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Disaster Recovery- What are your plans

by TPFLegionaire
14 replies
I would be keen to learn about what kind of Disaster Recovery plans you have in place to ensure continuity of your business.

More specifically, how do you protect your websites and business in case your host go down, merchant account get suspended, back up strategies...

Please share your thoughts and tips in the thread or via PM....

Your insight is much appreciated.
#disaster #plans #recovery
  • Profile picture of the author SKWeaver
    I have backups of all my website files on my pc and an external hard drive. I use mozy.com to automatically backup my pc at least once a day. I also use accounts at both aweber and getresponse. I export my autoresponder lists about once a month and save the csv files on my hard drive. I also have accounts with clickbank, paypal, and paydotcom (not a big fan). I've never had a disaster, but hopefully if one would ever happen (knock on wood) I'd have a Plan B.
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    • Profile picture of the author Randy Meirndorf
      I can definitely understand your concerns. I've had a webhost go out of business and all my sites with it. SO I always back up everything. As far as business goes, I should have a plan B, but I don't. Guess Ill have to cross that bridge if it ever comes.
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      • Profile picture of the author FG
        I set up business system(s) that allow my business to be portable.

        I can run it from any computer (my, yours, or theirs) as long as there is an internet connection. I use flash drives that are backed up online.
        I have a passport usb hard drive. But I don't depend on any portable drive, I only use them because they make life easier in my every day activities. (The hard drive on your computer is probably the worst place to store data that you may actually need)

        Daily software that I use is also stored online so I can get to a copy if the need should ever arise. Even my business processes are stored off site and can be retrieved.

        Passwords, emails, bank accounts, customer lists, and business accounts can be access at any time without me hauling around any eqiupment of any kind, including flash drives. No vendor gets more than a third of my business including payment processors. I know the location of the wifi spots in my home town.

        My business was designed from the ground up to give me freedom.

        Even my laptop went through a ten minute upgrade that allows it to run really fast without any virus protection, spyware protection, or firewalls installed. In fact if you were to delete the hard drive or reformat it or put a big bad virus on it then as soon as it is turned back on everything would be restored without any intervension from me to it's orginal state. (Think internet cafe in the Big Apple) All my software completely unharmed.

        Someone steals the laptop and there is no data for them to use against me in any form what so ever. Yet this lap top can handle every aspect of my business; (as can any computer that I have access to.)

        All of this was really easy and very cheap to do.

        I think this was a good question. Everyone needs a plan just in case. I set my business up like this from the beginning. And yes there are a few other things that I did so I would never be held hostage to my own business.

        FG
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        • Profile picture of the author Tinkerbell
          Okay, I wanna know about this. A ten minute upgrade that protects against file deletion and big bad viruses...without any virus protection, spyware protection, or firewalls. And it self restores when you turn it back on. Whadda you got?

          Originally Posted by FG View Post

          Even my laptop went through a ten minute upgrade that allows it to run really fast without any virus protection, spyware protection, or firewalls installed. In fact if you were to delete the hard drive or reformat it or put a big bad virus on it then as soon as it is turned back on everything would be restored without any intervension from me to it's orginal state. (Think internet cafe in the Big Apple) All my software completely unharmed.
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        • Profile picture of the author jkiley
          Originally Posted by FG View Post

          I set up business system(s) that allow my business to be portable.

          I can run it from any computer (my, yours, or theirs) as long as there is an internet connection. I use flash drives that are backed up online.
          I have a passport usb hard drive. But I don't depend on any portable drive, I only use them because they make life easier in my every day activities. (The hard drive on your computer is probably the worst place to store data that you may actually need)

          Daily software that I use is also stored online so I can get to a copy if the need should ever arise. Even my business processes are stored off site and can be retrieved.

          Passwords, emails, bank accounts, customer lists, and business accounts can be access at any time without me hauling around any eqiupment of any kind, including flash drives. No vendor gets more than a third of my business including payment processors. I know the location of the wifi spots in my home town.

          My business was designed from the ground up to give me freedom.

          Even my laptop went through a ten minute upgrade that allows it to run really fast without any virus protection, spyware protection, or firewalls installed. In fact if you were to delete the hard drive or reformat it or put a big bad virus on it then as soon as it is turned back on everything would be restored without any intervension from me to it's orginal state. (Think internet cafe in the Big Apple) All my software completely unharmed.

          Someone steals the laptop and there is no data for them to use against me in any form what so ever. Yet this lap top can handle every aspect of my business; (as can any computer that I have access to.)

          All of this was really easy and very cheap to do.

          I think this was a good question. Everyone needs a plan just in case. I set my business up like this from the beginning. And yes there are a few other things that I did so I would never be held hostage to my own business.

          FG
          Are you kidding me? I am a software engineer. There is no such system today which can do all this. At least not in a "cheap" way. Of course if you are "google" then you can build custom systems to do all this, and more.

          So, I am sorry...I don't belive you.
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          • Profile picture of the author FG
            Originally Posted by jkiley View Post

            Are you kidding me? I am a software engineer. There is no such system today which can do all this. At least not in a "cheap" way. Of course if you are "google" then you can build custom systems to do all this, and more.

            So, I am sorry...I don't belive you.

            Hello Jkiley,


            Now how am I suppose to respond to that?
            By handing over my personal blue print?
            By naming the programs that I use?
            Come up with a WSO that reveals all?


            Google is not the one that should have came up with this software, it should have been MicroSoft. They dropped the ball big time. The software cost less than $50, I call that cheap.


