Introduction to NonStop Operations Management

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Introduction to NonStop Operations Management–125507
B-11
Contingency Planning
Contingency Planning
1. Take preventive steps to limit risks of disaster:
a. Select the best site possible for your organization:
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Should the site should be located at a remote, computer-only site, or with
other business operations?
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Is the site away from known danger zones?
b. Select or design the best facility possible. Follow the guidelines in Section 3,
“The Operations and Support Areas.”
c. Follow the security guidelines described in Section 9, “Security Management.”
d. Establish preventive maintenance procedures for the hardware, software, air
conditioning, and computer rooms as described in Section 3, “The Operations
and Support Areas.”
e. Establish system-monitoring tasks as described in Section 5, “Production
Management.”
f. Configure the system and network (if applicable) for fault tolerance.
g. Establish procedures for backing up and archiving data in a safe and secure
location.
h. Establish procedures for checking the integrity of the archiving system and the
archived data.
i. If you have distributed systems, make sure that applications are designed to take
advantage of TMF.
2. Plan for disaster recovery.
a. Take inventory:
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What is at risk?
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What are affordable data and service losses for your company?
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How long can your company function without running each critical
application, and what is the cost of down time for each critical application?
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What types of disasters are most likely to affect your operations?
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When should the disaster plan be activated?
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Who has the authority to declare a disaster?
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Is insurance available? Should your company purchase insurance for loss of
equipment or business?
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What are the recovery alternatives, the costs associated with each
alternative, and the best alternative for your needs?