Users Describe DR Detriments

SAN DIEGO -- Storage Networking World -- Lack of testing, lack of CIO support, and interoperability issues are reducing disaster recovery to mostly talk in many organizations, according to users at a presentation here today.

During an address this morning, William Peldzus, director of storage architecture at consulting firm Glasshouse Technologies, warned that there is a worrying lack of focus on disaster recovery testing from users today. Only a handful of around 50 execs attending the presentation would admit that they have a "detailed" disaster recovery plan in place.

Against this backdrop, Peldzus urged firms to "test, test, test," or risk serious problems further down the line. "Probably the biggest issue [for firms] is that disaster recovery doesn't work after they have implemented it," he said.

Users in the audience agreed. "You have to do your testing, but it's always a challenge to get there... the research, setting everything up, and getting everything together," explained Bernard Rueschoff, IT director of San Miguel County in Colorado.

"It's absolutely the number one reason why people fail in their disaster recovery -- because they fail to test their systems," explained John Careccia, computer services manager of Lane County in Oregon, who admitted that he has concerns about his own organization's Omniback system from HP. "The tapes are not impervious to dying because of use. My biggest push is to move to disk-to-disk-to-tape."