SAS ITThe Number One Problem with DR Plans: They Do Not Exist Until After the Disaster
Every week in Dubai, a business suffers an IT disaster — ransomware, server failure, ISP outage, or data corruption. Those with tested DR plans recover in hours. Those without can take days or weeks.
Step 1: Define Your RTO and RPO
RTO (Recovery Time Objective): How long can your business operate without IT before you lose clients or revenue?
| Business Type | Typical RTO Tolerance |
|---|---|
| E-commerce or SaaS | Under 1 hour |
| Professional services | 4 to 8 hours |
| General SME | 24 to 48 hours |
| Low IT dependency | 48 to 72 hours |
RPO (Recovery Point Objective): If you recover but lose some data, how much data loss is acceptable?
- 24-hour RPO: daily backup is sufficient
- 4-hour RPO: backup runs every 4 hours
- Near-zero RPO: replication to secondary site required
Step 2: Identify Your Critical Systems
List every IT system and classify it:
| System | Business Impact if Down | Recovery Priority |
|---|---|---|
| High — client communication | Priority 2 | |
| ERP / accounting | Critical — operations stop | Priority 1 |
| File server | High — work stops | Priority 1 |
| CCTV | Low — can operate without | Priority 3 |
| Phone system | Medium | Priority 2 |
| Internet / firewall | Critical — everything stops | Priority 1 |
Step 3: Write a DR Runbook for Each System
A runbook is a step-by-step guide that ANY staff member can follow during a crisis. It removes the dependency on one key IT person who may not be available.
For each critical system, document:
- What the system is and what it does
- Where to find backup data or replacement hardware
- Step-by-step restore procedure
- Who to call if you cannot follow the steps
- Estimated recovery time
Step 4: Define Your Disaster Scenarios
| Scenario | DR Response |
|---|---|
| Single server failure | Restore from local backup to replacement hardware |
| Ransomware attack | Isolate network, restore from offsite backup, rebuild from clean state |
| Full office fire or flood | Activate cloud DR site, work remotely, contact insurer |
| ISP outage | Activate 4G failover via secondary router or SD-WAN |
Step 5: Test Your Plan
Annual full DR test: Simulate a server failure. Restore production data to test hardware. Measure actual time against your RTO target.
Quarterly backup restore test: Restore a sample of data. Verify it is complete and usable.
Monthly: Review and update the runbook for any system changes.
DR Infrastructure Costs
| Solution | Setup (AED) | Monthly (AED) |
|---|---|---|
| Local backup only | 3,000 to 8,000 | 0 |
| Local + cloud backup (Azure) | 5,000 to 12,000 | 200 to 500 |
| Veeam + cloud DR replication | 12,000 to 25,000 | 500 to 1,500 |
| Active-passive failover site | 30,000 to 80,000 | 2,000 to 5,000 |
SAS IT builds and tests disaster recovery plans for Dubai businesses. Free DR review | +971-526716178
*Related: Managed IT Services Dubai | Server Solutions Dubai*
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