I led a two-phase Disaster Recovery assessment and strategy engagement for a global reinsurance company. Phase I was a current state discovery — assessing the existing DR environment, identifying gaps, documenting challenges with DR testing, and evaluating the confidence level in existing tools (Double-Take and SRM). Phase II produced a full DR strategy with a comparison matrix of five recovery architectures and a recommended path forward.
The engagement concluded with an executed SOW (SOW#8) and a phased roadmap: Phase 2 adding Flex Capacity and a Cyber Recovery solution, and Phase 3 migrating DR to RSVC (Rackspace Services for VMware Cloud) by late 2022. CloudScape was deployed to ensure complete application stack dependency mapping, which underpinned the accuracy of the DR strategy options. Azure (ASR + Zerto) was evaluated as one of five strategies with an RTO/RPO of 2 hours / 15 minutes.
Existing DR Environment Findings
- Current DR tool: Double-Take + SRM (VMware Site Recovery Manager) — low confidence in existing Double-Take replication reliability
- DR testing history: limited — DR procedures never been fully end-to-end validated; most testing centered on on-premises workloads only
- Physical servers identified in scope — not all workloads virtualized, complicating DR coverage
- CloudScape deployed to ensure application stack completeness and dependency capture prior to strategy design
Gap Analysis Findings
- DR Gap Analysis Matrix documented: gaps categorized with short-term fixes and long-term remediation references tied to DR strategy numbering
- RTO performance under current solution (Double-Take + SRM): 4 hours — double the target
- Testing complexity high: DR tests require significant engineering effort ("heroics") to complete successfully
- Ransomware protection gap: existing setup limited to post-attack scenarios only; malware scanning out of scope
SRM + Zerto In-Place Optimization
Monolithic DR broken into manageable application stacks. Double-Take replaced with Zerto for all databases. Target: Private Cloud ORD. Improved testing complexity over current state.
Zerto + Azure (ASR)
DR target platform is Azure. Combination of Azure Site Recovery (ASR) and Zerto used to reduce cost. Public cloud as DR target offers on-demand capacity and simplified testing against a geo-resilient platform.
Zerto to Private Cloud
Same application stack decomposition as Strategy 1 with Double-Take replaced by Zerto. DR target remains Private Cloud ORD. Reduced vendor complexity vs. Strategy 1 (Zerto only).
Double-Take + SRM (Baseline)
Existing solution retained. Monolithic DR recovery using Double-Take and SRM. Highest RTO at 4 hours. Lowest ransomware protection score. Retained as baseline comparison only.
RSVC — VM Level DR
DR at VM level using existing VMware tools. Recovery in Rackspace Services for VMware Cloud (RSVC) multitenant environment with on-demand resourcing. Lowest cost option; Phase 3 roadmap target.
Phase 2 — Flex Capacity + Cyber Recovery
- Add Flex Capacity at IAD (Northern Virginia) datacenter for burst DR capacity
- Implement Cyber Recovery solution — ransomware-resilient isolated recovery vault
- Target completion: August 2022
- Addresses the ransomware protection gap identified in Phase I
Phase 3 — RSVC Migration
- Migrate DR to RSVC (Rackspace Services for VMware Cloud) — Strategy 5
- VMware-native toolset, self-service portal, pay-as-you-go resources for DR compute
- Target completion: November 15, 2022
- Lowest total cost option with strong VMware platform alignment
Phase I — Current State Discovery
Led the DR current state discovery — assessing Double-Take/SRM environment confidence levels, documenting DR testing gaps, identifying physical server scope, and deploying CloudScape for application stack dependency mapping.
DR Gap Matrix
Built the DR Gap Analysis Matrix — cataloguing gaps, categorizing short-term and long-term remediation options, and cross-referencing each gap to the numbered DR strategy options in Phase II.
Five-Strategy Comparison
Produced the five-strategy DR comparison matrix — evaluating RTO/RPO performance, cost vs. baseline, testing complexity, and ransomware protection scoring across all options.
Phase II — DR Strategy & Roadmap
Authored the Phase II DR Strategy document — recommended path forward, phased roadmap (Phase 2: Flex+Cyber, Phase 3: RSVC), and executive summary findings delivered to leadership.
SOW Execution
Scoped and drove the DR Strategy Assessment SOW to signature, covering Phase I discovery through Phase II strategy delivery with milestones, assumptions, and delivery timeline defined.
| Deliverable | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Phase I — DR Discovery Report | Current state DR environment assessment — Double-Take/SRM findings, testing gaps, physical server inventory, confidence scoring | DOCX + PDF |
| DR Gap Analysis Matrix | Gap inventory with short- and long-term remediation options cross-referenced to DR strategy numbering | XLSX |
| DR Executive Summary | March 2022 executive presentation — Phase I findings, 5-strategy comparison matrix, and phased roadmap | PPTX |
| Phase II — DR Strategy Document | Full DR strategy with five-option analysis, recommended path, Azure (ASR+Zerto) option detail, and Phase 2/3 roadmap | DOCX |
| Workshop — DR Strategy Readout | Workshop presentation covering RSVC solution overview, Phase 2 and Phase 3 proposed solutions, and VMware Cloud feature roadmap | PPTX |
| DR Strategy Assessment SOW | Executed engagement SOW covering Phase I and Phase II delivery, milestones, assumptions, and timeline | PDF Executed |