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ConversationalBusinessContinuityandDisasterRecoveryforHigherEducation

(MiniEdition)byWayneDipchan

©2017ConversationalGeek

ConversationalBusinessContinuityandDisasterRecoveryforHigherEducation(MiniEdition)PublishedbyConversationalGeekInc.www.conversationalgeek.com

Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookshallbereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.Nopatentliabilityisassumedwithrespecttotheuseoftheinformationcontainedherein.Althougheveryprecautionhasbeentakeninthepreparationofthisbook,thepublisherandauthorassumenoresponsibilityforerrorsoromissions.Norisanyliabilityassumedfordamagesresultingfromtheuseoftheinformationcontainedherein.

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PublisherAcknowledgmentsAllofthefolksresponsibleforthecreationofthisbook:

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The“Conversational”Method

Wehavetwoobjectiveswhenwecreatea“Conversational”book:First,tomakesureit’swritteninaconversationaltonesothatit’sfunandeasytoread.Second,tomakesureyou,thereader,canimmediatelytakewhatyoureadandincludeitintoyourownconversations(personalorbusiness-focused)withconfidence.

“GeekintheMirror”Boxes

Weinfusehumorandinsightintoourbooksthroughbothcartoonsandlightbanterfromtheauthor.Whenyouseeoneoftheseboxesit’stheauthorsteppingoutsidethedialogtospeakdirectlytoyou.Itmightbeananecdote;itmightbeapersonalexperience.

WithintheseboxesIcansharejustaboutanythingonthesubjectathand.Read’em!

BusinessContinuityandDisasterRecoveryforHigherEducation

Keepinganeducationsystem’snetworkenvironmentrunningis,insomeways,moredemandingthaninanyothertypeoforganization.Mostorganizationsneedtosimplymeettheneedsoftheirinternalusers,withasmallersubsetofapplicationsorservicesavailabletotheirexternalcustomerbase.Buteducationenvironmentshave,

bydefinition,theneedtoprovideaccesstodataandapplicationstofaculty,staff,andstudents–eachwithuniqueneeds.Andthis,ofcourse,isanythingbutatraditional9-to-5typebusiness;educationenvironmentsareuniquelycomplex.Nearlyeveryapplication–fromemail,tocollaborativetools,toclassschedulesandgrades,andeverythinginbetween-needstobeaccessiblearoundtheclock,byjustaboutanytypeofclientdeviceimaginable.

Insomeenvironments,it’salmostliketherearenotiersofapplications–everythingiscritical.

AllofthismakeshavingaBusinessContinuityandDisasterRecovery(BCDR)planinplacesoverycrucialtothesuccessoftheeducationalinstitution.

Thinkaboutit–nearlyanylossofservicewillhaveamajorimpactonaschool’sabilitytofunction:registration,on-premlearningmanagementsystems,andtheusualsuspectslikedirectoryservices,email,fileandprintservices,etc.–anoutageofanyofthesewouldbringabigpartoftheeducationalinstitutiontoascreechinghalt.

SothequestionbecomesdoyouhaveaBCDRplaninplace?Ifyouhadtorespondtoamajorlossofservice(whichweall,generally,refertoasthedisaster)today,doyouhaveaplanthatdefinesthetiersofapplicationsandservices,therequiredrecoveryobjectives(moreonthatlater)foreach,listsofsystemdependencies,andtestinginplacetoensureyourplanismorethanjustatheory?

ITispulledinsomanydifferentdirectionsthatstoppingandputtingastrategyandplanofanykindinplace(foranystrategicinitiative,BCDRincluded)istough.Buttheimpactdowntimecanhaveonaneducationalsystemistooseveretorisk.

Thebottomlineis,youneedaBCDRPlan!

ThebadnewsisyourBCDRplancan’tbefocusedonjustonedisaster,asa“disaster”canincludethelossofdata,systems,applications,connectivity,andlocations–aswellasanycombinationoftheselosselements.

Andthenthereareadditionaldisaster-esquescenariosthatcanimpactyourenvironment.Ransomwareinfectionstodayaredesignedtospreadwithinanetwork,whichcanrequiretherebuildingorrestoringofworkstationsandserversaspartoftherecoveryplan.CyberattacksinvolvingcompromisedfacultyorstaffcredentialscanrequirerevertingActiveDirectorybacktoanearlierstate–whichhasfurtherimplicationsontheaccesstonetworkresourcesbystudents,faculty,andstaff.Incompatiblepatches,databreaches,malware,andphishing–justtonameafewmore–allcancausesomedegreeofBCDRtocomeintoplay.

