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ConversationalBusinessContinuityandDisasterRecoveryforFinancialServices(MiniEdition)PublishedbyConversationalGeekInc.www.conversationalgeek.com

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The“Conversational”Method

Wehavetwoobjectiveswhenwecreatea“Conversational”book:First,tomakesureit’swritteninaconversationaltonesothatit’sfunandeasytoread.Second,tomakesureyou,thereader,canimmediatelytakewhatyoureadandincludeitintoyourownconversations(personalorbusiness-focused)withconfidence.

“GeekintheMirror”Boxes

Weinfusehumorandinsightintoourbooksthroughbothcartoonsandlightbanterfromtheauthor.Whenyouseeoneoftheseboxesit’stheauthorsteppingoutsidethedialogtospeakdirectlytoyou.Itmightbeananecdote;itmightbeapersonalexperience.

WithintheseboxesIcansharejustaboutanythingonthesubjectathand.Read’em!

BusinessContinuityandDisasterRecoveryforFinancialServices

Financialserviceorganizationsfacethechallengeofa24/7/365operationalrequirement.Beyondconstantavailability,theyfaceabevyofchallengesrevolvingarounddatasecurity,protectionandintegrity.

ToaccomplishthisrequiresasolidBusinessContinuityandDisasterRecovery(BCDR)plan.

Failuretoimplementone,playingthe“hope”vs.“plan”game,canleadtolostorcompromiseddata,whichwouldultimatelyleadtoreputationdamagefortheorganizationandotherdetrimentalconsequences.

ThePressuretoSucceedFinancialservicesaremadeupofmanymovingparts.Ontheonehand,youhavebankinginstitutions,creditunions,investmentfirmsandeveninsurancecompanies.Thesearehandlingstoreddatathatisgrowingyear-over-yearatanexponentialrate.

Thenyouhaveemployeesofthosevariousinstitutions.Theloanofficers,theinsuranceagents,stockandbondtradersandbrokers,thebankersandsoforth.Thesefolksneedtheirservicesreadyandavailableortheycan’tdotheirjobs.Theirdutiesincludevalidatingcreditapplications,obtainingcreditinformation,gettingquotesonpremiums,findingbuy/selltradepricesandmore.

Andfinally,youhavecustomerswhowishtoavailthemselvesofthesolutionsprovidedbythose

services.Forexample,mostbankshavemobileappsthatallowindividualstomakedeposits,transferfunds,paybillsandchecktheiraccountbalances.Andpeoplehavegrownaccustomedtousingtheseservicesatanytimefromanywherethankstomobileappsandtheever-presentInternet.

Allsidesrequireandhavecometoexpectever-ready,always-availableservices.SuccessinprovidingthoseservicesfallstoITadministratorsanddecisionmakerswhoholdswayoverthesolutionsyourcompanywillultimatelydeliver.Theyaren’tjustgoingupagainsthardwareorsoftwarefailuresthatoccuraccidentallyorduetousererror,theymustalsobevigilantandonguardagainstcybercriminalsseekingtoeitherdisrupttheirbusinessflow(forprofitorothernefariouspurposes)oraccessandstealsensitivedata.

Thepressuretosucceedgoesbeyondtheneedsofyourfinancialservicesfirmandtheircustomers.Therearespecificregulatorycompliancerequirementsthatneedtobemetwhendealingwithconsumerinformation.AsaprofessionalinthefinancialITfield,youarelikelyfamiliarwiththefollowingregulatorystandards:

• Gramm-Leach-BlileyAct(GLBA)–pertheFTC.govsitethisactrequiresfinancialinstitutions(companiesthatprovideloans,financialorinvestmentadvice,insuranceandsuch)toexplaintheirinformationsharingpracticesandrequiresthemtosafeguardsensitivedata.

• Dodd-FrankAct–Launchedafterthefinancialcrisisof2007,thiswasdesignedtoencouragethefinancialstabilityoftheUnitedStatesbyimprovingaccountabilityandtransparencywithinthefinancialsystem.Note:Dodd-FrankiscurrentlyunderrevisionastheFinancialCHOICEActwhichmightrollbackmanyoftheDodd-Frankprovisions.

• Sarbanes-OxleyAct(SOX)–Sarbanes-Oxleyrequirestheprotecting,securingandretainingoffinancialinformation.Banking,investmentandinsurancecompaniesallmustadheretothesestipulations.

• PaymentCardIndustryDataSecurityStandard(PCIDSS)–Asecuritystandardforthoseorganizationsthathandlecreditcards(Visa,MasterCard,etc.)

• GeneralDataProtectionRegulation(GDPR)–anEUregulationthatwillhaveglobalimpactwhenitgoeslivein2018.GDPRisadataprotectioninitiativethatallowsindividualstorequesttheirpersonaldatabegiventothemordestroyed(akaright-to-be-forgotten).Failuretocomplywillresultinheavyfines.

