Diary of a Network Geek

Yeah, I’m sure this has been a lot of people’s minds lately.
I know that I’ve been more worried about this than I have been in a long time. So many things to go wrong that could stop a business. Luckily, the folks over at InformIT have a couple of guides to help us deal with this. First, there’s the general Disaster Recovery, Part I article. This implies that there will be a Part II, but, so far, Part I is all we have. It’s a good overview of all the things you’ll need to worry about when setting up a disaster recovery plan. And, it has lots of links to other sites that give more in depth information about particular flavors of disaster.
The other article over at InformIT that caught my attention on this topic was on developing a Business Continuity Emergency Communications Plan. Trust me, after all the finagling that I’ve been doing with the satellite phones and adding people to our antique phone switch in the Houston office, this is a really big deal. And, I haven’t even mentioned all the issues with cell phones from New Orleans, either. For the better part of a week, all the cells over there were down, so no one could get through via a NOLA area code, even via cell phone. Luckily, we could just add a bunch of cell phones to our account with Houston phone numbers, but that would have gone smoother if we’d had a plan.
Really, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having all this work done ahead of time. I should have made it a priority as soon as I started here, but, what with the divorce and all, it just didn’t seem like the most important thing. Luckily we’ve adapted and done well. Next time, though, next time… And, trust me, there’s always a “next time”. So, take a little advice from your Uncle Jim and start working on your Disaster Recovery Plan NOW.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Love is that condition where someone else’s happiness is necessary to your own."
   --Robert Heinlein