What is disaster recovery?
Disaster recovery is the set of backups, procedures and exercises that restore IT systems and data after a disruption such as hardware failure, ransomware or a site outage. It is measured against a recovery time objective and a recovery point objective. Ontech ICTM runs scheduled backups, scores backup frequency and records DR exercises against those targets.
Disaster recovery (DR) is the technical side of business continuity. Where continuity planning decides which services matter and how quickly they must return, disaster recovery makes that possible: data is backed up often enough to meet the recovery point objective (RPO), and systems can be rebuilt within the recovery time objective (RTO).
Two things undermine most DR plans. Backups quietly stop running, or run less often than the RPO needs; and recovery is never rehearsed, so nobody knows whether the RTO is realistic until a real outage proves it is not.
ICTM addresses both. It runs database and file backups itself — locally or on remote servers over SSH — on a schedule with automatic clean-up of expired copies, and a scheduled job scores every backup job against its expected frequency. DR exercises record the targets, what actually happened and what must change.
What ICTM does for disaster recovery & backup management
Database backups
Back up PostgreSQL with pg_dump, MySQL with mysqldump and MongoDB with mongodump, either on the ICTM server or on remote database servers reached over SSH.
File and directory backups
Archive files and directories with tar, or copy them with rsync, locally or on remote servers over SSH, so application data and configuration are covered as well as databases.
Scheduled runs and retention
Schedule backup jobs to run automatically and let ICTM clean up copies once they pass their retention period, keeping storage under control.
Backup compliance scoring
A scheduled job scores each backup job from 0 to 100 against how often it is expected to run and raises an alert when backups fall behind — the early warning that an RPO is at risk.
DR exercises with target versus actual
Plan and record DR exercises with the target RTO and RPO, the times actually achieved, findings and a score. If you leave the score blank, ICTM's AI suggests one for you to accept or change.
Recovery steps in DR plans
Keep the step-by-step recovery procedure inside versioned DR plans with approval status and review dates, so the procedure used in an exercise is the one that is maintained.
Recovery targets alongside the BIA
Record RTO and RPO targets in the business impact analysis and enter them as the targets for each DR exercise, so recovery is rehearsed against what the business agreed.
Supplier recovery commitments
Record each supplier's SLA uptime, RTO and RPO against the applications that depend on them, so external dependencies are part of the recovery picture.
ICTM modules: Backups · Business Continuity
Use cases
Protecting core databases
Schedule regular dumps of the databases behind finance, HR or customer systems, on the servers where they run.
Catching silent backup failures
Use backup scores and alerts to spot jobs that have stopped or fallen behind before a restore is needed.
Annual DR rehearsal
Run a recovery exercise, record the RTO and RPO actually achieved and track the findings to closure.
Evidence for auditors and regulators
Show backup schedules, frequency scores and exercise records when asked how recovery is assured.
Ransomware preparedness
Combine regular backups with rehearsed recovery so that restoring clean data is a practised procedure, not an experiment.
Benefits
Backups you can see
Every job, its schedule and its frequency score are visible in one place.
Earlier warning
Alerts on falling backup scores give time to fix a job before data is lost.
Realistic recovery targets
Exercises compare target and actual RTO and RPO, turning assumptions into evidence.
One place for continuity and recovery
DR plans, exercises and backups sit beside the BIA and continuity plans they support.
Frequently asked questions
What can ICTM back up?
ICTM backs up PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB databases using their standard dump tools, and files or directories using tar or rsync. Jobs can run on the ICTM server itself or on remote servers that ICTM reaches over SSH, and they can be scheduled with a retention period.
How is the backup compliance score worked out?
A scheduled job compares each backup job's recent successful runs with the frequency it is expected to run at and scores it from 0 to 100. When a job falls behind, ICTM raises an alert, which is usually the first sign that your recovery point objective is at risk.
Does ICTM test that backups can be restored?
Restore testing is done through DR exercises. You plan an exercise, carry out the restore, and record the target and actual recovery time and recovery point, the findings and a score. ICTM does not restore or verify backup files automatically.
What are RTO and RPO?
The recovery time objective (RTO) is the longest a system can be unavailable before the impact becomes unacceptable. The recovery point objective (RPO) is the most data you can afford to lose, measured in time. An RPO of four hours means backups must run at least every four hours.
How is disaster recovery different from business continuity in ICTM?
Business continuity covers the whole organisation: impact analysis, plans, people, risks and suppliers. Disaster recovery is the technical restoration of systems and data. In ICTM, DR is where backups run and exercises are recorded, while continuity is where recovery targets are agreed and plans are maintained.