Thesearejustahandful(literally…just5)ofthemany

regulatorycompliancelawsthatexist.It’sessentialforyoutoknowwhichonesapplytoyour

specificfinancialservicesorganization.

BusinessContinuityBasics–BuildingBlocksforaSuccessfulBCDRPlanTheterm“BusinessContinuity”referstoacontinuationofyourcriticalbusinessapplicationsduringadisaster(man-madeornatural),outage,changestothebusiness,and/orcyber-attack.

Thebasicstepstoachievebusinesscontinuityarethesameforcompaniesofvaryingsizesandverticals.It’scrucialthatBCDRinfrastructurebeimplementedatthepointanapplicationisdeployed.

IfBCDRisbakedintotheprojectlifecycleandcreatedproactively,goingforward,allapplicationdeploymentswilladheretoyourplan.Therefore,havingateamdedicatedtoscalable,process-drivenBCDRplanning,testing,andimprovingiskeytoyoursuccess.

Twokeytermsyou’llhearoftenwhendiscussingbusinesscontinuityareRPOandRTO(orcollectivelyRPTOs):RecoveryTimeObjectives(RTO)andRecoveryPointObjectives(RPO).

RTO–Theamountoftimeittakestorecoveranapplication,startingfromthetimeadisasterisdeclaredtowhenuserscanlogonagain.Simplyput,RTOistheamountoftimeyoucanbedown.Dependingontheapplication,theRTOmightbe0.

RPO–Thepointintimethatanapplication’sdataisrestoredcountingbackwardsfromthetimeofthedisaster.Thiscanbequantifiedbythinkingabouttheamountofdataintimethatyouarewillingtolose.Forexample,a15-minuteRPOmeansthatpostrecoveryyouwillloseupto15minutesofdata.Dependingonthefinancialsolutionwe’retalkingabouthere,15minutesmightnotbeacceptable.Again,theRPOmightbe0--azerodowntimetolerancepolicy.

Thefactisyou’renotgoingtoachieveanRTO/RPOof<15

minuteswithoutagreatdealofplanning,areasonablebudget,

andtherightthird-partysolution(s).

Someofyoumayhavelegacyhardwareandsoftwareyou’reworkingwithandyoumightthinkwe’rejusttalkingaboutupdatingandmodernizingyourexistingenvironment.Butyouneedtodigdeeperhere.AfinancialinstitutionisgoingtohavetocreateaBCDRplanthatgoesaboveandbeyondtheaveragecompany.

Ideally,you’llputateamtogether(agovernancecommittee)todefineSLA’sforeachlevelofyourapplicationsbasedontheircriticalityandthendefinetheSLA’sintiers.

Oncethetiersaredefined,thegovernancecommitteeshoulddiscusseachapplicationinyourenvironmentanddecidewhichtieritshouldbeassignedto.Anynewapplicationsbeingintroducedtotheenvironmentsshouldbeassignedatierbeforebeingdeployed.

Yourtierscouldbedefinedasfollows:• Tier0withRTO0minutesandRPOof0minutes• Tier1withbothRTOandRPOupto15minutes• Tier2withRTOupto4hoursandRPOupto24Hours• Tier3withRTOupto1weekandRPOupto1week• Tier4BestEffort

Infrastructureservicessuchasnetworkconnectivity,ActiveDirectory,DNS,DHCP,etc.allneedtobeaccountedforandassignedatier.Onefactortoconsiderishavingtheseservicesalreadyexistingontherecoveryside.Thiswillallowfailovertobequickerandmoreefficientastherewillbefewerservicesthatwillneedtobefailedoverandstartedwhenadisasteroccurs.

HavingasolidBCDRplaninplacenotonlymitigatesrisksandreducescostofdisruption,

butalsoopensdoorstofinancialinstitutionsmuchmoreeasily,helpstobuildcustomerconfidenceifcommunicated,preventssignificantharmtoyouremployees,yourimageandyourkeystakeholders,aswellasprovidescompliance

benefits.

BusinessContinuityinReality–PracticalGuidelinesforITProfessionalsAlltheplanningandtheoryintheworldwon’thelpyouifyoudon’thavethetoolsyouneedtoexecuteyourplan.ModernBCDRincludesavirtualizationsolutionthatallowsforimmediatefail-overofyourVMs.Itincludesabackup/recoverysolutionthatcanhelpyougetbackupandrunningnomatterwhathashityourenvironment(fromahurricanetoaransomwareattack).Itincludesasecondarysitelocationwhichmaybeinthecloud.That’sthereality.Thereisnowaytoprovideenterprise-gradeBDCRwithoutthehelpofthird-partytoolstomakeithappen.

