Disaster recovery planning during cloud migration
Cloud migration introduces a period of change where infrastructure is reconfigured, workloads are moved and dependencies shift. During this process, the risk of disruption increases, making disaster recovery planning a critical part of the migration itself.
Disaster recovery is not limited to post-migration operations. It defines how systems recover from failure, whether that occurs during transition or after workloads are established in the target environment.
Planning disaster recovery alongside migration ensures that resilience is built into the new architecture, rather than retrofitted after issues arise.
What disaster recovery means in a cloud migration context
Disaster recovery refers to the ability to maintain or restore business operations following an event that disrupts systems or access to data.
This may include infrastructure failure, cyber incidents or external events such as power or network outages. In practical terms, a disaster recovery plan defines how applications, data, networking and access are restored within an acceptable timeframe.
In a cloud migration context, disaster recovery extends beyond backup. It includes replication, failover design and the ability to switch operations to a secondary environment with minimal disruption.
This is particularly relevant during migration, where workloads may exist across multiple environments simultaneously.
Why disaster recovery should be planned during migration
Migration introduces temporary instability
During migration, workloads are moved, reconfigured or partially duplicated across environments.
This creates temporary states where systems are more exposed to failure. Without a defined recovery approach, issues during migration can result in extended downtime or data inconsistency.
Planning disaster recovery in parallel ensures that fallback options are available at each stage of the transition.
Recovery requirements affect architecture decisions
Disaster recovery is defined by recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives.
These determine how quickly systems must be restored and how much data loss is acceptable. In practice, these requirements influence:
- Replication methods
- Infrastructure design across sites or regions
- Network configuration and failover mechanisms
If these considerations are introduced after migration, significant redesign may be required. Planning them upfront ensures the target architecture supports required recovery outcomes.
Business continuity expectations remain unchanged
From a business perspective, migration does not reduce the expectation of availability.
Applications are still expected to function, and data must remain accessible. In some cases, migration increases scrutiny, particularly if systems are critical to operations.
Disaster recovery planning ensures continuity expectations are met throughout the transition, not just after completion.
Key components of disaster recovery planning
Defining recovery objectives
Recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives provide the foundation for any disaster recovery plan.
These define:
- How quickly services must be restored after an incident
- The acceptable level of data loss
Lower recovery times and minimal data loss require more advanced replication and failover strategies, which increase complexity and cost.
Replication and secondary environments
Effective disaster recovery relies on maintaining a secondary environment where workloads can be restored or failover can occur.
This may involve:
- Replicating applications and data to a secondary site
- Maintaining synchronisation between primary and secondary environments
- Ensuring the secondary environment meets the same compliance and performance standards
In managed environments, this is often delivered through Disaster Recovery as a Service, where infrastructure is replicated to a separate, certified location ready for failover.
Failover design and testing
Failover is the process of switching operations from the primary environment to a secondary environment during an incident.
This process must be defined, tested and repeatable.
Automated failover can reduce recovery times, but requires careful configuration and validation. Manual failover provides more control, but may increase recovery time depending on the process.
Regular testing ensures that failover works as expected and that dependencies between systems are correctly handled.
Choosing the appropriate recovery model
Different workloads require different recovery approaches.
Two common models illustrate this:
Warm recovery – where a secondary environment is available and regularly updated, but activated only when needed
Hot recovery – where a fully replicated environment runs in parallel, allowing near-instant failover
Warm recovery reduces infrastructure overhead but introduces longer recovery times. Hot recovery provides minimal downtime and data loss, but requires continuous replication and higher resource commitment.
The appropriate model depends on workload criticality and acceptable risk levels.
Disaster recovery considerations specific to migration
Managing hybrid and transitional states
During migration, it is common to operate across on-premise and cloud environments simultaneously.
This creates hybrid states where disaster recovery must account for:
- Data synchronisation between environments
- Consistent backup and replication policies
- Failover paths that span multiple platforms
Without careful coordination, recovery processes can become fragmented, increasing recovery time and risk.
Protecting data during migration
Data integrity is a key concern during migration.
Workloads are often transferred in stages, and data may be replicated or transformed as part of the process. This introduces the risk of corruption or loss if not managed correctly.
Maintaining backups and validating data consistency throughout the migration ensures that recovery points remain reliable.
Avoiding disruption during cutover
The cutover phase, where systems are switched to the new environment, is one of the highest risk stages.
Disaster recovery planning should include rollback strategies in case issues arise during this phase. This ensures that systems can be reverted to a known working state without extended downtime.
What you should consider before implementing disaster recovery
Alignment with compliance requirements
Disaster recovery environments must meet the same regulatory and compliance standards as production systems.
This includes data residency, access control and audit requirements. Secondary environments should not introduce gaps in compliance.
Operational ownership and management
Disaster recovery is not a one-time configuration.
It requires ongoing monitoring, testing and maintenance to ensure it remains effective as systems evolve. Responsibility for this must be clearly defined, particularly in managed environments.
Cost and complexity trade-offs
Higher levels of resilience require more infrastructure and coordination.
Real-time replication and automated failover reduce risk, but increase operational complexity and cost. Decisions should be based on the criticality of workloads and the impact of downtime.
Aligning disaster recovery with a managed approach
Designing and maintaining disaster recovery alongside migration requires coordination across infrastructure, networking and application layers.
A managed approach provides:
- Structured planning of recovery objectives
- Design of replication and failover mechanisms
- Ongoing monitoring and testing of recovery processes
- Support during failover and full system recovery
This ensures disaster recovery remains aligned with both migration strategy and long-term infrastructure management.
The next steps
Disaster recovery planning should be integrated into cloud migration from the outset. Migration introduces periods of increased risk, and without defined recovery processes, even minor issues can lead to extended disruption.
By defining recovery objectives, designing appropriate replication and failover strategies, and testing these processes before and during migration, organisations can maintain continuity while transitioning infrastructure.
If you are planning a migration or reviewing your disaster recovery strategy, defining a clear approach to recovery objectives, replication and ongoing management will help maintain availability, protect data and reduce operational risk. Speak to our team to discuss your infrastructure requirements.
FAQs
What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery?
Backups store data for restoration, while disaster recovery defines how systems and services are restored and made operational after an incident.
Do I need disaster recovery during migration?
Yes. Migration introduces additional risk, and disaster recovery ensures that systems can be restored if issues occur during the transition.
How often should disaster recovery plans be tested?
Disaster recovery plans should be tested regularly, particularly after infrastructure changes, to ensure failover processes remain effective.
