aitbc/docs/operations/disaster-recovery-drill-plan.md

AITBC Disaster Recovery Drill Plan

Version: 1.0 Date: 2026-05-11 Status: Active Next Review: 2026-08-11

Overview

This document outlines the disaster recovery drill schedule, procedures, and reporting for the AITBC platform. Regular drills ensure the disaster recovery plan is effective, team members are trained, and recovery procedures are validated.

Drill Schedule

2026 Drill Calendar

Month	Drill Type	Duration	Target Date	Status
February	Tabletop Exercise	2 hours	2026-02-15	Scheduled
March	Service Failover	1 hour	2026-03-15	Scheduled
April	Database Restore	1 hour	2026-04-15	Scheduled
May	Full System Recovery	4 hours	2026-05-15	Scheduled
June	Tabletop Exercise	2 hours	2026-06-15	Scheduled
July	Service Failover	1 hour	2026-07-15	Scheduled
August	Database Restore	1 hour	2026-08-15	Scheduled
September	Full System Recovery	4 hours	2026-09-15	Scheduled
October	Tabletop Exercise	2 hours	2026-10-15	Scheduled
November	Service Failover	1 hour	2026-11-15	Scheduled
December	Data Center Failover	8 hours	2026-12-15	Scheduled

Drill Types

1. Tabletop Exercise

• Frequency: Quarterly
• Duration: 2 hours
• Participants: Engineering, DevOps, Security, Product
• Format: Discussion-based scenario walkthrough
• Objective: Validate decision-making processes and communication

2. Service Failover

• Frequency: Monthly
• Duration: 1 hour
• Participants: DevOps, Engineering
• Format: Actual service restart/failover
• Objective: Validate automated failover mechanisms

3. Database Restore

• Frequency: Monthly
• Duration: 1 hour
• Participants: DBA, DevOps
• Format: Actual database restore from backup
• Objective: Validate backup integrity and restore procedures

4. Full System Recovery

• Frequency: Quarterly
• Duration: 4 hours
• Participants: All teams
• Format: Complete system recovery simulation
• Objective: Validate end-to-end recovery procedures

5. Data Center Failover

• Frequency: Annually
• Duration: 8 hours
• Participants: All teams
• Format: Geographic failover simulation
• Objective: Validate multi-region recovery capabilities

Drill Procedures

Pre-Drill Preparation (2 Weeks Before)

1. Define Drill Scenario

   • Select disaster scenario from DR plan
   • Define specific objectives and success criteria
   • Identify affected components and services
   • Determine scope and limitations

2. Prepare Test Environment

   • Set up isolated test environment (if needed)
   • Prepare test data and backups
   • Configure monitoring and logging
   • Verify tooling and access

3. Notify Participants

   • Send drill invitation with details
   • Confirm participant availability
   • Share drill scenario and objectives
   • Provide pre-reading materials

4. Prepare Monitoring

   • Set up additional monitoring for drill
   • Configure alerting for drill events
   • Prepare metrics collection
   • Set up logging capture

5. Establish Success Criteria

   • Define measurable objectives
   • Set RTO/RPO targets for drill
   • Define pass/fail criteria
   • Document expected outcomes

During Drill Execution

1. Drill Kickoff (15 minutes)

• Call to order and attendance check
• Review drill scenario and objectives
• Review roles and responsibilities
• Review communication channels
• Start timer and begin drill

2. Drill Execution (Variable)

• Execute according to scenario
• Document all actions and timestamps
• Record issues and blockers
• Monitor system behavior
• Communicate progress per plan

3. Drill Completion (15 minutes)

• Stop timer and conclude drill
• Collect initial observations
• Verify system state
• Begin preliminary debrief

Post-Drill Activities

Immediate Post-Drill (1 Hour)

1. Collect Metrics

   • RTO achieved
   • RPO achieved
   • Success criteria met
   • Issues encountered

2. Initial Debrief

   • Participant feedback
   • Observations and findings
   • Immediate issues identified
   • Preliminary recommendations

Post-Drill Review (1 Week)

1. Analyze Results

   • Compare results to objectives
   • Identify gaps and weaknesses
   • Analyze root causes of issues
   • Document lessons learned

