Disaster Recovery
RPO/RTO-defined disaster recovery with cross-region replication, automated failover runbooks, and scheduled drills that prove the plan works. Workloads tiered by business tolerance so critical systems get fast recovery without paying premium for everything.
Overview
An untested disaster recovery plan is not a plan — it is a hope that someone will figure it out when everything goes down. Disaster recovery provides defined RPO and RTO targets per workload tier, automated replication to a secondary site or region, and regularly tested failover procedures that prove the recovery actually works. When a site fails, the business keeps running from the recovery environment within the agreed time window.
Clevertek scopes every engagement to your environment — capacity, sites, compliance and support model — so you get a tailored plan rather than a fixed SKU. Pricing is quote-only, and our solutions architects will work through your requirements before any proposal.
Our approach
We design, implement, and test disaster recovery architectures that match each workload tier to the appropriate recovery strategy — from hot standby with sub-minute RPO for critical systems to cold backup with longer RTO for non-critical workloads. Replication is configured between primary and secondary sites or regions, with automated failover orchestration where the RTO requires it. We run scheduled recovery drills that exercise the full failover and failback process, measuring actual RPO and RTO against targets. Each drill produces a report with gaps found, remediation actions, and updated RTO/RPO attestation. The DR plan is maintained as a living document with runbooks, contact lists, and dependency maps that stay current.
Why work with us
Tiered recovery architecture
Not every system needs sub-minute RPO. We classify workloads by business impact and assign the cost-appropriate recovery strategy — hot, warm, cold, or archive — so you pay for the recovery you need.
Scheduled, documented recovery drills
DR is tested on a defined calendar, not discovered during an outage. Every drill exercises failover, failback, and data validation — results are documented and RPO/RTO is attested.
Automated failover orchestration
For critical workloads, failover is automated through runbook orchestration — DNS switching, storage promotion, database replication transitions — reducing manual steps and human error during the incident.
Multi-region and multi-site coverage
Replication across AWS regions, Azure paired regions, or between on-premise sites and cloud. Geographic separation ensures a regional event does not affect both production and recovery.
Network and dependency validation
The DR plan includes network connectivity, DNS resolution, load balancer configuration, and external dependency checks — not just server recovery but the entire service chain.
Continuous plan improvement
Every drill and every real failover produces improvement actions. The plan, runbooks, and architecture evolve based on what was learned — never static.
Key benefits
What this solution delivers for your business.
Defined and measurable recovery targets
Every workload tier has a documented RPO and RTO that is tested and attested. The board and auditors get a number with evidence, not an estimate.
Reduced outage duration and impact
Automated failover and tested runbooks reduce the time between failure detection and full recovery. Revenue-impacting outages are measured in minutes instead of hours or days.
Regulatory and compliance confidence
Regularly tested DR procedures satisfy compliance requirements for data availability and business continuity — audit-ready documentation for every test and real event.
Cost-appropriate recovery investment
Tiered recovery matches spend to business criticality. Hot standby for the systems that cannot be down; cold recovery for the ones that can tolerate hours of downtime.
Cross-team preparedness
DR drills involve operations, application, network, security, and business teams — everyone knows their role, and the runbook does not depend on one persons knowledge.
What's included
Part of this managed service.
Recovery strategy design
Workload tiering and recovery strategy selection — hot, warm, cold, or archive — based on business impact, cost tolerance, and compliance requirements.
- Business impact classification per workload
- Recovery strategy selection per tier
- RPO/RTO target definition
- Cost modelling per recovery tier
Replication and data synchronisation
Continuous or periodic replication of data, databases, and configuration to the secondary site or region.
- Synchronous replication for critical data
- Asynchronous replication for standard workloads
- Database replication configuration
- Storage replication and snapshots
Failover orchestration and automation
Automated or runbook-driven failover processes that bring the recovery environment online within the defined RTO.
- DNS failover automation
- Database promotion and replication switch
- Load balancer and traffic routing updates
- Storage role transition automation
Recovery drill and testing programme
Scheduled recovery drills with defined scope, success criteria, and documented results — including failover, failback, and data validation.
- Quarterly drill schedule for critical workloads
- Scenario-based test design
- Measured RPO/RTO validation
- Drill report with gap analysis
Plan documentation and runbooks
Living DR documentation with architecture diagrams, dependency maps, contact lists, and step-by-step runbooks for each recovery scenario.
- Architecture and dependency documentation
- Role-specific runbooks per scenario
- Contact escalation lists
- Regular plan review and update cycle
Failback and recovery validation
Procedures to return production to the primary site after recovery, with data consistency validation and minimal business disruption.
- Failback runbook development
- Data consistency validation
- Application performance verification
- Dual-running period management
Where it helps
Real-world scenarios where this solution delivers measurable outcomes.
Single-region cloud deployment with no DR
Add cross-region replication and automated failover for a cloud deployment that currently runs in one region. A regional outage currently means total loss of service; the DR architecture reduces RTO to minutes.
On-premise DR plan that has never been tested
Design and implement DR for an on-premise data centre with a secondary colocation facility or cloud region. Run the first drill to discover gaps, remediate, and establish a regular testing cadence.
Regulatory requirement for business continuity
Implement DR that satisfies regulatory BC/DR requirements with documented, tested RPO/RTO. The compliance auditor gets a drill history with measured results, not a plan document.
Post-migration DR for cloud workloads
After migrating workloads to cloud, design and implement DR architecture that takes advantage of cloud-native replication, failover, and regional diversity — moving from on-premise DR constraints to cloud-native DR capabilities.
Ransomware recovery preparedness
Implement immutable backup storage with isolated recovery environments, air-gapped replication, and tested restore procedures specifically designed for ransomware scenarios.
Questions buyers actually ask
What is the difference between backup and DR?
Backup protects data — files, databases, configurations — by creating copies you can restore from. DR protects the service — the infrastructure, applications, and dependencies that need to be running for the business to operate. DR includes backup but goes beyond it to ensure the entire service can run from the recovery environment.
How often should we test DR?
Critical workloads should be tested at least quarterly. Standard workloads at least bi-annually. The testing cadence should match the rate of change in the environment — the more things change, the more often you need to test.
Can DR be cost-effective?
Yes, through tiering. Hot standby at full capacity is expensive; it should be reserved for the 5-10% of workloads that genuinely cannot be down. Warm recovery with reduced capacity and cold recovery with longer RTO are much cheaper options for the rest.
What is a realistic RTO for cloud DR?
For well-architected cloud DR with automated failover, realistic RTO ranges from 5 minutes for hot standby to 4 hours for warm recovery. Cold recovery with manual steps can take 8-24 hours. Targets should be set per workload tier.
Do you fail back to production after a drill?
Yes. Every drill includes a failback step that returns the environment to the primary site with data consistency validated. The failback is as important as the failover and is tested with the same rigour.
Ready to scope a solution?
Talk to a Clevertek solutions architect about your requirements — no obligation.