Lastly,rememberthatyourBCDRplanisn’tastaticdocument;it’sasever-changingasthesystemsandtechnologyyourenvironmentuses.Asproductionworkloadschangeovertime,yourbusinesscontinuityplanneedstokeeppacetoensureviability.

Inthisbook,we’llexaminefactorsyouneedtoconsiderwhenputtingtogetheraBCDRplaninaneducationalenvironment.We’llalsoshowhowtoproactivelydevelopyourplan,empoweringITforwhendisasterstrikes.

Let’sbeginbylevel-settingthegoalofBusinessContinuity.

WhatisBusinessContinuity?WhileI’mguessingyouhaveabetter-than-rudimentaryunderstandingoftheterm,let’suseitsmostgeneraldefinition,whereBusinessContinuityreferstoacontinuationofyourcriticalbusinessapplicationsduringadisasteroroutage,and/orchangestothebusiness.

ButdefiningBusinessContinuityinaneducationsettingisabittrickier,asyoureallyneedtofigureoutwhetheryourspecificoperationscanbecategorizedasoneortwodistinctsetsofnetworkoperations.Thereareaspectsofyournetworkthatareclearlydevotedtothedailyoperationsoftheeducationofstudents,whileothersystemsareallabouttheback-endprocessesthatkeepstudentsinseatsyearafteryear.SomeofyoumayuseseparateActiveDirectoryinstances,somemayhaveeverythingstaff-relatedon-premwitheverythingstudent/faculty-relatedinthecloud.It’snotexactlythesameineachcase.

So,aswediscussthestepsnecessaryforBCDR,keepinmindthatyourenvironmentisuniqueandmayrequireyoutodevisetwoseparateplans.

Whetheryouconsidereverythingasoneenvironmentornot,thebest-casescenarioofawell-planned,testedandimplementedBCDRplanisforyourenduserstoneverseeadisruptionintheirservice.But,inreality,thegoalistominimizebothdowntimeanddatalossduringthedowntimeduration–asclosetozeroaspossible.

Achievingthisgoaliseasyinsomecases,asthereareapplicationsthathavehighavailabilityandstayupnomatterwhat.Butforotherapplications,reachingthegoalofzerodisruptionwilltakeabitmorework,asdisastersnormallyequatetoanoutage.

Thebasicstepstoachievethisgoalarethesameforeducationalinstitutionsofvaryingsizesandverticals.It’scrucialthatBCDRinfrastructurebeimplementedatthepointanapplicationisdeployed.IfBCDRisbakedintotheprojectlifecycleandcreatedproactively,goingforward,allapplicationdeploymentswilladheretoyourplan.Havingateamdedicatedtoscalable,process-drivenBCDRplanning,testing,andimprovingiskeytoyoursuccess.

Step1:DefineBCDRElementsandObjectivesBeforeyoueverplan,there’sabitofinvestigationanddiscoverythatneedstotakeplacetodefinethespecificgoalsyouhavefortheplan.Youdon’tjuststartoutplanning“we’llrecoversystemXfirstandthenapplicationY”–youneedtodefinewhen,howandwhatyouwishtorecover.

Yourobjectivesshouldbecomprisedofanumberofelementsthatwillbeassociatedtogetherlaterintheprocess.Theseinclude:

ApplicationCriticality

Agovernancecommittee–composedofmembersofIT’sapplicationandinfrastructureteams,lineofbusinessowners,departmentheads,andevenend-users–needstoconsiderandestablishthecriticalityofeachofyourapplications.Generally,organizationssimplyreferto“applicationtiers”usingsubjectivetermswhereoneapplicationismoreimportantthananother.ButyourBCDRplanneedstohavefarmoreobjectivedefinitionsthatcan’tbemisconstrued.

Becausewe’reultimatelygoingtousedefinedlevelsofcriticalityaspartofarecoveryeffort,thebeststandardistodefineaservicelevelagreements(SLA)foreachapplicationandgroupthemintotiers.DefininganSLAisassimpleasasking“howlongcanweaffordtohavethisapplicationdown?”and“howmuchofthisapplication’sdatacanweaffordtolose?”

Applicationscanbecategorizedintocriticalityclassificationssuchas

• MissionCritical:Businessoperationscometoacompletestopifunavailable.

• Critical:Businessoperationsareimpactedbutnotcompletelydown.

• Essential:Possiblefinancialimpactbutnoimpactonbusinessoperations.

• Non-Essential:Businesscanrunwithouttheseapplicationsforsometimewithoutmajordisruptiontoendusers.Forexample,archivalorhistoricalrecords.

