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Running Head: DATABASE BACKUP AND DISASTER PLANNING 1

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DATABASE BACKUP AND DISASTER PLANNING

Database Backup and Disaster Planning Part A: Type of Data Backup

Considering the nature of business operations of the back and the type and size of data handled by the bank, an incremental type of data backup is the most efficient and applicable. An incremental data backup is a type of backup that is done by copying organizational data that has changed depending on the timestamps of the previous data backup operation done(Qian, Huang, Zhao, & Nakagawa, 2010). To perform this type of data backup, the database administrator compares the timestamps of the previous backup and the present data to determine the files that have changed. Then, the data files found to have changed are backup up by copying them into a remote storage media or server. For instance, the bank will perform a backup on some files in a given time. After a given period, those files in the production environment that have changed will be updated in the backup server hence performing an incremental backup.

The justification of selecting this type of data backup is because the bank handles various banking accounts hence different data types. The company also has a very huge amount of data through the mobile applications, website applications and physical location of the back. Therefore, performing a full backup will be more expensive and time consuming because this type involves backing up all the data in each backup operation(Xu, Yu, & Zheng, 2012). Incremental backup will therefore save time because only the data that has changed will be backed up. The bank also handles sensitive information which creates the need for frequent backup. Incremental data backup will allow the organization to back up the data as frequent as the company may need(Chapter, 2006). The benefits of this type of backup is that it allows smaller sized of files to be copied and the process of each backup is very fast.

Methodology

The methodology for this type of backup plan to the bank presented in the scenario involves performing daily incremental data backups after a full data backup. For all types of data backup, a full data backup is necessary for at least once(Yin, Alonso, Machida, Andrade, & Trivedi, 2012). The only difference in the types of data backup is the method used for the subsequent data backup operations. Therefore, in this scenario, the bank will ensure it runs a weekly full backup and coupling it will a daily incremental backup. This is a better methodology because it will provide higher data protection levels and minimize the time needed to restore the data in case of a disaster.

The organization will be required to perform a full back up every week and an incremental data backup in a daily basis. The organization will use a software for comparing the timestamps of various database files and them determining which files have changed. The data backup process will be automated in such a way that it will use a software to determine timestamps and push the copied files automatically to the remote server. The remote server for this scenario will a cloud-based server to allow data from mobile applications, website and physical bank location to be copied and backed up easily(Qian et al., 2010).

The space required for this type of data is fairly large but smaller than the space that would have been required by other types of data backup. If the organization registers a 5% daily change for the data, then the amount of space to be utilized in the backup will be about 120 Tb. This is why the process requires the cloud storage which will be cheaper than the physical storage media.

PART B: Recovery Plan

The disaster recovery plan for this bank involves three major measures. These measures are;

1. Establishing preventive measures,

2. Establishing detective measures, and

3. Establishment of corrective measures.

These measures are used in the recovery plan because they are to protect the bank from suffering significant losses in case of a disaster. They are also aimed at ensuring that the bank resumes its business operations even after occurrence of a disaster. The plan is descried as follows.

The preventive measures are included in the recovery plan to help prevent the occurrence of a disaster. The aspects in this section of the plan are risk identification and reduction(Bottrill et al., 2011). The disaster recovery plan committed will have to perform a risk assessment to identify the types of risks, their impacts and probability of occurrence. This step provides a documentation of all risks and ways of mitigating these risks. The objective of this process is to ensure that the disaster is stopped before it happens. To ensure the bank achieves these objectives, there is need to have a data backup program as described in the previous section. In addition, the organization will install generators, use surge protectors and perform regular inspection on the banking system applications and physical hardware(Berke & Campanella, 2006).

Detective section of the plan include measures for the bank that are aimed at identification of any unwanted event within the information technology infrastructure. The measures of this section will aim at those risks that have not been identified by are potential issues to the physical network, website and the bank’s mobile application. The bank will include measures like installation of fire alarms, conducting training sessions for employees, installation and configuration of computer-antivirus to the personal computers of the banks and installation of network monitoring systems. These measures will focus on the potential cause of risks and disasters and alert the bank’s information technology department for a corrective measure(Berke & Campanella, 2006).

The corrective measures section of the plan lays down an action plan and series of events that should be executed when a disaster has occurred to help the bank achieve business continuity. The section of the plan includes the insurance policy documentation and other critical documents for the disaster recovery. The elements of this section are; the people involved in the recovery process, the strategies to get the bank back to operation, contacts of the individuals for various recovery activities and the steps and times for recovering the business assets from the disaster(Snedaker & Rima, 2014). The bank should indicate its activities and critical operations for each department. Some of the activities and critical aspects include the data for mobile and web application, data in the physical location and the physical hardware for the organization. Other areas for evaluation are the vital records, bank policy records, processing systems, key personnel, documentation and other daily procedures.

