Recovery Maturity Model (RMM) for readiness-based control of disaster recovery testing
View Patent ↗A Recovery Maturity Model (RMM) is used to determine whether a particular Information Technology (IT) production environment can be expected, with some level of confidence, to successfully execute a test for disaster recovery (DR). The RMM provides a quantitative analysis in terms of the extent to which best practices are seen to have been implemented as a set of categories for elements of the environment and multiple elements for each category. A summation of the scoring elements, which may be a weighted summation, results in an overall quantitative metric which is then used to control whether or not testing will proceed.
1. A method for determining disaster recovery readiness for a data processing environment which includes one or more physical and/or virtual data processing infrastructure elements, and where a disaster recovery (DR) service is capable of providing disaster recovery for the infrastructure elements, the method comprising:
a. storing information in a Recovery Maturity Model (RMM) representing one or more criteria indicative of expected successful DR test execution based on best practices, the RMM further comprising a model associating infrastructure element types with recovery maturity elements, wherein the infrastructure element types include an application type, recovery backup technology, a network type, physical machines operating system(s), virtual machines operating system(s), and physical processor type, and the recovery maturity elements comprise at least a recovery configuration completed, recovery backup assessment, recovery strategy defined, recovery procedure developed, DR kit completeness, Recovery Time Objective achievable, Recovery Point Objective achievable, and knowledge transfer completed;
b. accepting data, via a user interface, representing one or more evaluations of one or more of the criteria specified in the RMM, where the user interface accepts the evaluations as a numerical score for each infrastructure element type and each further recovery maturity element, to thereby determine a matrix of numerical scores;
c. determining if the environment is ready for DR testing by comparing one or more of the evaluation(s) to predetermined information; and
d. if the environment is determined to be ready for DR testing, enabling at least one DR test for execution.
2. The method of claim 1 where if a sum of the numerical scores in the matrix is below a defined score, it is determined that the environment is not likely ready for DR testing, and if the sum of numerical scores is above a second defined score, it is determined that the environment is likely ready for DR testing.
3. The method of claim 2 where the sum of the numerical scores is a weighted sum applying a different weight to at least two of the aspects of the RMM.
4. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising:
executing the DR test within a disaster recovery environment that is separate from the production environment.
5. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising:
providing further information related to one or more of the aspects of the RMM if the environment is determined to not be ready for DR testing.
6. The method of claim 5 additionally where:
d. the user interface accepts revised data representing one or more evaluations; and
e. a second step of determining if the environment is ready for DR testing based on the revised data.
7. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising:
before accepting user input for the RMM, performing a Recovery Maturity Assessment that includes a subset of the criteria specified in the RMM.
8. The method of claim 1 where the result of determining if the environment is ready for DR testing is used to set a price for the DR service.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the aspects of the RMM are each one or more human readable questions.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein for the network type, the recovery maturity element further comprises collecting user input concerning whether
the recovery strategy has been defined for all network devices;
the recovery order has been stated for all devices and segments; and
how well the strategy is aligned with best practices.
11. A disaster recovery (DR) apparatus for providing disaster recovery for infrastructure elements of a production data processor environment, the DR apparatus comprising:
a. a storage device, for storing information in a Recovery Maturity Model (RMM) representing one or more criteria indicative of expected successful DR test execution, the RMM further comprising a model associating infrastructure element types with recovery maturity elements, wherein the infrastructure element types include an application type, recovery backup technology, a network type, physical machines operating system(s), virtual machines operating system(s), and physical processor type; and the recovery maturity elements comprise at least a recovery configuration completed, recovery backup assessment, recovery strategy defined, recovery procedure developed, DR kit completeness, Recovery Time Objective achievable, Recovery Point Objective achievable, and knowledge transfer completed;
b. a user interface, for accepting data representing one or more evaluations of one or more of the criteria specified in the RMM, where the user interface accepts the evaluations as a numerical score for each infrastructure element type and each further recovery maturity element, to thereby determine a matrix of numerical scores;
c. a processor, executing stored program code for (i) determining if the production environment is ready for DR testing by comparing one or more of the evaluation(s) to predetermined information; and (ii) if the environment is determined to be ready for DR testing, enabling at least one DR test for execution.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 where the processor is further for determining if a sum of the numerical scores in the matrix is below a defined score, and if so, for determining that the environment is not likely ready for DR testing, and if the sum of numerical scores is above a second defined score, determining that the environment is likely ready for DR testing.
13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor further:
provides additional further information related to one or more of the aspects of the RMM if the environment is determined to not be ready for DR testing.
14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the aspects of the RMM are each one or more human readable questions.
15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein for the network type, the recovery maturity element further comprises collecting user input concerning whether
the recovery strategy has been defined for all network devices;
the recovery order has been stated for all devices and segments; and
how well the strategy is aligned with best practices.