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Table of Contents

Editorial: The Worst Case by Steve Jones

Disaster Recovery from the Experts by Steve Jones Sungard recovery systems is one of the premier business continuity companies, helping their clients in planning and executing their disaster recovery plans. Here we take a look at how they prepare for disaster with their own internal ticketing system.
	A Real Disaster Recovery Test by Jon Stokes Many companies give lip service to disaster recovery, but few actually follow through with full scale tests. Here we see the results of a real test by one SQL Server expert in charge of recovering the databases.
From the Trenches by James Luetkohoelter Another story from the real world showing just how critical a good plan and process can be in preventing the loss of data.
	Database Mirroring Fundamentals by Brian Knight With SP1, database mirroring is a supported technology in SQL Server 2005 and a high availability SQL Server MVP takes a look at how this complex technology may fit into your environment.
The Other DR Checklist by Andy Warren Most of the items on our Disaster Recovery checklist are technical, but there is another whole list of things to consider that can easily stop your recovery in its tracks.
	RAID: An Ounce of Prevention by Michael Coles One way to prevent disasters in your environment is to be proactive in setting up your systems. RAID is a time tested and proven techinque for protecting your storage and we take an in depth look at the different levels and how they relate to your SQL Server installation.
Disaster Avoidance with Log Shipping by Kathi Kellenberger Read about how a company in the real world uses Log Shipping to ensure business continues as usual in the event of a disaster.
	Practial Disaster Recovery by Andy Warren How do you decide what is worth purchasing for a disaster recovery plan? Andy Warren takes a look at a practical way to examine the tradeoffs you will need to make and how to make practical decisions
Replication Recoil by Robert Pearl A story from the real world on getting two way transactional replication up and running.
	The Information Architecture Principle by Paul Neilson The start of a new column for the SQL Server Standard from MVP Paul Neilson. In this article we examine design patterns and methods
SQL Server 2005 Common Language Runtime Integration by the Scott Klein

In 2005 one of the worst hurricanes ever to hit a major US city struck in late August when hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area. It was a tragedy for many small companies in the area, but it those of us in the IT business two things. On one hand how incredibly vulnerable we can be to a disaster situation where many of the infrastructure items that we count on may be unavailable and on the other how incredibly resilient a disaster plan can be.

This month the SQL Server Standard examines a variety of topics relating to disaster recovery, business continuity, or whatever other acronym you apply to the process of ensuring that your systems continue to function in the event of some unforeseen event.

After Katrina last year I contacted a number of large disaster recovery firms to learn how they handle their internal systems. Sungard Recovery Services, a global leader in this area, responded and they were kind enough to give me access to their Denver center as well as respond to various inquiries about their internal ticketing system. Read about how one of the leaders in keeping other systems functioning handles their own critical applications.

We also have two great articles on new SQL Server 2005 technologies. SQL Server MVP Brian Knight looks at Database Mirroring, which RTM’d with the release of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1. Kathi Kellenberger has taken a look at a practical use of Log Shipping.

We’ve also got a few practical real world looks at disaster recovery with an actual client disaster situation from James Luetkehoelter and another from Robert Pearl on replication that shows some of the issues you could run into in setting things up. Andy Warren brings some hurricane experience to us as well with a few things to consider that you may have overlooked. Lastly a basic look a RAID technology, which is prevents some of the most common disasters of all: disk failures.

We hope that you never need to invoke your disaster plan, at least not in its worst case form, but everyone will cope with some type of technological misfortune at some point in their career. Hopefully this issue will teach you something, or at least inspire you to bring your current DR plan up to date.

Steve Jones