Ask the Experts

Ask the Experts

• Call center disaster recovery planning best practices

  Independent disaster recovery expert Paul Kirvan offers some best practices for call center disaster recovery planning in this Expert Answer.  Continue Reading

• Fire suppression system inspection and testing best practices

  Independent disaster recovery consultant Paul Kirvan discusses fire sprinkler system inspection and testing best practices in this Expert Answer.  Continue Reading

• Addressing common mistakes in network DR strategies

  Independent disaster recovery expert Paul Kirvan offers advice on addressing common mistakes in network DR strategies in this Expert Answer.  Continue Reading

• Mitigating VoIP vulnerability

  Independent disaster recovery expert Paul Kirvan outlines common VoIP vulnerabilities and offers advice on how to mitigate them in this Expert Answer.  Continue Reading

• The importance of risk analysis issues prioritization

  Paul Kirvan discusses the five most important issues to consider when conducting a risk analysis in this Expert Response.  Continue Reading

• Assessing the business impact analysis software landscape

  The business impact analysis is a key research component of a BC/DR initiative. Specialized software can simplify these time-consuming activities.  Continue Reading

• Break mirrors as part of the disaster recovery testing process

  Independent DR expert Jon Toigo discusses the importance of breaking your mirroring scheme as a part of your disaster recovery testing process.  Continue Reading

• The importance of a disaster recovery test

  Jon Toigo discusses the importance of a disaster recovery test for DR planning and change management in this Expert Answer.  Continue Reading

• How is cloud replication performed?

  Independent storage expert Greg Schulz discusses how to perform replication when using cloud storage as a target.  Continue Reading

• Diesel vs. natural gas generator for data center disaster readiness

  Independent disaster recovery expert Paul Kirvan offers insight on choosing between a diesel and natural gas generator for disaster readiness.  Continue Reading

• Seven often overlooked colocation costs

  Independent disaster recovery expert Paul Kirvan discusses seven colocation costs that are often overlooked during DR planning.  Continue Reading

• Incident management systems vs. emergency notification systems

  Independent disaster recovery expert Paul Kirvan compares incident management systems and emergency notification systems in this Expert Answer.  Continue Reading

• How bidirectional replication can be used as part of a DR scheme

  Independent disaster recovery expert Paul Kirvan discusses bidirectional replication in this Expert Answer.  Continue Reading

• Continuity of operations vs. business continuity

  Paul Kirvan discusses the similarities and differences between continuity of operations planning and business continuity planning.  Continue Reading

• Evaluating emergency power supply options

  Independent disaster recovery consultant Paul Kirvan discusses what you should consider when evaluating emergency power supply options.  Continue Reading

• Identifying business impact assessment errors

  Find out what business impact assessment errors you can most easily identify in this Expert Response from Pierre Dorion.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis tools available to help companies

  Pierre Dorion highlights some of the business impact analysis tools available to help companies in this Expert Response.  Continue Reading

• Debating quantitative impact vs. qualitative impact

  Pierre Dorion explains how to weigh a short-term financial risk against a damaged reputation in this Expert Response.  Continue Reading

• Top five business impact assessment considerations

  Pierre Dorion lists the top five things to consider when conducting a business impact assessment.  Continue Reading

• How the risk analysis process and conducting a BIA differ

  The BIA is related but different from the risk analysis process. Pierre Dorion discusses what each should accomplish in this expert answer.  Continue Reading

• Outsourcing DR to hot and cold site providers

  Learn when it is inappropriate to outsource DR to a hot or cold site provider in this Expert Response by Paul Kirvan.  Continue Reading

• Comparing the costs of hot sites and cold sites

  Learn the differences in cost between hot sites and cold sites in this Expert Response from Paul Kirvan.  Continue Reading

• Essential disaster recovery (DR) program activities

  Find out what must be part of a well-organized disaster recovery (DR) program in this Expert Response from Paul Kirvan.  Continue Reading

