Weekly testing is the only way to identify changes, inconsistencies and problems in an organisation's environment that could derail the recovery of data, applications and systems.
This is one of the recommendations from Quorum, a provider of backup, recovery and continuity for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Quorum recently revealed a new report that focuses on SME disaster recovery testing as a critical part of overall business continuity.
The report notes that, despite the well-documented stories of SMEs that have endured the financial ruin caused by system downtime, many organisations still do not take the necessary steps to ensure complete recovery - which includes regular weekly system testing.
In fact, it explains, the survey found that only 28% of SMEs have ever tested their backups. However, it notes that changes in an SME environment - that would be revealed with weekly, network-wide testing - could inhibit the recovery of not only data, but also applications and systems, should disaster strike.
Jessica van Wyk, channel manager at Veeam Software, says most organisations are not testing their backup solutions, and this may render them worthless with dire consequences, especially in virtualised environments.
She says, according to a recent global survey of 500 companies by VMware, only about 2% of organisations are testing their backup solutions.
Quorum adds that, although most SMEs are adding storage, installing security patches, and modifying or removing applications, all these infrastructure adjustments can spell trouble if they are not addressed and disaster recovery-tested before disaster strikes.
It adds that backup corruption and human error are other snags that can be revealed with weekly testing, and can include tape corruption and incorrect set-up of backups.
According to the company, SMEs using tape and disk backup or cloud backup alone complain of the cost, time and complexities associated with regular testing. If these organisations do test, Quorum notes, chances are they resort to 'workarounds', in which they perform a scaled-down version of a test in a partial environment or a partial format.
The report also notes that SMEs do not test all data on all servers, do not involve all hardware and components, or do not account for all changes in the environment.
Given that weekly testing using a traditional solution is time- and cost-prohibitive, the report suggests businesses consider a solution that enables on-demand and automatic testing, which can make weekly testing painless and ensure an SME can recover all its data, applications and systems after a disaster.
"Because of the daily changes that occur in any company's environment, conducting business without the safety net of weekly disaster recovery tests is a foolhardy risk today's small to mid-sized businesses simply can't afford to take," says Larry Lang, CEO of Quorum.
"We challenge these organisations to incorporate regular testing into their business continuity plans to ensure a disaster won't force their doors to close."
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