Through the analysis of these areas, the amount of time required to get the business back to operation can be determined easily. In this scenario, the time to be taken before recovery and continuity of the business is a sum of all time taken to recover the activities of all departments. For instance, the time taken for restoration of website data and mobile application data can be 4 hours since the data need to be copied from the cloud to the physical location. The time for restoring physical operations can be 2 or 3 days hence making the total downtime to be 4 days. Other metrics to measure the effectiveness of the recovery plan are; the resources used in recovery and amount of data restored. The costs for recovery may be higher if the plan did not include proper allocation of resources and procedures. Individuals responsible for the recovery process may not be informed in time hence making the recovery plan more expensive. The action plan should therefore include alternative activities to ensure the customers of the bank are served while the recovery process is in progress(Snedaker & Rima, 2014). Such activities include use of physical files and manual entry of data into files.

This disaster recovery plan reduces the interruption of the banking system by minimizing the downtime and also providing alternative procedures for serving the customers. In case of an emergency, the chosen plan has a list of individuals to be involved in disaster recovery and their contacts. It also includes analogue means of accessing and storing data relating to the bank’s business operations. This way, an emergency cannot affect the operations. In addition, the plan includes a power surge tools and other monitoring devices that will help detect a disaster or emergency and be prepared for them(Snedaker & Rima, 2014).

PART C: Plan of Action to Getting the Business back

After the occurrence of a disaster, there are particular steps to be followed to ensure that the back returns back to normal and its operations resume. These steps are discussed as follows.

Disaster recovery planning; in this step, the IT department will develop a plan of ensuring business continuity. During this step, the recovery committee will be selected to help in formulate the schedule, activities and the budget for the recovery. The step will also involve collecting the required data like the number of employees in the corporate office, the critical operations performed by the corporate office and the hardware/software resources in the office(Chapter, 2006). The steering committee should include individuals with vast knowledge in various section of the banking system.

Developing priorities for the bank’s business operations and processing operations; this step involves prioritization of various operations of the bank’s corporate office. The critical needs of the organization are the most essential equipment that can be used to ensure efficient recovery of the organization. To determine the operations to be given the top priority, the team will consider the following area; key personnel involved, functional operations, vital records, main servers and policies. After analyzing these areas, it is clear that almost all the personnel in the corporate office is key and hence the most critical personnel should be considered to ensure business operation. According to Snedaker and Rima (2014), all the operations and resources should be ranked according to their importance, essential and non-essential status. Since the organization’s need is to power up the corporate office, the resources with top priority are the main servers.

Then a solution for the recovery will be designed. The steering team will brainstorm on various solutions that are suitable for restoring the business operations of the corporate office after analyzing the results. The team will provide a number of suggestion based on the business recovery plan and then person a business impact assessment for the solutions to identify the most appropriate solution. The solution should be designed in terms of resources required, time for implementation and the impact on the banking business(Snedaker & Rima, 2014). For instance, the team may decide to adopt a solution that makes use of a power generator to light up the corporate office.

Implementation of an effective solution; this involves identifying the individuals in the disaster recovery plan that are responsible for the execution of the implementation plan. The solution identified in the previous step should be implemented after acquiring the relevant resources. This solution should be tested before implementation to ensure the desired results and objectives are met.

References

Berke, P. R., & Campanella, T. J. (2006). Planning for Postdisaster Resiliency. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 604(1), 192–207. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716205285533

Bottrill, M. C., Walsh, J. C., Watson, J. E. M., Joseph, L. N., Ortega-Argueta, A., & Possingham, H. P. (2011). Does recovery planning improve the status of threatened species? Biological Conservation, 144(5), 1595–1601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.02.008

Chapter, I. N. T. (2006). Backup and Recovery. I. Chapter, (October), 683–716. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4302-0099-4_29

Qian, C., Huang, Y., Zhao, X., & Nakagawa, T. (2010). Optimal backup interval for a database system with full and periodic incremental backup. Journal of Computers, 5(4), 557–564. https://doi.org/10.4304/jcp.5.4.557-564

Snedaker, S., & Rima, C. (2014). Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals, 4, 369–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-410526-3.00007-6

Xu, Y., Yu, H., & Zheng, W. (2012). A consistent backup mechanism for disaster recovery that using container based virtualization. In Proceedings - 7th ChinaGrid Annual Conference, ChinaGrid 2012 (pp. 95–100). https://doi.org/10.1109/ChinaGrid.2012.10

Yin, X., Alonso, J., Machida, F., Andrade, E. C., & Trivedi, K. S. (2012). Availability modeling and analysis for data backup and restore operations. In Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems (pp. 141–150). https://doi.org/10.1109/SRDS.2012.9