• What must happen before activating a DR plan

  Find out what must happen before a DR plan is activated in this Expert Response from Paul Kirvan.  Continue Reading

• Identify DR strategy before completing a DR plan

  Without a disaster recovery (DR) strategy, you will have a difficult time completing a DR plan, says Paul Kirvan in this Expert Response.  Continue Reading

• Risk assessments identify external and internal risks

  A risk assessment must identify external and internal risks and threats to your organization. Paul Kirvan discusses this important issue in his Expert Response.  Continue Reading

• Securing senior management approval for a business continuity program

  Paul Kirvan discusses how to secure senior management approval and funding for a business continuity program in this Expert Response.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis tools and what should be in your BIA

  Learn about the pros and cons of business impact analysis tools and what should be in your BIA.  Continue Reading

• Maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPOD) vs. RTO and RPO

  Learn what maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPOD) means for disaster recovery planners vs. the terms RTO and RPO.  Continue Reading

• Presenting your business impact analysis methodology to your company

  Learn how to present your business impact analysis methodology to your organization in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• Hardware replication vs. software-based data replication tools

  Keith Erwood outlines the benefits and drawbacks of software-based replication and hardware-based replication in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• Pandemic flu planning lessons learned from H1N1

  Pandemic flu planning lessons learned from last year's H1N1 scare are discussed, and a pandemic planning checklist is provided in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis software: the pros and cons

  Learn what you need to consider before choosing a business impact analysis (BIA) software product.  Continue Reading

• What is a bare-metal recovery, and what bare-metal recovery products are available?

  Learn about what a bare-metal recovery is, how it relates to disaster recovery and what bare-metal recovery products are available.  Continue Reading

• How should I implement a disaster recovery process in my SDLC approach?

  Paul Kirvan describes what steps you should take when implementing disaster recovery process in your SDLC approach in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• What is a change control process and how does it relate to disaster recovery?

  Harvey Betan describes the purpose of a change control process and how it relates to disaster recovery in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• What is a business impact analysis questionnaire and what types of questions should be included?

  Harvey Betan explains that a BIA questionnaire is used to gather valuable and important data about a company, the industry and other background information in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• How can mobile phones and mobile devices aid in disaster recovery efforts?

  Mobile phones can be helpful in DR and BC efforts with cameras, emails and internet access.  Continue Reading

• What is an IT risk assessment?

  Harvey Betan explains the steps you need to take in order to perform an accurate risk assessment in your DR environment.  Continue Reading

• How do IT disaster recovery plans for an earthquake disaster differ from preparing for other disaste

  Steven Ross explains how DR planning for earthquakes differs from preparing for other disasters in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• What are some good disaster recovery strategies for email?

  Harvey Betan explains different disaster recovery strategies for email in this ask the expert response.  Continue Reading

• What are the hidden threats, if any, in a disaster recovery (DR)/business continuity (BC) plan?

  Harvey Betan explains the hidden threats organizations may encounter in their DR and BC plans in this ask the expert response.  Continue Reading

• What is a business impact analysis (BIA) and how can it benefit my disaster recovery (DR) plan?

  Harvey Betan explains what a business impact analysis is and how it can benefit disaster recovery plans in this ATE.  Continue Reading

• What's the difference between a disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan?

  Kevin Beaver describes the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity planning in this ask the expert response.  Continue Reading

• How often should I conduct a disaster recovery (DR) test for my SMB?

  Greg Schulz explains that it is very important that SMBs conduct disaster recovery tests often.  Continue Reading

• How often should I conduct a disaster recovery (DR) test?

  Kevin Beaver discusses how often companies should conduct disaster recover tests in this Ask the Expert response  Continue Reading

• Monitoring and managing recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs)

  Jeff Boles talks about how to monitor and manage recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) in this ask the expert response.  Continue Reading

• Backup and software media storage best practices

  Business continuity expert Pierre Dorion discusses the best practices for backup and software media storage.  Continue Reading

• Basic factors for a DR plan

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• H/W-S/W replication techniques, Part I

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