BackupStrategy

Beforeyouworryaboutavailabilityofservices,youneedtomakesureyouhaveawaytorecoverfromadisasteroutsidethescopeofyourwildestimagination.Andthereisonlyonewaytodothat:oldschoolbackupofyourdata.Thisisneededforrecoverabilitybutmayalsobenecessaryduetolawsthatrequirelong-termdataretention.

The3-2-1planistoutedbymostITadministratorsasthebestapproachforabackupstrategy:3copiesofyourdata,2storedondifferenttypesofstoragemediaand1copyoff-site.

Tocreatethesebackups,you’llneedanenterprise-gradesolution--notjust“Joe’sBackupSolution”ifyouwanttodomorethanjusttakethebackup.Takingthebackupisjusthalfthebattle.Thekeyisrestoringit.Don’tforget:thatdatamustbeencryptedtoensuredataprivacy.

Let’sconsiderthatoff-sitecopyportionofthe3-2-1rule.Assumeyouhaveatleasttwodatacenters.Thesemaybebuildingsownedbythecompanyorrentedrackspaceinaco-locationdatacenter.Thecloudisalsobecomingmoreandmoreprevalentasadatacenterchoiceforcompanies.Evenifyouareusingon-premisesdatacenters,youshouldlookattoolsthatarecloud-ready.Thiswillgiveyoutheoptiontoleveragethebenefitsofthecloudinthefuture.Ahybrid-cloudmodelmightbeyourfirststeptowardstakingadvantageofthecloudwhileremainingon-premises.

Beforechoosingacontinuitysolutionmakesureitisn’tjust

vaporware(goingtobedeveloped)ormagicware(too

goodtobetrueandnotpossibletobedeveloped).Talktoothers;seewhattheyareusing.Doyourhomework.

Logically,youhopenevertohavetouseabackup;youwantyourredundancyandresiliencytobesolid.Perhapsyouhaveworkedwithsomethinginthepastyoutrust.Oryouarelookingintoemergingtechnologiesandnewsolutions.Again,choiceshavetobemadeonwhichsolutiontouse.

RecoveryStrategy

Atthesametime,youplanyourbackups,youneedtoconsiderhowyouwillberecoveringthem.Insomecases,recoveryoptionsavailablebasedonthesolutionused–likeanabilitytorecoverapplicationitems,ordirectrecoveryintopubliccloudproviderssuchasMicrosoftAzure–andwillimpactyourbackupstrategy.

Forexample,ifyouplantoleveragerestorestoAzure,youobviouslywilllookatthetechnicalrequirementsthatwilldefinewhatthebackupsneedtolooklikeforrecoverytobesuccessful.

So,asyouplanyourbackupstrategy,includetherecoverystrategyaswell,astheyarenotmutuallyexclusive.

VirtualizationFailover

Let’stalkabouthowyoucanachieveanRTOandRPOof0minutes.Toaccomplishthis,youwillhavetoemployanactive/activeVMfailoverconfiguration.Workloadsprovidingatier0servicewillneedtobeonlineandservicingrequestsinalldatacenters.Forthemostpart,infrastructureserviceswillfallintothistierandtheyusuallyhavebuilt-inmechanismstoassurethisactive/activeconfiguration.

WebapplicationscanalsobeloadbalancedbetweendatacentersbyusingappliancessuchasF5orNetScaler.Athickclientapplicationcouldbevirtualized,thenthepublicationoftheapplicationbetweenalldatacenterscouldbeloadbalanced

usingtechnologiessuchasCitrixandApp-V.ThedatathatsupportstheseapplicationswillneedtobekeptinsynchbehindthescenespossiblyinSQLorOracleDBandflatimagefiles.

Yourmission-criticalfinancialapplicationswillalsofallintothistierastheywillneedtoproviderealtimedatatobothemployeesandconsumersofthefinancialinstitution.

RTOandRPOof15minutes.

Lesscriticalfinancialapplicationswillfallintothiscategory.Thesearetheapplicationswhereupto15minutesloss-of-dataisacceptable.

Theseworkloadswillneedtobereplicatedfromtheprimarydatacentertoanysecondarydatacenters(orthecloud)atintervalsof15minutes.Youareessentiallymakinganexactcopyoftheworkloadinthesecondarydatacenterandupdatingthatcopywithanychangesevery15minutes.Theconnectionbetweendatacentershaslimitedbandwidth(bandwidthsizewilldependonyourtypeofconnection).Thisconnectionmayalsobeusedforproductiontraffic.Therefore,thereisaneedto

considertheamountoftrafficbeingreplicatedandhowoftenthatreplicationoccurs.Whendecidingwhattooltouse,youshouldlookattheWideAreaNetwork(WAN)replicationoptimizationfeatures(youmayalsoconsiderthrottlingbandwidthusedforreplicationonthenetwork)andtheabilitytoreplicateonlychangedblocks.