Tohelpyoucategorizeyourapplications,thinkofthemissionessentialfunctions(MEFs)ofyourorganizationandtheapplicationsthatkeepthemgoing.Mapthoseapplicationsanddatatooperationsthatmaycausethefollowing:disruptionofresearch,departureoffacultyandstudents,well-beingofstudents,lossofrevenue,legalharm,impactonbusinesspartnersorotherunits.

RecoveryObjectives

TheseclassificationscanthenbefurtherhoneddownbydefiningspecificRecoveryTimeObjectives

(RTOs)andRecoveryPointObjectives(RPOs)foreachapplication.

AnRTOistheacceptableamountoftimeittakestorecoveragivendataset,system,orapplication,startingfromthetimeadisasterisdeclaredtowhennormalaccessisrestored.

AnRPOisthepointintimetowhichthedata,system,orapplicationisrestored,countingbackwardsfromthetimeofthedisaster.

Toputtheseintoperspective,acriticalinfrastructureservicelikeActiveDirectorymayhaveRTOandRPOmeasuresinsingle-digitminutes(orevenzerominutes),whereasthefilesusedbythemarketingdepartment,fundraisingortrainingmayhaveanRTOandRPOofhoursordays.Basically,theallowabledowntimeforeachapplicationislinkedtohowcriticalisthebusinessunit,whichmustputareassuchasenvironmentalorpublicsuretyontopofyourmindwhenitcomestorecovery.

RecoveryTiers

Oncetheobjectivesaredefinedforallapplications,youwillbegintoseehowsimilarlycritical

applicationshavesimilarorthesamerecoveryobjectives.Thegovernancecommitteeshouldgrouplikeapplicationsintotiers.Anynewapplicationbeingintroducedtotheenvironmentsshouldbeassignedatierbeforebeingdeployed.

Yourtierscouldbedefinedasfollows:

• Tier0withRTO0minutesandRPOof0minutes• Tier1withbothRTOandRPOupto15minutes• Tier2withRTOupto4hoursandRPOupto24Hours• Tier3withRTOupto1weekandRPOupto1week

• Tier4BestEffort

Thegovernancecommitteemustbecarefulwhendecidinginwhichtiertoplacetheapplications.Onthesurface,itfeelslikeeveryapplicationiscriticalandcantolerate0downtime,howeverwhenyouareknee-deepinafulldisasterwithnothingrunning,themostefficientBCDRplanaccountsforasystematicrecoveryofneededservices,on-by-one.

Whileinfrastructureservicessuchasnetworkconnectivity,ActiveDirectory,DNS,DHCP,

etc.allneedtobeaccountedforandassignedatier(likelytier0),becausethesearefoundationalelementsonwhicheveryotherapplicationrelies,youshouldconsiderhavingtheseservicesalreadyreplicatedtoarecoveryenvironment.Thiswillallowfailoverandrecoveryof

impacteddataandapplicationstobequickerandmoreefficient

whenadisasteroccurs..

Dependencies

Manyapplicationshaveinterdependencies.Taketheusecaseofanappdesignedtofacilitatestudentregistrationforcourses.There’safront-endwebapplication,abackendLMS,potentiallytheuseofActiveDirectoryforauthentication.It’sacomplexmixofservicesthat,shouldanyoneofthemnotbeavailable,theentireserviceisdown.So,it’simportanttoconsiderthedependenciesbetweenapplicationswhendecidingwhichtiertheyshouldfallinto.Typically,inter-dependentsystems,services,andapplicationsaregroupedasasuitethatwouldallfallintoonetier.Thesystems,services,andapplicationsthatmakeuptheregistrationfront-endandLMSwouldbegroupedtogetherandtreatedasasinglerecoveryset.

Fullandincrementalbackupspreserveappsandinter-dependentsystems,andshouldbeperformedonaregularbasisforfilesthatareirreplaceable,haveahighreplacementcost,orareconsideredcritical.

Step2:DefineNeededBCDRTechnologyYou’llnotethisstepdoesn’tstartwith“seewhatkindofrecoverabilityyourcurrenttechnologyhas.”Instead,stickwiththedefinitionsofwhattheorganizationneedstoaccomplishduringrecovery,andthenworktoidentifywhatitwilltaketoreachtheBCDRobjectives.

Putsimply,whattechneedstobeinplacetoachieveyourdefinedtierRPO’sandRTO’s?

Whiletherearelotsofoptionstodayfromwhichtochoose,belaserfocusedonthecontinuityneedsfoundinthoserecoveryobjectives,scrutinizingwhetherin-housesolutionsandskillsetswilldoorifnewsolutions,services,infrastructures,andpartnerswillbenecessary.Thesedecisionsmustbebalancedbyconsideringemergingtechnologiesthatmayofferbettersolutions.Useofvirtualizationisagiven,asisleveragingthecloud(whetherforbackupstorage,asarecoverytarget,orboth).