2. Update Documentation

   • Update DR procedures
   • Update runbooks
   • Update monitoring/alerting
   • Update contact information

3. Create Action Items

   • Assign owners and due dates
   • Prioritize improvements
   • Track completion
   • Schedule follow-up

Drill Scenarios

Scenario 1: Database Corruption

• Type: Database Restore
• Severity: P1
• Components: PostgreSQL
• Steps:
  1. Simulate database corruption
  2. Stop affected services
  3. Restore from latest backup
  4. Verify data integrity
  5. Restart services
  6. Verify system health

Success Criteria:

• Database restored within RTO (1 hour)
• Data integrity verified
• Services operational within 30 minutes post-restore
• Zero data loss

Scenario 2: Service Failure

• Type: Service Failover
• Severity: P2
• Components: Coordinator API, Marketplace, Exchange
• Steps:
  1. Simulate service crash
  2. Monitor automatic failover
  3. Verify pod restart
  4. Test service health
  5. Verify data consistency

Success Criteria:

• Automatic failover within 5 minutes
• Service health restored
• Zero data loss
• Error rate returns to normal

Scenario 3: Network Partition

• Type: Tabletop Exercise
• Severity: P2
• Components: All services
• Steps:
  1. Discuss network partition scenario
  2. Walk through response procedures
  3. Identify decision points
  4. Validate communication plan
  5. Document gaps

Success Criteria:

• Response procedures validated
• Communication plan confirmed
• Decision points identified
• Gaps documented

Scenario 4: Data Center Outage

• Type: Data Center Failover
• Severity: P1
• Components: All services
• Steps:
  1. Simulate data center failure
  2. Activate alternate data center
  3. Restore from backup (if needed)
  4. Update DNS
  5. Verify service availability
  6. Monitor system performance

Success Criteria:

• Alternate data center activated within 4 hours
• Services operational
• DNS propagation complete
• Performance acceptable

Scenario 5: Security Breach

• Type: Tabletop Exercise
• Severity: P1
• Components: All services
• Steps:
  1. Discuss breach scenario
  2. Walk through containment procedures
  3. Validate forensic preservation
  4. Review communication plan
  5. Document legal/compliance requirements

Success Criteria:

• Containment procedures validated
• Forensic procedures confirmed
• Communication plan tested
• Compliance requirements identified

Drill Reporting

Drill Report Template

# Disaster Recovery Drill Report

## Basic Information
- **Drill ID:** DRILL-YYYYMMDD-001
- **Date:** [Date]
- **Type:** [Drill Type]
- **Scenario:** [Description]
- **Duration:** [Actual Duration]
- **Participants:** [Names]

## Objectives
- [Objective 1]
- [Objective 2]
- [Objective 3]

## Success Criteria
| Criteria | Target | Actual | Status |
|----------|--------|--------|--------|
| [Criteria 1] | [Target] | [Actual] | [Met/Not Met] |
| [Criteria 2] | [Target] | [Actual] | [Met/Not Met] |
| [Criteria 3] | [Target] | [Actual] | [Met/Not Met] |

## Metrics
- **RTO Target:** [Target]
- **RTO Achieved:** [Actual]
- **RPO Target:** [Target]
- **RPO Achieved:** [Actual]
- **Backup Restore Time:** [Time]
- **Service Recovery Time:** [Time]

## Timeline
| Time | Action | Owner | Status |
|------|--------|-------|--------|
| [Time] | [Action] | [Owner] | [Status] |
| [Time] | [Action] | [Owner] | [Status] |

## Issues Encountered
### Issue 1
- **Description:** [Description]
- **Impact:** [Impact]
- **Resolution:** [Resolution]
- **Prevention:** [Prevention]

### Issue 2
- **Description:** [Description]
- **Impact:** [Impact]
- **Resolution:** [Resolution]
- **Prevention:** [Prevention]

## Lessons Learned
- [Lesson 1]
- [Lesson 2]
- [Lesson 3]

## Action Items
| Action | Owner | Due Date | Status |
|--------|-------|----------|--------|
| [Action 1] | [Owner] | [Date] | [Status] |
| [Action 2] | [Owner] | [Date] | [Status] |
| [Action 3] | [Owner] | [Date] | [Status] |