            Some large public libraries and universities use a version of it to protect their own computers. You will never even know that this program is working in the background. BTW, you can run this software with any virus protection you want, there just isn't any real need to do so.


            As far as my business systems that I have designed they do exactly what they are meant to do. I use metrics in between the processes so that improvements can be made along the way.


            I am not that smart.
            I just know how to simplify.


            I also know how to do research and find what I need without waiting for an email with a pitch in it for something I don't need.


            I use business systems to run my business and a handful of software to help run the processes in my business systems. Part of that was having a plan B if something should happen to plan A.


            That is all my original post was about. I planned my business to be portable so I could have the freedom that was so important to me at the very beginning.


            I don't spend much time on forums and never knew that this apparently is so unique.


            FG
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        • Profile picture of the author Vikuna2009+
          Originally Posted by FG View Post

          I set up business system(s) that allow my business to be portable.

          I can run it from any computer (my, yours, or theirs) as long as there is an internet connection. I use flash drives that are backed up online.
          I have a passport usb hard drive. But I don't depend on any portable drive, I only use them because they make life easier in my every day activities. (The hard drive on your computer is probably the worst place to store data that you may actually need)

          Daily software that I use is also stored online so I can get to a copy if the need should ever arise. Even my business processes are stored off site and can be retrieved.

          Passwords, emails, bank accounts, customer lists, and business accounts can be access at any time without me hauling around any eqiupment of any kind, including flash drives. No vendor gets more than a third of my business including payment processors. I know the location of the wifi spots in my home town.

          My business was designed from the ground up to give me freedom.

          Even my laptop went through a ten minute upgrade that allows it to run really fast without any virus protection, spyware protection, or firewalls installed. In fact if you were to delete the hard drive or reformat it or put a big bad virus on it then as soon as it is turned back on everything would be restored without any intervension from me to it's orginal state. (Think internet cafe in the Big Apple) All my software completely unharmed.

          Someone steals the laptop and there is no data for them to use against me in any form what so ever. Yet this lap top can handle every aspect of my business; (as can any computer that I have access to.)

          All of this was really easy and very cheap to do.

          I think this was a good question. Everyone needs a plan just in case. I set my business up like this from the beginning. And yes there are a few other things that I did so I would never be held hostage to my own business.

          FG


          If all what you are saying is really true, make it a wso, I would buy it for sure, lol .
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  • Profile picture of the author HomeComputerGames
    Quality hosting on dedicated server, daily backups, complete documentation on business operations in case of my illness or death, and instructions on who should receive this documentation in case I do get ill or die. Just because you are sick business must still keep going.
    Merchant accounts and hosting are easy enough to deal with so haven't done much planning on those.
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    yes, I am....

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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    Everything of any value on two different PCs and one external harddrive. That's it.

    George Wright
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    "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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  • Profile picture of the author Alton Hargrave
    I do periodic backups to an external hard drive, but I keep the most important stuff backed up to a memory stick attached to my keychain. I carry my keys everywhere I go, of course, so I avoid coming home or to my office and finding...its all gone!

    Maybe, I should hook my external hard drive to my keychain? No, that could cause back problems. LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author jorchav
    For starters, from personal experience I would suggest that you make really sure that your C: drive and none of your data storage drives are on the same Physical HD. The drive letters DO NOT necessarily go in order.
    I thought that my C and D drives were on the same HD. Turned out it was the C and E drive. Found out AFTER it crashed...
    So do your backups on separate hard drives...
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    Malicious links.

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  • Profile picture of the author chateauRedunet
    1. Complete image to external hard drive weekly. (External HDD is kept in same building as other desktop & laptops. I know, this is a risk-point in Plan B.)
    2. Nightly online incremental file backups at carbonite.
    3. All passwords are printed monthly and stored in a fire-resistant safe. Eleven (11) back copies are retained, with the 12th being cross-cut shredded.

    Please note: we have NOT incorporated any memory sticks due to their extremely small size, limited storage capacity and (we are currently unsure about) magnetic interference.
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  • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
    Regarding a recovery plan if a webhost goes out of business
    it might be instructive to list what needs to be backed up.

    My list so far is
    1. Web pages (the files that you personally create)
    - keep a copy on your PC

    2. Programs (scripts) that are installed
    - keep the original installation files on your PC (with any
    supplier password if necessary)

    3. Data associated with these scripts
    - do regular backups to your PC of any MySQL databases or flat files


    In addition, as I don't think you can 'backup' the Cpanel,
    you might need to keep a record of various Cpanel settings, e.g
    - email accounts
    - mail forwarders
    - cron runs

    Any thoughts on the above or any additional items ?

    Harvey
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  • Profile picture of the author TPFLegionaire
    Thanks a lot for your replies so far, does any one use fail over for their websites...

    How much money would you loose per hour of your site going down?

    IE: the server goes down...back up server automatically take over...so site is always available

    Thank you for your resonses so far, theses and a bit of google search will enable me to put a plan of action in place going forward.

    Once implemented (over next 3 months) , I will come back and share.

    Again, thank you all for your contributions and have a nice weekend.
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    Save Kim Winfrey! Buy the WSO or donate.
    As an aside use the products in the WSO to make tons of cash!
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  • Profile picture of the author acedalright
    I have a back up (in the cloud) of all articles plus I have all passwords, profile links and backlinks stored for safe keeping.

    The worst that could happen would be starting again without Page rank
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