Having a disaster recovery plan is critical. But the plan will rapidly become obsolete if a workable procedure for maintaining the plan is not also developed and implemented. This document provides information about the document itself, standards used in its construction, and maintenance procedures necessary to keep it up to date.

Web Server Accessible

This disaster recovery plan has been designed to be accessible as a World Wide Web document retrievable from a web server or through a "fake-scape" browser (e.g., Netscape file browse mode). This makes it easy to access the plan for periodic review and provides a convenient means for structuring the plan in an online fashion. It is presently maintained on the University of Arkansas cavern.uark.edu system as a set of HTML-formatted text files and image (GIF) files.

Document Standards

Certain standards have been implemented into the design of this document to provide consistency in format and use. All maintainers of the plan should use these standards when adding to or revising the plan. The standards are as follows:

1. Text files are formatted with HTML tags using HTML+ 3.0 standards.
2. Text files are stored in the home directory of the drp userid on the cavern.uark.edu system.
3. Text files will be named in the following manner:
   1. All file names use the format DRPxxxnn or DRPxxnnn, where "x" is a letter, and "n" is a number.
   2. The file name extension is always .htm (use of the .html extension, while permitted on some systems, will make it impossible to use the files in "fake-scape" mode from an MS-DOS formatted disk).
   3. The xxx portion of file names designate a logical grouping for the files and should be approved by the Disaster Recovery Plan coordinator.
4. Image files are in GIF or JPEG format.
5. Image files are stored in the ./pic subdirectory off the home directory of the /drp userid (e.g., in the /drp/pic directory).
6. Image files will be named in the following manner:
   1. The file name can be anything, but is limited to eight (8) characters in length.
   2. The file name extension is always .gif for GIF-formatted files, or .jpg for JPEG-formatted files.
7. Text files have a common header and trailer format. A model mockup of the approved format is found in the file model.htm. Elements common to each header and trailer are:
   1. The header contains the document number and document title.
   2. The top of the document has the University of Arkansas and Computing Services graphic banner.
   3. Just below the banner are four lines: "Disaster Recovery Plan"; the title of the document; the document number in parentheses; and the date when the document was last updated. The latter can be supplied via a server-side last-update variable.
   4. The HTML BODY tag indicates that the document background is white, that text is black, that unvisited URL references are blue, and that visited URL references are red.
8. The trailer of each document has the following characteristics:
   1. A long horizontal bar separating the trailer from the rest of the document.
   2. A copyright notice (Copyright *year* University of Arkansas, All rights reserved)
   3. A MAILTO reference to the Disaster Recovery Plan maintainer
   4. A link to the Disaster Recovery Plan home page (home.htm).
   5. A link to the Disaster Recovery Plan table of contents (drptoc01.htm).
   6. A trailer fitting this description is available via a server-side include of the file named model.htm.

Basic Maintenance

The plan will be routinely evaluated once each year. All portions of the plan will be reviewed by Technical Services. In addition the plan will be tested on a regular basis and any faults will be corrected. The Disaster Recovery Plan coordinator has the responsibility of overseeing the individual documents and files and ensuring that they meet standards and consistent with the rest of the plan.

Change-Driven Maintenance

It is inevitable in the changing environment of the computer industry that this disaster recovery plan will become outdated and unusable unless someone keeps it up to date. Changes that will likely affect the plan fall into several categories:

1. Hardware changes
2. Software changes
3. Facility changes
4. Procedural changes
5. Personnel changes

As changes occur in any of the areas mentioned above, Computing Services management will determine if changes to the plan are necessary. This decision will require that the managers be familiar with the plan in some detail. A document referencing common changes that will require plan maintenance will be made available and updated when required.

Changes that affect the platform recovery portions of the plan will be made by the staff in the affected area. After the changes have been made, Technical Services will be advised that the updated documents are available. They will incorporate the changes into the body of the plan and distribute as required.

Changes Requiring Plan Maintenance

The following lists some of the types of changes that may require revisions to the disaster recovery plan. Any change that can potentially affect whether the plan can be used to successfully restore the operations of the department's computer and network systems should be reflected in the plan.

Hardware

1. Additions, deletions, or upgrades to hardware platforms.

Software

1. Additions, deletions, or upgrades to system software.
2. Changes to system configuration.
3. Changes to applications software affected by the plan.

Facilities

1. Changes that affect the availability/useability of the Cold Site location (BELL 108).
2. Changes to ADSB that affect Cold Site choice such as enlargement cooling or electrical requirements etc.

Personnel

1. Changes to personnel identified by name in the plan.
2. Changes to organizational structure of the department.

Procedural

1. Changes to off-site backup procedures, locations, etc.
2. Changes to application backups.
3. Changes to vendor lists maintained for acquisition and support purposes.

Copyright © 1997 University of Arkansas
All rights reserved