Preparing your Telecommunications Disaster Recovery Guide Presented by: Michael Solecky Lexsys Netwo

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Preparing yourTelecommunications Disaster
Recovery GuidePresented byMichael
SoleckyLexsys Networks Inc.
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IntroductionThis plan is developed as a
guide for managing and recovering from disasters
resulting in the loss of cable plant, switch
hardware/software, commercial power etc. and to
mobilize Telecommunications personnel,
Maintenance or Outside Contractors, Security
Personnel, Telco Personnel and Outside Vendors.

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The Disaster Recovery PlanEssential
Requirements

• Plan should be developed by a team representing
  all functional areas of the organization.
• Plan must have approval and support from the very
  top of the organization.
• 1) Planning tasks prepare a comprehensive list
  of the potentially serious incidents that could
  affect the normal operations of the business.
  Assign a probability rating against each item.
• 2) Developing the Plan Based on the incident
  which critical business functions need to be
  resumed and in what order. Key individuals and
  their responsibilities need to be identified.

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The Disaster Recovery PlanEssential
Requirements

• 3) Testing the Plan Once the plan is developed
  it must be tested by those individuals who would
  undertake those activities if the situation being
  tested occurred in reality.
• 4) Maintaining the Plan The plan must always be
  kept up to date and applicable to current
  business circumstances. This task has to be
  assigned to an individual and updated regularly
  and should ensure that all information related to
  changes within the business are properly
  communicated.

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideEssential Requirements

• Plan should be developed by a team representing
  all functional areas of the organization.
• Plan must have approval and support from the very
  top of the organization.
• 1) Planning tasks Identify areas of exposure
  and risk Assign a probability rating against
  each item.
• 2) Developing the Plan Based on the incident
  which critical business functions need to be
  resumed and in what order. Key individuals and
  their responsibilities need to be identified.
  Establish a list of personnel, contractors and
  contacts who would be contacted based on the
  incident that occurs.

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideEssential Requirements

• 3) Testing the Plan Once the plan is developed
  it must be tested by those individuals who would
  undertake those activities if the situation being
  tested occurred in reality.
• 4) Maintaining the Plan The plan must always be
  kept up to date and applicable to current
  business circumstances. This task has to be
  assigned to an individual and updated regularly
  and should ensure that all information related to
  changes within the business are properly
  communicated.

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideEssential Requirements

• Understand how and when Power fail/Bypass
  telephones are activated and under what condition
  they are deactivated.
• List the number and location of Power Fail/Bypass
  telephones.
• Identify Cellular Telephones that are available.
• Identify Switch Room Location(s) including
  hardware inventories, drawings and power source.
• Identify details of the Cable Plant including
  size and location of main cables and drawings.
• Identify details of special configurations on the
  switch or interacting with it such as modem
  pools, CDR configuration, alarm system etc.
• Identify details of Trunking Configurations.
• Obtain a copy of the most recent equipment map.

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideHazards

• Hazard Defined as an occurrence or situation
  which may cause major failure of the PBX.
• Disaster Criteria
• 10 of stations or trunks out of service
• Attendant Console(s) out of service
• Controller or processor failure
• Voicemail system failure
• 10 of Voicemail users out of service
• Likelihood of Occurrence
• - Very Likely You will experience Several
  Times.
• - Likely Will experience at least once.
• - Unlikely May not ever happen to you.
• - Very Unlikely You hope it will never happen.

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideHazards

• Length of Service Outage
• - Short 15 Minutes to 3 Hours
• - Moderate 3 hours to 12 Hours
• - Long Longer than 12 Hours

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideHazards

• HAZARD
• 
  
  
• OUTAGE
  LIKELIHOOD OF LENGTH OF
• OCCURRENCE SERVICE
•  
• ? SOFTWARE FAILURE VERY LIKELY SHORT
•  
• ? HARDWARE FAILURE VERY LIKELY
  SHORT-MODERATE 
•  
• ? ELECTRICAL FAILURE VERY
  LIKELY SHORT-MODERATE
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideHazards

