September 2007 — Features
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Disaster Recovery :: Courting Disaster
"For a while we were so happy because we had [a plan] in writing, but the storm made us redefine the term disaster. When you think you've thought of everything, there can always be much, much more."
The ultimate lesson of Charlotte County's experience, as well as the experiences of other districts that can share their own war stories, is plain: Be prepared. When that storm has you in its sights is not the time to be fumbling for a disaster recovery plan. A strategy better be in place and account for every foreseeable outcome. An inadequate or altogether nonexistent plan can have dire results. Fire, power outage, severe weather—all can bring down even the best of networks in an instant.
Nederland Independent School District in Texas, which didn't have a formal disaster recovery plan before Hurricane Rita hit in September 2005, made it a priority afterward.
Rita inflicted $10 million in damage on the school district, including buildings and infrastructure, although Cindy Laird, Nederland's director of instructional technology, points out that the majority of the damage was structural. "We had secured our equipment, so if we lost any equipment, it was actually due to roof leaks," she says.
"We knew things that needed to be done because we had been hit by tropical storms before, but when it actually came to Hurricane Rita, I learned quite a bit." One of the things Laird learned was the importance of having mail servers off-site.
Gather software and hardware information in one binder for easy reference. "You have one communication folder, so you're not scrounging for model numbers and phone numbers."—Cindy Laird, Nederland Independent School District
