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Add-on · DR Management

Backups are the easy part. Getting back up is the job.

Backups come with proactive managed services. DR Management is the add-on that turns those backups into a recovery someone can actually run: what is protected, how fast it comes back, where it comes back to, and who does each step.

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What it is

The add-on that answers what happens next.

DR Management defines, documents, maintains, and operates the recovery capability for the servers or clusters listed under one proactive scope. It answers four questions: what is protected, how quickly it can be recovered, where it recovers to, and who performs each step.

That means a written runbook, recovery targets agreed per environment, regular proof that the backups restore, oversight of whichever replication we manage, and a periodic report on where you actually stand.

It is the preparation, the documentation, the validation, and the testing. Engineering work during a declared disaster is billed as the reactive work it is, rather than pretending a recovery fits a monthly line item.

Disaster recovery planning
Two layers. Backups sit in the proactive scope. Recovery sits on top.

Keeps the covered servers or clusters healthy and taking backups: patching, monitoring, and the backup jobs themselves. DR Management attaches to exactly one of these scopes and covers only what that scope lists.

Read about Proactive
Recovery layer DR Management This add-on

Turns those backups into a recovery someone can follow: runbook, agreed targets, validation, failover and failback steps, and a readiness report. Server builds cover backup servers and replication. Cluster builds cover the configuration backup platform and replicas.

What's in it for you

Why teams add DR Management

01

A recovery you can hand to someone else

  • The sequence, dependencies, and owners are written down, not in one engineer's head
  • Reviewed at least annually and after any material change
  • Failover and failback have named decision points, not a late-night guess
Written recovery procedure
02

Proof the backups actually restore

  • Periodic verification that backups complete, restore, and meet retention
  • Failures get escalated outside the reporting cycle, not buried in a monthly PDF
  • You know how long a restore takes because someone has done one
Validated backups
03

Numbers everyone is working to

  • RTO and RPO agreed per covered environment and written down
  • Stated as objectives, not guarantees, with no service credits for missing them
  • An auditor, insurer, or board can be shown the same document you operate from
Agreed recovery targets
04

A standing read on readiness

  • Periodic written report on validation, replication health, gaps, and what to do next
  • Where we manage the pipeline, we watch replication rather than discovering drift at restore time
  • Testing is either a frequency you buy or drawn from reactive hours. The agreement says which
Readiness reporting
Who it is for

When this add-on makes sense

01
You have backups and no documented plan for using them under pressure.
02
Nobody has restored from your backups this year, so nobody knows how long it takes.
03
An auditor, regulator, or cyber insurer has asked what your recovery plan is.
04
The recovery plan is one engineer's knowledge, and that engineer takes holidays.
What's included

Always included, then what your setup needs.

Every DR Management add-on includes the five things on the left. The rest depends on how the environment is built, which we establish before we quote rather than after.

Always
In every DR add-on
+DR runbook: sequence, dependencies, credentials, and the responsible party per step
+RTO and RPO definition per covered environment
+Backup validation: complete, restorable, and meeting retention
+Failover and failback workflow with named owners
+DR report and recommendations on readiness and gaps
As needed
Where your setup calls for it
+Replication monitoring and management, where remote replication is in use
+Recovery environment management, where we run that environment
+Backup server management, where we run the backup server
+Configuration backup platform, on the cluster branch
+Periodic DR tests, or tests drawn from reactive hours
+24/7 NOC coverage of DR infrastructure, only where it is bundled
Recovery models

How quickly you come back depends on what is standing by.

This is the trade-off worth deciding deliberately rather than discovering during an incident. Creating, licensing, and hosting the recovery environment is quoted separately unless a flat fee names it.

Model 01
Cold recovery

Infrastructure is available but systems are not pre-provisioned or running. Recovery is provision, restore, configure. Lowest cost, longest RTO. This is our default.

Model 02
Warm recovery

Systems are pre-provisioned and kept current by replication or scheduled restore. The event is an activation and cutover rather than a rebuild. Higher cost, shorter RTO.

Model 03
Backup replication

We copy backup data off-site so it survives losing the primary. That is not the same as a running VM replica you can start in place. VM replication is not included unless the agreement says so.

Targets
Objectives, not guarantees

RTO and RPO are design and validation targets. They are not service level commitments and carry no service credits. Default backup retention is 90 days, subject to capacity.

Boundaries

What sits outside the add-on.

Said here so it is not a discovery during an incident. Anything below can be added, but it is scoped and priced on its own.

Not in the monthly fee
Work we bill separately
–Running the recovery during a declared disaster (reactive work)
–Building or hosting the recovery environment
–Remediation beyond routine configuration adjustment
–Onboarding: discovery, first runbook, first validation
Not in the covered scope
Systems we do not recover
–Windows endpoints and network devices
–Identity providers and SaaS platforms
–Unlisted cloud services and systems not named in the scope
–On a cluster scope, the application operator's own apps and data
Requirements

What this add-on layers onto

DR Management is not a standalone product. It attaches to one proactive scope. Declared-disaster work needs a reactive agreement. 24/7 alerting on DR components is a separate NOC add-on unless it is bundled into the DR fee.

Other engagements

Explore our other engagements.

There are a few different ways to work with us. Here are the other engagements you can explore.

Start the conversation

Want to know how long a real recovery would take?

A 30-minute conversation is enough for us to understand what you are protecting, where it would need to come back, and whether your current backups could get you there.