Just need the Network topology diagram
network disaster recovery plan network disaster recovery plan PORTFOLIO Subject Code – MIS102 Title – Data and Networking Introduction Infrastructure of a business is the main and very important part for an organization. Working of their entire business is depends up on it. Failure of those systems will take the them to a costly disaster. So, they need to have a disaster recovery plan to overcome from those damaged cause by the network failure or IT disaster. It is becoming one of the critical business needs, mainly of the IT or network dependent businesses like e-commerce. A disaster recovery plan is all about planning for unknown thing that also need an enough amount and resources. Because a disaster in an organization can be failure of hardware or software, natural disaster or human made error that will ultimately results loss of valuable data (5 Reasons Why IT Disaster Recovery Plan Should Be A Top Priority. 2020) (Opportunities of having disaster recovery plan). Here are some points to clarify, why the network or IT disaster recovery plan is important for an organization. · It is important when a hardware, software or other machineries failed down. The modern devices are somehow resisting to failure but as a hardware device, nothing is invulnerable to failure or connection loss. Sometime it is become very hard to handle a single point if failure by an organization. · Employees or human made error, may be done by mistake, are also very harmful for them. Besides a big error, a single step forget within a process will also cause serious data loss. · A better running organization will also help in meeting customer’s expectations. It will also help in surviving at today’s competitive environment by delivering best and continuous services to the customers. · To meet all the company’s requirements, an ideal disaster recovery plan can help them running their servers, access of data from data centres with minimum downtime. · A disaster recovery plan helps us in easy and faster recovery if a disaster may arise. Disaster recovery plan There is always a chance of disaster whether our business is large or small. This disaster might be man made or natural but it beneficial to have a valid disaster recovery plan at place. This will provide the crucial steps that can be taken when a disaster may occur and help in recovery from that situation and ensure business continuity (Business Continuity: Your Network Disaster Recovery Plan. 2020) (Parnell, T. 2000). Here are the steps taken to build the DRP: · Identification of assets – the first task to be done to build a DRP, is assessing and analysing our valuable assets. This assessment is done with a collaboration of each department by analysing their essential assets that are important to resume their work after a disaster. Based on this analysis, a prioritized list of assets is prepared containing important assets. · Building disaster recovery team – this team have managers from each team who will responsible of taking action in a disaster. External vendors or facility providers are listed and their contact numbers are shared with every department. · Defining risk and recovery objective – the risk assessment is done to identify the possible disaster or threats that can harm our IT infra or network. After this identification, we document the recovery objectives with critical systems. · Budgeting and approval – after identification of risk and defined objective, an approx. budget is generated. This budget also includes the recovery aspects, required equipment, man power etc. that is needed while recovering from the disaster. When all the things are completed, a document is prepared with all the details and handed over to the management for approval. · Test and review – the prepared disaster recovery plan is tested by conducting a realistic situation of a disaster. This will optimize the effectiveness of our DRP plan. At this stage, if we found a need to update the plan, we can do it in this step and document in the main document. Network topology A typical network topology is shown in the above figure that represent a company which has its head office at Location-1 and two other branch office location at Location 2 and 3, situated in Australia. All the three locations are configured with a robust network with high availability and redundancy by following cisco’s three layer network architecture. For security they are using a physical firewall placed just after the core router that has a direct connection with ISP. For end user connectivity, several switches are installed. These switches will provide connectivity to the PCs, mobile devices such as smart phones, laptops etc. Each branch has their own server to manage all the devices. Steps should be taken by the company: Here are some disaster recovery solutions that are being used by the company when there is any disaster may occur. · Internet is very important aspect in today’s digital era, for the companies running their business online. So, internet is a critical part of their assets. These types of organizations should always have a back-up internet connection or have multiple internet connection. When a connection is goes does down, they can move towards another internet connection. In a condition, when no second option is available, they primarily contact their internet service provider and ask them to recover the internet connection as fast as possible. · When a malware or virus infection found in the networked computers, the user or network admin, should separate those computers from internet which are found infected. The IT disaster recovery team work on to find the root cause of the infection in the network and also check other systems. The detected systems are scanned for virus and try to recover important data from them, if any. Based on their research on infection, use the best suited precaution measures. · If there is no local area network connectivity in the company than there is possibly the intranet connectivity device (switch or hub) might be faulty. From an individual system we can diagnose internet connectivity using in-built network troubleshooting tool. This failure will affect the TCP/IP protocol suite in the entire company. · When one part of the company lost internet connection, there should be network or device related issues. The network admin needs to trace the connectivity starting from the main connecting device. Then they should check for that particular department/s and their devices for internet connectivity. The fault may include loss of cable in the switch, hub or router, configuration issue or might be no power issue if connectivity is proper. · Every company should have a power back-up device at their work place to have power sources when there is no power. They should instantly switch to the alternate power sources when there is no power. · In a password security breach, companies should primarily deny access to those accounts or systems where the password breach is detected. The admin should search for last access of those system or accounts and who used it, after that the breach is detected. Then they can take instant action on the employee who did not follow password policy and do the wrong attempt. Precautions and post-planning When a network, IT or natural disaster arise at the company, it is handled by the disaster recovery team, found at the company. Based on the disaster, they respond to it and use preventive measures t mitigate the disaster condition. After the disaster several post-disaster measures are being used. These post disaster measures may include response and recovery from the damaged caused by the disaster and reconstruct that infrastructure with the essential equipment that are hardly required to resume working condition of the company. At the time of response, a disaster recovery documentation will be done to note down the type of disaster, steps taken for recovery, how and why this disaster is aroused and its successful mitigation. This documentation will help the team if the same error will arise again and describe the precautions taken by the team (Disaster Management: Pre-disaster and Post-disaster Phases. 2020). References Business Continuity: Your Network Disaster Recovery Plan. (2020). Retrieved 8 May 2020, from https://www.comparitech.com/net-admin/network-disaster-recovery/ Parnell, T. (2000). An Adaptation of the PICE System as a Template for Disaster Planning: An Exercise in Facilitating Integrative Consultation. Prehospital And Disaster Medicine, 15(S2), S84-S84. doi: 10.1017/s1049023x0003199x 5 Reasons Why IT Disaster Recovery Plan Should Be A Top Priority. (2020). Retrieved 8 May 2020, from https://www.otava.com/reference/top-5-reasons-why-your-it-disaster-recovery-plan-should-be-a-top-priority/ Opportunities of having disaster recovery plan (2020). Retrieved 8 May 2020, from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1117263/FULLTEXT01.pdf Disaster Management: Pre-disaster and Post-disaster Phases. (2020). Retrieved 8 May 2020, from https://www.gktoday.in/gk/disaster-management-pre-disaster-and-post-disaster-phases/