IT Disaster Recovery Planning For Dummies [Paperback]

Peter H. Gregory CISA CISSP (Author), Philip Jan Rothstein (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470039736 | ISBN-13: 978-0470039731 | Publication Date: December 26, 2007 | Edition: 1

If you have a business or a nonprofit organization, or if you’re the one responsible for information systems at such an operation, you know that disaster recovery planning is pretty vital. But it’s easy to put it off. After all, where do you start?

IT Disaster Recovery Planning For Dummies shows you how to get started by creating a safety net while you work out the details of your major plan. The right plan will get your business back on track quickly, whether you're hit by a tornado or a disgruntled employee with super hacking powers. Here's how to assess the situation, develop both short-term and long-term plans, and keep your plans updated.

This easy-to-understand guide will help you

• Prepare your systems, processes, and people for an organized response to disaster when it strikes
• Identify critical IT systems and develop a long-range strategy
• Select and train your disaster recovery team
• Conduct a Business Impact Analysis
• Determine risks to your business from natural or human-made causes
• Get management support
• Create appropriate plan documents
• Test your plan

Some disasters get coverage on CNN, and some just create headaches for the affected organization. With IT Disaster Recovery Planning For Dummies, you’ll be prepared for anything from hackers to hurricanes!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Create a safety net while you work out your major plan

Identify critical IT systems, develop a long-range strategy, and train your people

Some disasters get coverage on CNN — some just create headaches for the affected organization. The right plan will get your business back on track quickly, whether you're hit by a tornado or a disgruntled employee with super hacking powers. Here's how to assess the situation, develop both short-term and long-term plans, and keep them updated.

Discover how to:

• Select your disaster recovery team

• Conduct a Business Impact Analysis

• Determine risks

• Get management support

• Create appropriate plan documents

• Test your plan

About the Author

Peter H. Gregory, CISA, CISSP, is the author of fifteen books on security and technology, including Solaris Security (Prentice Hall), Computer Viruses For Dummies (Wiley), Blocking Spam and Spyware For Dummies (Wiley), and Securing the Vista Environment (O’Reilly).
Peter is a security strategist at a publicly-traded financial management software company located in Redmond, Washington. Prior to taking this position, he held tactical and strategic security positions in large wireless telecommunications organizations. He has also held development and operations positions in casino management systems, banking, government, non-profit organizations, and academia since the late 1970s.
He’s on the board of advisors for the NSA-certified Certificate program in Information Assurance & Cybersecurity at the University of Washington, and he’s a member of the board of directors of the Evergreen State Chapter of InfraGard.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (December 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470039736
• ISBN-13: 978-0470039731
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter H. Gregory, CISA, CISSP, DRCE, is a career technologist and the security and risk manager at a financial management company in Redmond. He is the author of over twenty-five books on security and technology. Peter is a board member of Evergreen State InfraGard, co-founder of the Pacific CISO Forum, a graduate of the FBI Citizens' Academy, and a member of the board of advisors and an instructor, for the University of Washington certificate program on Information Assurance and Cybersecurity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Written and Fact Filled, June 30, 2008

By 

Daniel A. Funck "FunDan" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: IT Disaster Recovery Planning For Dummies (Paperback)

This is a well written, fact filled book with a pinch of humor. Peter does an excellent job explaining disaster recovery that even management will 'get it!' This book will guide even the most novice systems administrator through the process of planning and executing a DR plan. Once business, that relies on computing, discovers this book, it will become mandatory reading.

As a International Technical Coordinator, I work with hundreds of collaborative sites, most in 3rd world nations.
This book has helped me with being able to present recommendations, with common ideas/scenarios, on protecting the site's data...especially sites with very little to no technical expertise.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disaster Recovery isn't just for Dummies., February 14, 2008

By 

P. J Rothstein (Brookfield, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: IT Disaster Recovery Planning For Dummies (Paperback)

Disaster Recovery is not simply about Katrinas nor earthquakes nor 9/11 catastrophes. Sometimes, the focus on these monumental events could intimidate even the most committed IT manager from tackling Disaster Recovery Planning. Disaster Recovery is really about the ability to maintain business as usual - or as close to 'as usual' as is feasible and justifiable - whatever gets thrown at IT.

