Include a Stress Test When Testing Data Center DRPs


Written by jppersson on October 14, 2008 in Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Testing.

Testing is simply one of the best ways to “prove the concept.”  In other words, does the recovery capability really do what everyone expects?  That usually means does it handle the critical business processes that management has deemed important.  Can it keep the business going?

Frequently, the testing process must fit into a rather tight timeframe.  If, for example, testing is done at a traditional hot site, you are normally allocated a set amount of time.  What this often leads to is a test approach that processes “sample” transactions to prove that the logical and application functionality is correct.

While that is certainly a prime test objective, another issue often surfaces which involves response time and peak loads.  It is fine to say the process works.  But, does it work the same on the hot site configuration if the system loads are at their maximum?

One suggested way to address this concern is to include a stress test during each test.  This can be as simple as having an applications person write a routine to create a very high volume of transactions.  This can simulate a production load.  It needs to test both the processing capacity of the alternate site configuration and the supporting network infrastructure.

Adding this routine to the normal testing process avoids a potentially very serious situation: The system works but response time and processing capacity is nowhere near what is needed.  That situation is not an easy or a quick fix.  And it is a discussion you probably don’t want to have with senior management at recovery time.

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Jan Persson is the author of the GO.RECOVER-Data Center Disaster Recovery Template - a powerful yet easy-to-use tool for under $100.

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An unexercised contingency plan could be worse than no plan at all!

Be sure to read Disaster Recovery Testing: Exercising Your Contingency Plan, Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI, Editor for valuable tips, techniques and insights.