Testing the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) is a necessary phase in the actual planning process. Thorough testing validates the plan, ensuring that in the case of an actual disaster it will be rigorous enough to minimize business disruption. When testing the plan, it is important to test it against likely and unlikely events, ensuring that the proper measures for all types of scenarios.
The DRP testing process has four major steps:
- Walkthroughs
- Simulations
- Parallel Testing
- Full-Interruption Testing
Thoroughly test your DRP to minimize disruptions and confusion when a disaster does occur. Testing will save time and valuable resources, enabling the business to get back online quickly after initiating the DRP.