• HAZARD
• 
  
  
• OUTAGE
  LIKELIHOOD OF LENGTH OF
• OCCURRENCE SERVICE
• ? TEMPERATURE CHANGE
  LIKELY SHORT
•  
• ? WATER DAMAGE
  LIKELY SHORT-MODERATE
•  
• ? LIGHTNING DAMAGE LIKELY SHORT-MODERATE
•  
• ? LOSS OF C.O. CIRCUITS
  LIKELY SHORT-MODERATE
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideHazards

• HAZARD
• 
  
  
• OUTAGE
  LIKELIHOOD OF LENGTH OF
• OCCURRENCE SERVICE
•  
• ? TOTAL C.O. FAILURE UNLIKELY SHORT-MODERATE
•  
• ? FIRE, SMOKE DAMAGE
  UNLIKELY MODERATE-LONG
•  
• ? SABOTAGE, VANDALISM
  UNLIKELY MODERATE-LONG
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideHazards

• HAZARD
• OUTAGE LIKELIHOOD OF
  LENGTH OF
• OCCURRENCE SERVICE
• 
  
  
• BUILDING DESTRUCTION VERY UNILKELY
  LONG
• C.O. DESTRUCTION VERY UNLIKELY
  LONG

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• SOFTWARE FAILURE
• ? AT LEAST THREE (3) COPIES OF OPERATING
  SOFTWARE. ONE WITH SWITCH, ONE SECURED AT
  CUSTOMER SITE AND ONE AT VENDOR SITE.
•  
• ? BACKUP SOFTWARE UPDATING PROCEDURES
  (DAILY/MONTHLY)
•  
• ? FREQUENT MAINTENANCE PORT PASSWORD CHANGES
•  
• ? LOG IN SECURITY PROCEDURES FOR REMOTE
  MAINTENANCE
•  
• ? AUTOMATIC ALARMS WITH 24 HOUR REMOTE MONITORING
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• HARDWARE FAILURE
•  
• ? CRITICAL SPARE PARTS ON SITE OTHERS NEARBY
•  
• ? REDUNDANT PROCESSORS AND COMMON HARDWARE
•  
• ? ON-SITE TECHNICIAN
•  
• ? STRICT ROUTINE MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES
•  
• ? AUTOMATIC ALARMS WITH 24 HOUR REMOTE MONITORING
•  
• ? MAJOR FAILURE PBX REPLACEMENT PLAN WITH VENDOR
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• ELECTRICAL FAILURE
• ? IDEALLY HAVE POWER LOSS PROTECTION
• - BATTERIES (4 HOUR, SEALED)
• - BACKUP GENERATOR
•  
• ? ATTACH TO UPS SYSTEM
•  
• ? INCLUDE AIR CONDITIONING POWER BACKUP IF
  POSSIBLE
•  
• ? INCLUDE AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT POWER BACKUP
• - VOICEMAIL
• - ATTENDANT CONSOLE
• - LAN FILE SERVERS

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• TEMPERATURE CHANGE
•  
• PROTECTION SUGGESTIONS
•  
• ? INSTALL READILY VISIBLE THERMOSTATS
•  
• ? CLEAN AND REPLACE FILTERS REGULARLY
•  
• ? PROTECT COOLING EQUIPMENT ELECTRICAL SUPPLY
•  
• ? REGULARLY REBALANCE COLD AIR DISTRIBUTION
•  
• ? KEEP PBX DOORS CLOSED TO ENSURE PROPER COOLING
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• WATER DAMAGE
•  
• PROTECTION SUGGESTIONS
•  
• ? ELIMINATE OBVIOUS WATER HAZARDS
•  
• ? KEEP PLASTIC SHEETING ON HAND
•   
• ? USE WATER ALARMS UNDER RAISED FLOOR
•  
• ? USE DRY PIPE SPRINKLER SYSTEM
•  
• ? USE HIGH TEMP SPRINKLER HEADS
•  
• ? INSTALL CATCH PANS IN CEILING ABOVE PBX
•  
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• LIGHTNING DAMAGE
•  
• ? INSTALL LIGHTNING ARRESTERS
•  
• ? INSTALL EXCESSIVE CURRENT PROTECTION ON LINES
•  
• ? PROPERLY GROUND ALL ELECTRICAL FEEDS AND MDF
•  
• ? ELIMINATE ANY UNPROTECTED CABLE ENTRANCES
•  
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• FIRE, SMOKE DAMAGE
•  
• ? INSTALL AUTOMATIC FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM (CHECK
  FOR LEGALITIES)
• ? INSTALL AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS, DRY PIPE
  PREFERABLE
• PROHIBIT SMOKING IN TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT
  ROOM
• ? REMOVE ALL COMBUSTIBLES FROM EQUIPMENT ROOM
•  
• ? TIGHTLY SEAL ALL CABLE OPENINGS IN WALLS
•  
• ? USE FIRE RESISTENT FLOOR AND CEILING MATERIALS
•  
• ? USE SELF CLOSING, FIRE RATED DOORS
•  
• ? HAVE ONE LEGAL PORTABLE FIRE EXTINGUISHER PER
  1000 SQUARE FT.
•  
• ? INSTALL EARLY WARNING SMOKE DETECTION EQUIPMENT

