Test recovery and activated recovery plan
The Data Resiliency Service enables the restoration of applications by executing a recovery plan in the event of a cyber attack or disaster. To ensure readiness, Data Resiliency Service incorporates recovery tests that validate recovery points identified by IBM® Storage Defender® .
Data Resiliency Service does not support direct recovery to production environments. To avoid interfering with forensic analysis, recovery must be directed to a test or dedicated recovery environment. Promotion to production must be completed manually. Example: For vCenter, the production vCenter URL must not be used in any of the Clean Room Profiles.
Test Recovery
Recovery tests can be initiated at any time, and their frequency is governed by the settings defined in the assigned governance profile.
Recovery tests help validate recovery points for a recovery group. The process includes the following stages:
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Recovery Point Creation: Recovery points are automatically created based on backup and snapshot data for resources in a recovery group. These points are listed under.Note:
Recovery points are created only if the resource requirements for the recovery group are met. For details, see Recovery group.
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Test recovery :Resources in the recovery group are recovered by using the configuration defined in the associated clean room profile.
- When test recovery begins, the recovery point status updates to Recovery in progress.
- Upon successful completion:
- Validated status changes to Awaiting validation
- Cleanup status changes to Pending
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Validate recovery: You must validate whether the recovery was successful. Based on the outcome, you can:
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Add the validated recovery point to the recovery plan, or
- Confirm that the recovery was for testing purposes only.
If the validation was for testing only, you must confirm the recovery test results. Based on your assessment, the status of the recovery point is:- Validated, indicated by a green checkmark icon, accompanied by the corresponding date and time stamp.
- Not Valid
The validation of a recovery point after test recovery does not change the resources within the recovery group. It simply marks the recovery point, making it easier to identify valid points for future use.
Recovery points remain in the recovery group’s history until the recovery window, as defined by the governance profile, expires.
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Clean up: After a test recovery you must remove the recovered virtual machines from the clean room, the host mapping of the clone, and the cloned snapshots. This process is automated for test recoveries by using hardware snapshots. Test recoveries by using backup copies require manual cleanup in the clean room.
Recovery
To initiate recovery in a dedicated recovery environment, you must activate the recovery plan. This process enables the actual recovery of resources associated with a recovery group, using an existing and validated recovery point.
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Recovery point creation: Recovery points are automatically created based on backup and snapshot data for resources in a recovery group. These points are listed under .Note: Recovery points are created only if the resource requirements for the recovery group are met. For more details, Recovery group
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Activate recovery plan: Use the Activate recovery plan option to recover resources after a cyberattack or disaster. This action allows you to:
- Select a recently validated recovery point.
- Select a clean room profile, allowing recovery in an isolated environment before promoting to production.
- Review and confirm the recovery plan settings.
- Validate recovery: After recovery, validate whether the process was successful. Based on your assessment, the status of the recovery point is:
- Validated, indicated by a green checkmark icon, accompanied by the corresponding date and time stamp.
- Not Valid
Note:During this process, Data Resiliency Service assumes that the original resources are no longer usable and removes them from the recovery group. You can add the newly recovered resources to the recovery group after validation.