Guides/Template
A disaster recovery plan, written down and owned.
A plan nobody can find, or that names people who've left, won't help on the day. Use this template to write down what your recovery depends on, who owns each part, and how you'll prove it works. The PDF has blank tables to print and fill in.
What the plan covers
Everything a recovery depends on.
- 01
Recovery objectives
RTO and RPO for each workload, backed by SLAs for backup frequency and retention.
- 02
Copies and locations
A primary copy and a secondary DR location, with immutable and air-gapped copies a cyberattack can't reach.
- 03
Recovery plan for the backup platform
How the data management infrastructure itself comes back first, because nothing else restores without it.
- 04
Restore testing strategy
How often restores are tested, which systems, and what a passing test looks like, for disaster and cyber scenarios.
- 05
Clean recovery after an attack
Recovery into an isolated cleanroom: isolate, check backups for threats, rebuild from a clean image, validate.
- 06
Incident response plan
Kept in step with the recovery plan, in support of NIST SP 800-61 and the Cybersecurity Framework.
1 · Recovery objectives
How fast, and how much data you can lose.
| Workload | Owner | RTO | RPO | Backup frequency | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student information system | Name, role | 4 h | 15 min | Every 15 min | 7 years |
2 · Copies and locations
Where every copy lives.
| Copy | Location | Storage type | Immutable or air-gapped? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary backup | Main data center | Disk | No |
3 · Recovery order
What comes back first.
| Order | System | Depends on | Who restores it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Backup platform | Network, storage | KELYN / IT |
4 · Testing
How you'll prove the plan works.
| Test | Systems | How often | Last run | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restore test | File servers | Quarterly |
5 · Contacts
Who to call, written down.
| Role | Name | Phone | Backup contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery lead |
KELYN keeps your plan current, as a managed service.
KELYN plans, tests and keeps disaster recovery plans current, with a biannual KELYN Score review. Start with the free Cyber Readiness Scorecard, or talk to an engineer.