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• SABOTAGE, VANDALISM
• PROTECT EXTERNAL BUILDING ENTRANCES
• KEEP ALL EQUIPMENT CLOSETS LOCKED
• CONTROL ACCESS TO EQUIPMENT ROOMS AT ALL TIMES
• CHANGE REMOTE MAINTENANCE PORT TELEPHONE NUMBERS
  AND PASSWORDS REGULARLY

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• BUILDING DESTRUCTION
•  
• PROTECTION SUGGESTIONS
•  
• UTILIZE DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
•  
• MAKE SURE VITAL RECORDS ARE BACKED UP OFF-SITE
•  
• MAINTAIN CURRENT VENDOR NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES
• LIST EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR INITIAL RECOVERY CENTRE
•  
• ORGANIZE STAFF AS A RECOVERY TEAM
•  

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideProtection Suggestions

• C.O. DESTRUCTION
•  
• ? UTILIZE DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
•  
• ? ORGANIZE STAFF AS A RECOVERY TEAM
•  
• ? INSTALL LINES TO ALTERNATE C.O.
•  
• ? BY-PASS C.O. FOR SELECTED SERVICES
•  
• ? OBTAIN COPY OF C.O. CONTINGENCY PLAN

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideSummary

• REMEMBER THAT IN ANY DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN IT
  IS IMPORTANT TO
• PREPLAN TO IDENTIFY EXPOSURES AND RISKS
• DESCRIBE THE RESPONSE TO ADDRESS THE EXPOSURES
  AND RISKS
• ENSURE THAT THERE ARE ESCALATION AND NOTIFICATION
  PROCEDURES.
• RESPONSIBILITIES GIVEN TO INDIVIDUALS RELATED TO
  THE RECOVERY
• ENSURE THAT VITAL RECORDS ARE BACKED UP.
• ENSURE THAT THERE IS AN ALTERNATE SITE PLAN.

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideSummary

• THE BASIC DOCUMENTATION THAT IS REQUIRED FOR A
  DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN IS AS FOLLOWS
• EMERGENCY PROCEDURES LIST
• RECOVERY ACTION LIST
• EXTERNAL NOTIFICATION CHECKLIST
• INTERNAL NOTIFICATION CHECKLIST
• EQUIPMENT VENDOR CHECKLIST
• DETAILED EQUIPMENT INVENTORY
• VITAL RECORDS CHECKLIST

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Telecommunications Disaster Recovery
GuideSummary

• DO YOU HAVE A DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN????
• ARE YOU PREPARED FOR A MAJOR HARDWARE OR CENTRAL
  OFFICE FAILURE (IE CABLE CUT), FIRE, VANDALISM OR
  EVEN BUILDING DESTRUCTION?
• LEXSYS NETWORKS INC. WOULD BE PLEASED TO ASSIST
  YOU IN PREPARING YOUR DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN.
• PLEASE CONTACT RAY FARRELL AT 613 521-3734 TO
  DISCUSS HOW LEXSYS NETWORKS CAN ASSIST YOU !!