Plan Focus: By App or Box?

[CTaylor21]

I have traditionally done DR plans for each application within a data center. The hardware it resided on was a part of the application's DR plan. Now that virtualization is becoming more mainstream with several apps/servers residing on one physical piece of hardware, I wonder if that approach is still the best practice? Which is better for today? Is it better to still develop a DR plan for each application and include its associated hardware? Or is it better to develop a plan for each piece of hardware and include the recovery procedures for each app/server on that box? What are your thoughts on this? And, if you have taken the later approach, will you please send me a copy of a plan or a template? Thnx much.

[CTaylor21]

What ? ! ? Over 50 views and 0 replies?!? Come on guys. Surely you have an opinion on this.

[JohnGlenn]

What does the profit center need? The apps (and related utilities scattered all over the box) or the box?
When you ask the profit centers what they need for "business as usual," are you told certain applications or certain boxes?
The only thing the box does is provide a host for the apps.
You should plan to have boxes available elsewhere in case a box fails, and the boxes will need to be configured (OS, utilities) to accommodate the apps (although they probably need not be as big since not apps may be critical).
But as this scrivener sees it, it's the apps first.
CAVEAT: I am an enterprise risk management practitioner, NOT an IT guru.

[CTaylor21]

That is pretty much what we had come up with here, John. Go with the app, not the box.

[pridder]

I can only expand on what John has already offered. If the service delivery of an organization is hardware to the user desktop or customer then THAT should be the focus. My guess however is that the users are interested in the applications and the data that feeds in and out of those applications. In most cases, and hold on techies, the customer really doesn't care about the hardware, only the tools they need to perform their jobs.

Now, techies rejoice, because there is no way you can create an application focus without consideration for the hardware. The reverse is not always true. A hardware-centric strategy could overlook critical components of an application or data stream.

Another critical consideration is the customer link. Hardware support teams don't generally have a line of communication with the end users. This communication channel is the life blood of application support. The App Team translates business requirements into support solutions so why wouldn't you want to tap that precious resource?

I've worked in both environments and, without a doubt, I saw the most success working in an application driven environment. In fact, the application custodian would be assigned responsibility as the recovery team leader. No one other than the customer knows the desired end result better than they do.