Profile Applicability:
• Level 2
Description:
Failback refers to the process of returning operations from a disaster recovery (DR) environment back to the primary or production environment after a failure has been mitigated. Ensuring the execution of a failback is critical for resuming normal operations in the event of a disaster or major system disruption. This involves verifying that failback procedures are clearly defined, tested, and executed successfully to restore business continuity.
Rationale:
Having a well-defined and tested failback process ensures that organizations can effectively recover from a disaster and resume normal business operations in their primary environment. It minimizes downtime and data loss, ensuring that the business can continue its functions even after recovering from a disruptive event. The execution of a failback plan is as crucial as having a failover strategy, as it ensures that once the root cause of the failure is resolved, operations can smoothly transition back to the original environment.
Impact:
Pros:
Ensures business continuity and minimizes downtime after a failure or disruption
Allows for the restoration of operations to the primary environment once the disaster has been mitigated
Reduces the impact of disaster recovery by enabling a seamless transition back to normal operations
Improves the overall disaster recovery readiness of an organization by thoroughly testing failback procedures
Cons:
Failback procedures, if not well-executed, can result in errors or downtime, affecting the business operations
Requires clear communication and coordination across multiple teams to avoid disruptions during the failback process
May lead to temporary resource strain or conflict as services and applications are restored to the original environment
Default Value:
Failback procedures are not automatically executed in most environments. It must be explicitly configured, documented, and tested to ensure it can be performed successfully when required.
Pre-requisites:
A clearly defined failback plan that includes step-by-step procedures and roles and responsibilities
Proper testing of the failback process in a non-production environment to ensure it works as expected
Backup of critical data and systems in both the primary and disaster recovery environments
Access to appropriate personnel and resources to perform the failback without causing unnecessary downtime
Communication channels for notifying relevant stakeholders during the failback process
Remediation:
Test Plan:
Using AWS Console:
Sign in to the AWS Management Console
Navigate to AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (or relevant disaster recovery solution)
Review the disaster recovery plan and ensure that failback procedures are defined
Verify that the failback option is available and that it’s feasible to execute based on the recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO)
Test the failback procedure in a non-production environment to validate the process works smoothly and restores operations in the primary environment
Monitor the failback execution in the AWS Console to ensure that all systems are properly restored to their primary environment, with no conflicts or missing data
Verify the correct network configurations, security settings, and application data integrity after the failback process is completed
Using AWS CLI:
List the recovery points available for the failback process:
aws drs describe-recovery-points --source-server-id <source-server-id>
Start the failback process by initiating the recovery operation:
aws drs start-failback --source-server-id <source-server-id>
Monitor the status of the failback process:
aws drs describe-job --job-id <job-id>
Verify the health of the systems and services after failback:
aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-id <instance-id>
Check the restored applications and services to ensure they are functioning correctly and that data has been restored as expected
Implementation Plan:
Using AWS Console:
Sign in to the AWS Management Console
Navigate to AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (or other relevant service)
Ensure that disaster recovery environments have been set up, and data replication from the disaster recovery site to the primary environment is operational
When ready to perform a failback, select the appropriate instance or application in the AWS Console
Initiate the failback process by clicking Failback or using the provided failback options, ensuring that all resources are restored to their original configurations
Monitor the failback process, watching for errors or conflicts that may arise
Once failback is complete, validate that the primary environment is fully operational, including application functionality and data integrity
Using AWS CLI:
Start the failback process from the disaster recovery instance:
aws drs start-failback --source-server-id <source-server-id>
Monitor the job status to ensure that the failback is proceeding without issues:
aws drs describe-job --job-id <job-id>
After the failback is completed, verify the status of EC2 instances or applications in the primary environment:
aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids <instance-id>
Confirm that applications are running as expected and that all systems are restored to their original state
Backout Plan:
Using AWS Console:
If issues arise during failback, stop the failback process and assess the impact
Restore the disaster recovery environment to resume operations if the failback results in errors or downtime
Evaluate logs and events in CloudWatch for any failed tasks or configuration issues during failback
If the failback cannot be completed successfully, roll back the changes and restore the backup configurations
Communicate with relevant teams to update the recovery strategy, if necessary
Using AWS CLI:
If failback fails or causes issues, stop the failback job:
aws drs stop-failback --source-server-id <source-server-id>
Revert the disaster recovery environment to its previous state:
aws drs restore-recovery-point --source-server-id <source-server-id>
Re-run the failback process after addressing any configuration or data issues found during the previous failback attempt