Somethingtokeepinmind:whenyoufirstsetupVMreplication,thereisarealpotentialtosaturatethebandwidthonthelinkbetweenyourdatacentersasyouwillbereplicatingthewholeVM.DependingontheamountandsizeoftheVMs,thebandwidthutilizationmayaffectyourproductiontrafficonthelink.It’srecommendedthatyouseedsecondarydatacenterswithyourVMsbeforeturningonreplication.

ThiswillaccomplishyourRPOof15minutesorless,butwhatabouttheRTOof15minutesorless?

Toachievethis,awell-orchestratedworkflowtoimplementtheBCDRstrategyisneeded.Mostsoftwaretoolsbuilttoperformreplicationincludeorofferanorchestrationtoolsetthatwillallowyoutomanage,monitor,andtroubleshootreplication.The

toolsetwillallowyoutoeasilyfailoverandfailbackworkloadsfromtheprimarydatacentertothesecondarydatacenterswithinthe15-minuteRTOtolerance.Workloadscanalsobegroupedbydependency,thusmakingsureyoubringupservicesinthecorrectorder.

Iftherearetwophysicaldatacenters,theunderlyinghypervisorinfrastructurewillneedtobepresentandrunningatboth.Thereisalsotheoptiontoreplicateworkloadsintothecloudanduseadisasterrecoveryasaservice(DRaaS)offering.Thecloudoptionalleviatestheneedtohavethehypervisorlayersittingandwaitingforadisaster,soitmaybeamoreefficientsolution.Havingavailabilityextendedtothecloudwillhelpavoidthecostandcomplexityofhavingasecondaryoff-sitedatacenter.Butthatdoesn’tmeanthereisn’tacostinvolved.Weighyourcloud-basedoptionscarefully,lookingtoseeifyourbackupsolutionsupportsseamlessintegrationintocloudenvironmentslikeAWSandAzuretoenhancerecoveryability.

ApplicationWorkloadFailover

Sofarwehavefocusedonacompletedatacenteroutageandtheneedtobringupalltheapplicationsinasecondarydatacenter.Amorelikelyscenariomaybejustoneapplicationfailingforsomereasonandtheneedtobringjustthatonesystemorserviceupinthesecondarydatacenter.Orchestrationtoolsmakethispossible.Youcanselecttheworkloadsyouwanttofailoverandgroupworkloadstofailoverasoneunit.Ofcourse,youwouldneedtokeepinmindyourIPstrategyandmakesuretheserviceisabletocommunicatewithotherupstreamordownstreamservices.

TestingYourBDCRSolution

Testingyoursolutionisamust.Anannual(ormorefrequent)disasterrecoverytestwillhelpensureyou’rereadyforanythingthatmaycomeyourway.Butit’snotaneasythingtodo.

TheamountofplanningandstaffinvolvedintheBCDRtestingdependsonthesizeoftheinfrastructure.Somecompaniescanturntheconnectivityofftotheprimarydatacenterandhave

allinfrastructureandapplicationteamssignoffontheirpartoftherecovery.Thiswillhighlightanyinefficiencieswiththeplanoranyunexpectedresultsthatcanberemediatedbeforethenexttest.Ofcourse,thiswillneedtotakeplaceoutsideofregularbusinesshours.

Butwhatifyouhaveapplicationsthatneedtobeavailable24hoursaday,7daysaweekortheapplicationteamisonlyavailablefortestingduringbusinesshours?Forthose,looktoyourorchestrationtoolset.ManyofthesetoolsprovidefeaturesthatenableafullBCDRtestofaworkloadormultipleworkloadswhilekeepingtheproductionworkloadrunning.Thisisaccomplishedbybringingupthereplicatedworkloadsinthesecondarydatacenterwithinanisolatednetwork.TheisolatednetworkwillpreventduplicatenameandIPaddressconflictsonthenetwork.Thisfeatureallowstheapplicationteamtoconnecttotheapplicationfromwithintheisolatednetwork,testtheapplicationandeventuallysignoffonthesuccessofthetesting.Someorchestrationtoolsallowyoutotesttheinfrastructurepieceofafailoverwiththepushofonebutton.Reportscanbegeneratedandsentto

managementforconfirmationoferror-freetesting.Hereagain,ofcourse,anyissuesencounteredneedtobedocumentedandremediatedandthentestedagaininthenextBCDRtestingcycle.

KeyTakeawaysProactiveBCDRplanning,implementation,testing,andtrainingshouldbeacornerstoneofyourbusinesscontinuitystrategy.Withtherightgovernanceinplace,coupledwiththetechnologyavailable,youcanhaveconfidencethatyoucanmeetyouragreeduponRPTO’sshoulddisasterstrike.

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