ThisisthepartwhereITmayendupsayinggoodbyetotheothernon-ITmembersofthecommittee,becausetheconversationwillquicklyturnto

technicalargumentslikewhetheratier1applicationshouldsimplyberecoveredusingimage-levelbackups,orifitneedstobereplicatedtoaco-locationdatacenter.

Ifyouarethinkingaboutextendingintothecloud,donotassumethatallcloudproviders

meettheregulatoryrequirementsforhigher

education.Makesuretheyprovidedocumentationonwhatstandardstheymeet.Alsoaskwhathappensifyouwantto

takedataoutofthecloud.Noteingestion/exgestionfees.

Alsoconsideranyregulationsondataretention.Forexample,aTexaslawrequiresitsuniversitiestostoreERPdataonphysicaltape.Yep–tape.So,asyouplanforusingthelatestandgreatesttechtoexecuteyourBCDRstrategy,regulationsmayofferadditionalcolorthatmayaltertheBCDRpath.

Step3:BuildtheActualBCDRPlanNowthatyouhaveacleardefinitionofyourapplicationanddatapeckingorder,thecriteriadefiningwhethercontinuityorrecoveryisachoiceforeach,andanideaofwhattechnologyisneededtofacilitateyourBCDRobjectives,it’stimetobuildoutaplanthatincludesthefollowing:

• Mappingapplicationscriticality,dependingonthecriticalityofthebusinessunits/functions

• Thedefinitionsoftherecoverytierswithobjectives,keepinginmindtheallowabledowntime

• Alistofwhereeachdataset,system,orapplicationsitswithinthesetiers(includingdependencies)

• Documentationaroundanyreplicatedapplicationsorservicesrunninginpreparationforadisaster

• Definitionsofspecificcloud-basedservicestobeused,includingsupportcontactdetails,credentials,andwhichtierswillleverageeachservice

• Lastly,therecoverystepstobetakenforeachdataset,system,orapplication

Buildyourrecoverystepssotheyworkinbothascenariowhereyouarerecoveringeverything,aswellasonewhereyouarerecoveringa

singleapplication

Step4:Test,Test,TestIhearditoncesaid,“myBCDRplanisonlyasgoodasthepaperit’son.”Withouttesting,thisisabsolutelytrue.Onceyouhaveanideaofhowsimpleorcomplexanactualrecoverywillbeforanygivenrecoveryset,defineplanstotesttherecovery,withincreasingfrequencyascriticalityapproachestier0.

TheamountofplanningandstaffinvolvedintheBCDRtestingdependsonthesizeandcomplexityoftheinfrastructurerequired.Somecompaniescanturntheconnectivityofftoaprimarydatacenterandhaveallinfrastructureandapplicationteamssignoffontheirpartoftherecovery.Thiswillhighlightanyinefficiencieswiththeplanoranyunexpectedresultsthatcanberemediatedbeforethenexttest.Ofcourse,thiswillneedtotakeplaceoutsideofregularbusinesshours.

Butifyouhaveapplicationsthatneedtobeavailable24hoursaday,7daysaweek,you’llneedtolooktoarecoveryorchestrationtoolset.ManyofthesetoolsprovidefeaturesthatenableafullBCDR

testofaworkloadormultipleworkloadswhilekeepingtheproductionworkloadrunning.

Thisisaccomplishedbybringingupreplicatedworkloadsinasecondarydatacenterwithinanisolatednetwork.TheisolatednetworkpreventsduplicatenameandIPaddressconflictsontheproductionnetwork.Applicationteamscanconnecttotherecoveredapplicationfromwithintheisolatednetwork,testtheapplicationandeventuallysignoffonthesuccessofthetesting.Someorchestrationtoolsallowyoutotesttheinfrastructurepieceofafailoverwiththepushofonebutton.Reportscanbegeneratedandsenttomanagementforconfirmationoferror-freetesting.Hereagain,ofcourse,anyissuesencounteredneedtobedocumentedandremediatedandthentestedagaininthenextBCDRtestingcycle.

KeyTakeawaysEducationenvironmentshavetheuniqueneedtokeeptwoenvironmentsrunningcontinuously,makingBCDRseemdaunting.Butwithproper(andproactive)planning,implementation,andtesting,BCDRbecomesapartofdailyIToperations,with

staffandtechnologyreadyatamoment’snoticetoensurethehighestlevelsofuninterruptedservices.Withtherightgovernanceinplace,coupledwiththetechnology,youcanhaveconfidencethatyoucanexecuteaBCDRplanthatmeetsyouragreeduponrecoveryobjectivesregardlessofthedisaster.

NOTES