Disaster Recovery Playbbok

Overview

A Disaster Recovery (DR) playbook is a documented set of procedures and guidelines designed to help organizations respond quickly and effectively to disruptive incidents.

It outlines the specific steps, roles, and resources required to restore critical systems and services, minimize downtime, and reduce data loss. The playbook serves as a practical guide for IT and operations teams, ensuring that everyone knows what to do before, during, and after a disaster to maintain business continuity.

The Playbook

The DR playbook should define:

  • Roles and responsibilities during a disaster event For example:

    • Assigning an Incident Commander to coordinate the response
    • Designating team members responsible for system restoration, communications, and documentation
    • Identifying backup personnel in case primary responders are unavailable
    • Define the global coverage of an incident to be able to operate around the clock

  • Step-by-step recovery procedures for each scenario For example:

    • Detailed instructions for restoring from the latest backup after a ransomware attack
    • Procedures for failing over to a secondary site in the event of a data center outage
    • Steps to isolate and remediate compromised systems during a security breach

  • Communication plans for stakeholders For example:

    • Predefined notification templates for informing executives, IT staff, and end users
    • Escalation paths for critical incidents
    • Regular status updates to stakeholders throughout the recovery process

  • Testing and validation processes to ensure recovery success For example:

    • Scheduling regular DR drills and tabletop exercises
    • Checklists for verifying that restored systems are fully operational
    • Post-recovery reviews to identify gaps and improve future responses

  • RTOs and RPOs for each use case For example:

    • Defining a 4-hour Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for restoring critical services
    • Setting a 1-hour Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for transactional databases
    • Documenting different RTOs/RPOs for various applications based on business impact