
first-served floor space?
✓ Is there enough parking for employees? It would be a pain if your
employees kept getting parking tickets during a disaster.
✓ Does the parking lot have lights? Some hosting facilities are located in
industrial areas. Make sure your employees will feel safe.
✓ How many entrances are there, and are they secure? Again, safety is
foremost. You also want to be able to get out fast in case of fire or an
earthquake.
✓ Is there security-card access into the building? What would you do if,
during a disaster, you found out that you paid all that money for a recovery
site that no one could get into?
✓ What is the process to get employees security access in an emergency?
It would be horrible if the employees who did have access were lost in
the disaster. You need a plan to address that possibility.
✓ How many hours per year do the tenants experience electrical outages
in this building? Make sure that the building has clean power and good
cooling. They may have most servers turned off all the time but power
them up in a disaster. It can get hot real fast.
✓ Is the building connected to a fast network so your data can get there?
You may want to know the type of network equipment used in the facility
and make sure that it’s similar to what you’re using now. You need
enough bandwidth for all your needs.