Key Points
This article is part of a series of articles created in collaboration with SiteGround. Thank you for supporting the partners who made SitePoint possible.
When business managers, team leaders, and others plan business continuity, they become forward-looking thinkers. Plans are formulated to ensure that the business can continue to operate under various stressful situations (natural disasters, casualties, malicious behavior, etc.). Businesses will develop disaster plans for websites, buildings, human resources, financial transactions, asset relocation, equipment replacement, etc. - anything will be taken into account.
You have to consider many of these factors when considering a website’s disaster plan, but you also have to consider factors like hacking, user errors, and dependency failures (want to learn how to better manage dependencies? Check out SitePoint "Dependency Management" course on Premium).
The key elements of these business continuity and disaster planning are usually process. These processes detail the steps that all the company’s employees (whether only one, dozens or thousands) will take in this case to ensure that the business can operate as properly as possible. If companies cannot get through these difficulties, then when the crisis is over, they may have no company to go back.
Disa planning is crucial for the maintenance staff of websites and web applications, but is often overlooked for the same reasons as the overall business continuity plan is ignored—they only if something bad happens Only useful, but in normal daily operations, they seem to be a waste.
Website Disaster Plan
The first question you (or your team) should ask yourself when considering disaster planning for the website you maintain is:
How long can your website or web application go down?
How long can you last without customer access, interaction and purchases? How much money will your website lose for one minute or an hour downtime, or how many potential customers may be lost? Have you entered into a service level agreement with your customer and, if so, do they guarantee a certain uptime percentage? When will you reach this limit?
For your business, some disasters are epic, regional or even global, while others may not even make local news. Here are some examples of situations that may require planning and careful consideration:
After you brainstorm the above scenarios and other scenarios you can think of, you may also want to assemble key people from various teams (if you have one) and do some thinking exercises. Put yourself in this situation. If X occurs and then Y occurs, what will we do? Brainstorm. You may find more flaws in your plan, as well as ideas that require new processes.
Backup is a key consideration. Not only data backups, such as files, databases, media, etc., but also credential backups (are they stored outside the memory of a single user?). Service is another consideration. Do you have backup CDN, mail services, NPM packages for various purposes? Do they have an implementation plan? License for any paid software or service?
It is best to consider the backup strategy of the website before starting it. Check your hosting company's backup strategy. Some companies will offer additional backup solutions as well as their hosting services. Our hosting partner SiteGround provides a powerful in-house tool for daily backups and fast data recovery.
Developing processes and sharing them is also a key feature of disaster planning. It is certainly important to develop processes for recovering data from backups, troubleshooting interruptions, and other similar situations, but documenting these processes and sharing them with the people involved is the other half of the battle. Fast and efficient completion of troubleshooting or disaster response processes can mean the difference between whether a business can survive and a minor public relations problem on the road.
Non-IT personnel who need to participate should be aware of the situation and plans. For example, the HR department may need to be involved in recruiting key alternatives, or the consultant may need to step in to assist when the company is undergoing a replacement. The accounting department may need to understand the services paid for restoration purposes, etc.
Conclusion
Most importantly, you and your colleagues develop a disaster plan, understand it and stay up to date. You should take advantage of the tools provided by your host. SitePoint's hosting partner SiteGround not only provides daily backups, but also provides monitoring, secure account isolation and expert technical support. Do you have any experiences about disaster planning or your situation facing disaster responses to share? Please share in the comments below!
Frequently Asked Questions about Creating a Website Disaster Plan (FAQ)
A comprehensive website disaster recovery plan should include the following key elements: a detailed inventory of all hardware, software and data; a clear understanding of business processes and priorities; data backup and recovery strategies; hardware and software replacement plans; informing stakeholders and ensure that the plan remains effective and up-to-date for testing and maintenance schedules.
It is recommended to test your website disaster recovery plan at least once a year. However, if there are major changes in your website, such as a major redesign or adding new features, additional testing is recommended to make sure the plan remains valid.
The disaster recovery team is responsible for implementing a disaster recovery plan in the event of a disaster. This includes performing tasks such as restoring data from backups, replacing damaged hardware and software, and communicating with stakeholders. The team should include individuals with a variety of skills, including technical expertise and project management.
Data backups should be encrypted to prevent unauthorized access. Additionally, backups should be stored in a secure location, such as a fire safe or off-site data center. It is also important to test backups regularly to ensure that data can be restored successfully when needed.
The communication plan should outline who needs to be notified in the event of a disaster, what information they need to receive, and how to communicate it. This may include employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. The program should also designate who is responsible for communicating this information.
Downtime during website disaster recovery can be minimized by combining active measures such as regular data backup and hardware redundancy and passive measures such as well-practice disaster recovery planning and skilled disaster recovery teams.
While the goal of both programs is to ensure that organizations can continue to operate in the event of a disaster, the disaster recovery program focuses specifically on restoring IT and data capabilities, while the business continuity program covers all aspects of the business, including operations and staffing and supply chain.
The effectiveness of the website's disaster recovery plan can be evaluated through periodic testing, which should include a comprehensive simulation of the disaster scenario. The results of these tests can be used to identify any weaknesses in the program and make necessary improvements.
Without a website disaster recovery plan, organizations may experience extended downtime, loss of data, damaged reputation and financial losses in the event of a disaster. Additionally, lack of planning may lead to slower and less efficient recovery processes.
The website disaster recovery plan should be reviewed and updated regularly to take into account changes in the website infrastructure, technology and business processes. In addition, any lessons learned from tests or actual disaster scenarios should be included in the plan.
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