High Availability and Disaster Recovery in NetApp Environments

Imagine that, in the middle of an emergency shift, the system that provides access to records and diagnostic tests stops. Or an industrial plant's production line is blocked because the ERP has stopped responding. In these scenarios, every minute of downtime has a direct impact on the business, on service... and even on people.

That's the kind of risk our systems teams work to avoid every day. And that's where high availability and disaster recovery (DR) architectures on technologies like NetApp and virtualized platforms come into play, designed to make sure that when something goes down, the business notices it as little as possible.

High availability and disaster recovery: Don't be fooled, just having copies isn't enough.

Many organizations have backups and some redundancy, but when a serious incident occurs, uncomfortable questions arise:

The difference between "having technology" and "actually being prepared" often lies in the architecture design and how high availability and DR scenarios have been thought out, tested, and tuned.

High availability and DR: what really matters

In practice, when we talk to hospitals, industrial plants, financial institutions remote offices, the focus is not on technical terms, but on four very concrete ideas:

- That critical services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even if a component fails.
- That, in the event of a serious incident, operations can be recovered in times that are acceptable to the business.
- That data loss is minimal and known.
- That all this is aligned with the real criticality of each application, not with a generic theoretical model.

On these requirements, we build high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) architectures.

How does NetApp help us with data resiliency?

In virtualized and high-volume environments, NetApp provides a very solid technological foundation to build that resilience:

But the real value comes when these capabilities are combined with a design tailored to the context and priorities of each organization.

Critical cases: when stopping is not an option

There are sectors where unavailability is not simply annoying, but unacceptable:

Hospitals and healthcare environments.

The continuity of medical records, imaging systems, emergency applications coordination platforms is key to patient care. Even a few minutes of downtime can create bottlenecks and delays.

Remote branches in retail, banking or industry

Stores, branches or plants that rely on centralized applications need to continue operating, even if there is a problem at headquarters. Data replication and availability of virtual desktops and applications are essential to maintain uptime.

In these contexts, the combination of virtualization and NetApp storage makes it possible to design models in which a major failure does not bring the organization to a halt.

Beyond the technology: the approach of our teams

Designing a high-availability and efficient DR environment is not just a matter of deploying redundant cabinets, licenses, and hardware. The difference is the approach with which that solution is built and governed.

Our team of system architects and certified NetApp technology specialists works with organizations along four key lines:

Risk and criticality analysis

• Joint identification of which services must always be available and which can afford longer recovery times.
• Prioritisation based on actual impact on the business, not just technical criteria.

Hybrid architectures

• Design of models that combine on-premise, cloud, and distributed environments, aligned with each organisation's starting point and technological maturity.
• Selection and configuration of NetApp capabilities and the most appropriate virtualisation layer for each scenario.

Regular DR testing

• Planning and execution of periodic recovery tests to validate that what has been defined on paper works in practice.
• Adjustment of procedures and architectures based on the results of these tests and the evolving business needs.

Data governance and security

• Design replication and access with security criteria, preventing the continuity strategy itself from creating new vulnerabilities.
• Alignment with regulatory and data protection requirements specific to each sector.

This approach allows us to make NetApp technology not just a "power piece," but the core of a resiliency strategy that is truly applicable to the day-to-day life of the organization.

Would your continuity plan withstand a real failure?

In an increasingly digitized environment, the question is no longer whether an incident will occur, but how prepared we are when it does. Many organizations discover the limitations of their high availability and DR architecture at the worst possible time: during the failure itself.

If you want to assess the extent to which your current infrastructure could withstand a major outage, or which NetApp high availability and disaster recovery model would best fit your criticality and technology maturity, our team can help you:

• Review the state of your continuity strategy.
• Design or adjust a NetApp and virtualization-based HA/DR architecture aligned with your business priorities.
• Plan and execute DR tests that give you real visibility into your level of resiliency.

Because when every minute counts, it's not just about having the best technology, it's about having a team capable of turning it into real continuity for your business.

Can we help you?