⚡ Disaster Recovery
IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM) is the ITIL 4 practice that ensures IT services can be recovered to agreed levels following a major disruption. Disaster Recovery (DR) is the operational execution of continuity plans.
Core Concepts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| RTO | Recovery Time Objective — maximum tolerable downtime |
| RPO | Recovery Point Objective — maximum tolerable data loss |
| BIA | Business Impact Analysis — identifies critical processes and their recovery priorities |
| BCP | Business Continuity Plan — organisation-wide response to major disruptions |
| DRP | Disaster Recovery Plan — IT-specific technical recovery procedures |
| Failover | Automatic switching to a backup system when primary fails |
| Failback | Returning to primary systems after recovery |
Recovery Tiers
| Tier | RTO | RPO | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — Critical | < 1 hour | < 15 minutes | Active-Active / Hot standby |
| Tier 2 — High | < 4 hours | < 1 hour | Active-Passive / Warm standby |
| Tier 3 — Medium | < 24 hours | < 4 hours | Cold standby / Cloud burst |
| Tier 4 — Low | < 72 hours | < 24 hours | Backup restore from offsite |
Section Contents
Downloadable Templates
| Template | Format | Download |
|---|---|---|
| DR Asset Register | Excel | ⬇ Download |
| Disaster Recovery Plan | Word | ⬇ Download |
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