September 2007 — Features
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Disaster Recovery :: Courting Disaster
DISASTER MYTHS AND REALITIES
SORTING TRUTH FROM FICTION, COURTESY OF EDUCATION SOLUTIONS PROVIDER ESP SOLUTIONS GROUP
MYTH: The most common cause of catastrophic damage to school technology is
weather, earthquake, flood, or fire.
REALITY: Loss of electrical power is the most frequent cause of a disaster.
MYTH: Disaster recovery plans should focus on replacing hardware, networks,
and software installations.
REALITY: A successful plan will focus on managing people to do the right things
before and after a disaster.
MYTH: Backup data files are adequate for a full recovery of most software
applications.
REALITY: Backup data files are not adequate for a full recovery. A typical backup file is
a limited, encrypted data set that merely replaces a lost file. For full recovery, a school
system needs configurations and detailed setup documentation.
"E-mail was the main source of communication—we were able to communicate throughout [the event]," she says. "[With the mail servers off-site] I still had access and I could get word and news out to the community—the superintendents could put letters or messages on the site daily to let people know what was going on."