Unfortunately, too many data center managers have not been able to effectively address disaster recovery, whether because of lack of management commitment, lack of knowledge or lack of resources. By effectively, I mean:
- a comprehensive disaster recovery plan, based on objective assessment of threats, vulnerabilities and exposure to loss;
- integration with comprehensive enterprise business continuity programs so that IT Disaster Recovery is consistent with overall business needs and priorities; and,
- a meaningful exercise program, combined with training and plan maintenance to ensure that the plan is current, realistic, and likely to work when called upon.
The good news is that with Peter Gregory's new book, even a team without prior experience in disaster recovery planning - "...those frustrated and hard-working souls who know they're not dumb, but find that the technical complexities of computers and the myriad of personal and business issues ­ and all the accompanying horror stories ­ make them feel helpless" as www.Dummies.com points out - can begin to address these issues.

Peter Gregory's book helps to establish a realistic perspective for Disaster Recovery and provides a no-nonsense yet manageable foundation. He has identified many issues, techniques and tips which I found quite useful, despite my 25+ years involvement with business continuity and disaster recovery.

Okay, so it is a "... For Dummies" book - that doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken seriously. While I confess I enjoyed Italian Wines for Dummies more, Peter Gregory's new book succeeds in taking the intimidation factor out of IT Disaster Recovery and offers a common-sense, practical, yet comprehensive process for analyzing, developing, implementing, exercising and maintaining a successful IT Disaster Recovery program - even if he has, regrettably failed miserably to enlighten me about Super-Tuscan wines.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid treatment of a critical subject for all businesses..., September 4, 2008

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: IT Disaster Recovery Planning For Dummies (Paperback)

It would be tempting to make all sorts of snide comments about a Dummies book that wants to take a serious look at disaster recovery of your IT area. But this is a Dummies title that you'll actually go back to a number of times if you're responsible for making sure your organization survives a disaster... IT Disaster Recovery Planning for Dummies by Peter Gregory. It's actually the first book on the subject that I found interesting *and* readable to an average computer professional.

Contents:
Part 1 - Getting Started with Disaster Recovery: Understanding Disaster Recovery; Bootstrapping the DR Plan Effort; Developing and Using a Business Impact Analysis
Part 2 - Building Technology Recovery Plans: Mapping Business Functions to Infrastructure; Planning User Recovery; Planning Facilities Protection and Recovery; Planning System and Network Recovery; Planning Data Recovery; Writing the Disaster Recovery Plans
Part 3 - Managing Recovery Plans: Testing the Recovery Plans; Keeping DR Plans and Staff Current; Understanding the Role of Prevention; Planning for Various Disaster Scenarios
Part 4 - The Part of Tens: Ten Disaster Recovery Planning Tools; Eleven Disaster Recovery Planning Web Sites; Ten Essentials for Disaster Planning Success; Ten Benefits of DR Planning
Index

I was prompted to read this when a colleague of mine recently went through a fire at their company location. For about a week, he lived through a nightmare of recovering data, setting up new workstations and servers, and fending off management who thought they had better ideas than everyone else on how to proceed. A book like this would have, if taken seriously and methodically, helped him avoid much of the confusion and headache that went with getting things back to a stable condition. Gregory presents a realistic view of what is needed to start preparing for a disaster that could cause your business to fold. He doesn't assume that you have millions of dollars and unlimited staff resources at hand. He advocates getting a basic plan in place along with reviews by the major players. Once this outline is put down, then you can continue to build on it, going from scenario plan walkthroughs to full-blown hotsite cutovers that test the ability to bring your systems back up using all the processes you have in place. He also doesn't just confine himself to the physical hardware/software elements. You may have your system recovered fine in terms of the main computer, but if your users have no place to work or system connectivity is missing, then all your plans are for naught. You will definitely get the full view of what needs to be taken into account for disaster planning, in a way that is approachable and doable without some expensive or complex methodology.

I would say there's a good chance that if you're part of a large organization, you probably (I hope!) already have DR plans in place. But if you're a smaller organization, it's likely you've never given much thought to what would happen to your business if the building burned down or a hurricane flooded your office. Some time spent with this book might well be the difference between emerging from a disaster ready for business or ready to file chapter 7.