On Fri, Feb 21, 2003 at 03:32:12PM -0500, Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
On Fri, 21 Feb 2003 14:41:05 EST, Martin Hannigan said:
Example: DHS sets RED level. Reaction: Move some third level engineers into the SOC. Audit the DR plan if it's not on schedule to be audited. Audit the backup plans if not on schedule to be audited. Light the medium warm NOC to HOT NOC level.
Do you buy fire extinguishers when there's no fire, or do you do it when the smoke alarm is already going off? Or is this the converse, where a leaky roof doesn't get fixed because you can't work on it on rainy days, and on sunny days it doesn't leak?
DR is a continous loop. It's not the kind of thing you develop and then toss on a shelf. Right now is always a good time to audit your DR planning, or your disaster prevention planning. [ SNIP ]
If you audit your backup plan, and discover you're low on tapes to send off-site, what are the chances that we'll still be at RED when the tapes actually arrive from the vendor?
If I didn't audit the backup plan, I wouldn't discover I was low on tapes. The state of the alert is irrelevant when related to the DR plan. It's the event itself. I believe there is no bad time to conduct a drill or audit a DR plan. In fact, confusing or non-standard conditions would be optimal for such a test or audit. -M