## Recommendations
- [Recommendation 1]
- [Recommendation 2]
- [Recommendation 3]

## Next Steps
- [Next Step 1]
- [Next Step 2]

## Sign-off
- **Drill Lead:** [Name] - [Date]
- **Observer:** [Name] - [Date]

Report Distribution

• Primary: CTO, Engineering Lead, DevOps Lead
• Secondary: All participants
• Archive: Confluence/wiki
• Retention: 3 years

Drill Metrics Tracking

Quarterly Metrics Report

Metric	Q1 Target	Q1 Actual	Q2 Target	Q2 Actual	Q3 Target	Q3 Actual	Q4 Target	Q4 Actual
Drill Completion Rate	100%		100%		100%		100%
Success Criteria Met	90%		90%		90%		90%
RTO Achievement	90%		90%		90%		90%
RPO Achievement	95%		95%		95%		95%
Participant Satisfaction	80%		80%		80%		80%

Action Item Tracking

Action Item	Drill ID	Owner	Due Date	Status	Closed Date
[Action]	[ID]	[Owner]	[Date]	[Status]	[Date]

Continuous Improvement

Drill Feedback Process

1. Immediate Feedback

   • Collect participant feedback during drill
   • Note issues in real-time
   • Adjust drill if needed

2. Post-Drill Survey

   • Send survey within 24 hours
   • Ask about drill effectiveness
   • Collect suggestions for improvement
   • Rate drill difficulty and realism

3. Quarterly Review

   • Review drill metrics
   • Identify trends
   • Adjust drill schedule
   • Update drill scenarios

Drill Improvement Cycle

Plan → Execute → Review → Improve → Plan

1. Plan: Design drill scenario and objectives
2. Execute: Run drill according to procedures
3. Review: Analyze results and collect feedback
4. Improve: Update procedures and plan next drill

Roles and Responsibilities

Drill Coordinator

• Plan and schedule drills
• Coordinate participants
• Lead drill execution
• Document results
• Track action items

Drill Observer

• Observe drill execution
• Take detailed notes
• Provide unbiased feedback
• Identify improvement areas

Drill Participants

• Participate in drill execution
• Follow drill procedures
• Provide feedback
• Complete action items

Management

• Approve drill schedule
• Review drill results
• Allocate resources
• Support improvement initiatives

Training

New Hire Training

• Content: DR plan overview, drill procedures
• Frequency: Onboarding
• Duration: 1 hour
• Format: Presentation + walkthrough

Annual Refresher Training

• Content: Full DR plan, recent drill results
• Frequency: Annually
• Duration: 2 hours
• Format: Workshop

Role-Specific Training

• DBA: Database restore procedures
• DevOps: Service failover procedures
• Security: Incident response procedures
• Engineering: Service recovery procedures

Compliance

Regulatory Requirements

• SOC 2: Annual DR testing
• ISO 27001: Annual DR testing
• GDPR: Data breach response testing
• PCI DSS: Annual DR testing

Audit Trail

• Drill schedules
• Drill reports
• Action items
• Training records
• Metrics and trends

Appendix

A. Drill Checklist

Pre-Drill

• Scenario defined
• Objectives set
• Participants notified
• Environment prepared
• Monitoring configured
• Success criteria defined

During Drill

• Kickoff completed
• Timeline tracked
• Actions documented
• Issues recorded
• Communication maintained
• Metrics collected

Post-Drill

• Metrics analyzed
• Report completed
• Action items assigned
• Documentation updated
• Feedback collected
• Next drill scheduled

B. Contact Information for Drills

Role	Name	Email	Phone
Drill Coordinator
DevOps Lead
DBA
Security Lead

C. Quick Reference

Emergency Drill Termination

# If drill causes actual incident, terminate immediately
kubectl scale deployment --all --replicas=[original-counts]
# Notify drill coordinator
# Document termination reason
# Schedule follow-up review

Drill Status Check

# Check current drill status
# View drill metrics
# Monitor system health

Approval

Role	Name	Date	Signature
CTO
Engineering Lead
DevOps Lead
Operations Manager