Business continuity and disaster recovery have been on my mind a lot lately. The SNW conference is fast approaching and I am putting the final touches on my slide deck. One question is when and where a company should open a backup data center.
First, and I cannot stress this enough, do an impact analysis. Do you really need another data center? The text book example is the company, in an earthquake zone, which determines that bolting server racks down and buying additional insurance provides the same level of protection at significantly less cost. Your organization does not operate in a textbook, of course, and you may very well need another data center.
Having made the business case and established the budget, the next question is where to locate the facility. The following should be researched and considered:
- Access – road, rail, and air, telecommunications
- Proximity to current data center (under 30 miles makes real-time fail-over possible)
- Local crime rates (history of protests, strikes, or riots)
- Municipal services (police, fire, ambulance, power)
- Wind patterns (is this downwind from nuclear power plants or military targets?
- Weather patterns (hurricanes, tornadoes, et cetera)
- Geophysical conditions (fault lines and earth quakes)
Gather all of this information and begin looking possible sites. Look for sites that are within budget and near high speed Internet backbone links. Narrow these down to those with redundant power distribution points. Then consider such things as wind and weather. This should narrow the possible sites down quite a bit. Then begin considering how your organization will transport people to this location. Airlines are best, but flights may be grounded in a widespread disaster, so also look for wide accessible highways.
In the end, come up with the punch list of three to five ideal sites. Go out for a site visit and confirm your assumptions. Some sites might not make the cut upon visiting, as your information may be out of date. At the end of this process, you will have done the homework and due diligence to make the recommendation to senior management.
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