Disaster Recovery Plans

Disaster Recovery (DR) plans let you define how to bring your systems back online after a major incident. You organize devices into ordered recovery groups, set overall RTO/RPO targets, and rehearse the plan before you need it.

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Creating a DR Plan

1. Navigate to the Disaster Recovery section.
2. Click Create Plan.
3. Enter the plan details:
   • Name — descriptive label (e.g., “Primary site failover”)
   • Description — operator notes explaining the plan’s scope and assumptions
   • RPO target — maximum acceptable data loss in minutes
   • RTO target — maximum acceptable recovery time in minutes
4. Click Save.

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Adding Recovery Groups

Recovery groups define which devices to recover and in what order. Groups execute sequentially — group 1 completes before group 2 starts.

1. Open your DR plan.
2. Click Add Recovery Group.
3. Configure the group:
   • Name — e.g., “Domain Controllers”, “Database Servers”, “Application Tier”
   • Devices — select which devices belong to this group
   • Restore configuration — how to restore each device (snapshot, target path, etc.)
   • Sequence order — execution priority (lower numbers run first)
   • Dependencies — optionally set a group to depend on another group completing first
4. Repeat for each recovery tier.

Example Recovery Order

Order	Group	Devices	Why
1	Domain Controllers	DC01, DC02	Authentication must be online first
2	Database Servers	SQL01, SQL02	Applications need their data layer
3	Application Servers	APP01–APP04	Now that auth and data are up
4	File Servers	FS01	Lower priority, can wait

Tip

Model your recovery groups after your service dependency chain. If Application Server depends on Database Server, put the database in an earlier group.

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Execution Types

Type	What happens	When to use
Rehearsal	Validates recovery steps without modifying production systems	Regular DR testing (quarterly recommended)
Failover	Live execution — actually restores systems according to the plan	Real disaster or planned migration
Failback	Returns services to the primary environment after a failover	After the original site is repaired

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Running a DR Plan

1. Open the plan and click Execute.
2. Select the execution type: Rehearsal, Failover, or Failback.
3. Confirm to start.
4. Recovery groups execute in sequence order. Track progress in the execution detail view.
5. To stop a running execution, click Abort.

Viewing Execution History

Past executions are listed on the plan detail page, showing:

• Execution type (rehearsal/failover/failback)
• Start and end times
• Status (running, completed, failed, aborted)
• Per-group results

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DR Testing Best Practices

• Rehearse quarterly at minimum. Real disasters are not the time to discover your plan doesn’t work.
• Start with a rehearsal before relying on a plan for production failover.
• Review after each rehearsal — update device assignments, sequence orders, and targets based on what you learned.
• Keep plans current — when you add or decommission servers, update the recovery groups.
• Combine with SLA monitoring — your SLA policies track whether RPO/RTO targets are achievable day-to-day, giving you confidence before a DR event.