Disaster Recovery Service Is Available for Critical MVS Applications

The NIH Computer Center’s disaster recovery service is now available to managers of critical applications running on both the MVS North and South systems. This service is an extension of the Computer Center’s ongoing Disaster Recovery Program, which is designed to minimize a disaster’s impact on operations and services. The program plays an important role in providing reliable and efficient information technology resources for customers.

Critical applications are those applications that are critical to the mission of an organization and that must be available without significant interruptions. Applications are identified as critical by customers (not by the Computer Center) and include the essential operations and functions designated by customer organizations.

In order to provide services should a disaster make the Computer Center inoperable, we have contracted for an alternative (off-site) computer facility to serve critical applications. In the event of a disaster, the Computer Center’s staff will restore the resources necessary to support critical applications, and will assist critical application managers in restoring their applications. Only if the disaster is extended, and if resources are available, will other non-critical applications be restored at an alternate site. It is important to keep in mind, however, that ultimate responsibility for application recovery lies with the owners of applications. Application managers should develop recovery plans that complement the Computer Center’s disaster recovery plan.

Developing Disaster Recovery Plans for New Applications

Successful disaster recovery plans start with a business impact analysis to determine what functions are absolutely vital to the organization. Anyone reasonably objective can evaluate which of the organization’s processes or functions are critical and decide which ones should be recovered first when a recovery situation presents itself. Less important functional areas can be recovered after all vital elements are functioning adequately.

Individuals responsible for critical applications should first develop and perform regularly scheduled procedures for backing up important data and computer programs. The Computer Center routinely backs up data sets stored on public volumes, but these backups reside within the computer facility. Disaster-recovery backups should be located in a safe place away from the facility’s building. Successful recovery of application systems is totally dependent upon the accuracy and currency of the back up data available to recover the necessary operating environment.

The "Hot Site"

As part of this disaster recovery service the Computer Center periodically conducts tests at the off-site computer facility. These tests serve to keep NIH and users’ disaster plans current and to demonstrate that resources are correctly defined and available to efficiently restore services if a disaster occurs. In many cases deficiencies in procedures and resources are uncovered that may not otherwise appear. In short, "hot-site" tests are used to evaluate everyone’s overall readiness to react in an actual disaster situation.

Charging for Disaster Recovery Services

During the developmental stages of the Disaster Recovery Program, critical applications were not charged for their participation.

However, starting October 1, 1998, the following fees will apply to applications running on both the MVS North and South systems, and will be based on activity in the previous fiscal year. For any new applications (for which there is no previous usage information), the fee for the first year’s service will be negotiated with the application manager.

• Annual Fee

At the beginning of each fiscal year, a $5,000 annual fee will be charged for each critical application identified by the manager responsible for the application. • Usage Charges Depending on level of activity (e.g., processing, storage), each critical application could also incur an additional $5,000 charge if either of these levels is exceeded: a) more than 25 CPU hours in the previous fiscal year              (expressed in 9672-R44 equivalents) b) more than 2 private volumes of disk storage Thus for each critical application, organizations will be charged a $ 5,000 annual fee and, if the usage level (above) is exceeded, another $5,000—for a maximum of $10,000 per year.

For more information on participating in the NIH Computer Center’s Disaster Recovery Program, please call Mary Boehly, Disaster Recovery Manager on (301) 496-5826 or send e-mail to Boehlym@exchange.nih.gov.

Disaster Recovery Seminar

A three-hour disaster recovery seminar will be held on May 12, 1998, for program managers and technical leaders responsible for the operation and security of important computer applications and communication systems. This DCRT Training Program seminar covers the step-by-step process of designing, developing, and implementing a disaster recovery plan, as well as some of the most common problem areas.

Although this seminar is oriented toward mainframes and the recovery of large systems, the principles also apply to desktop and LAN-based systems. Anyone interested in the fields of disaster recovery, business resumption, and contingency planning should consider participating.

To register for the disaster recovery seminar, go to the training webpage at http://www.dcrt.nih.gov/csb/training/train.htm. For additional information send e-mail to 4dcrt@nih.gov or call TASC at (301) 594-3278.
  

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