During disaster recovery testing, which activity is essential to validate readiness?

During disaster recovery testing, which activity is essential to validate readiness?

• A. Verify data integrity after transfers and test failover/failback
• B. Ignore data integrity and focus only on network connectivity
• C. Immediately switch production workloads without testing
• D. Delete the SnapMirror relationship after testing

Answer: (A)

The essential activity in disaster recovery testing is to verify data integrity after transfers and test failover and failback. This shows that replicated data on the disaster site is accurate and complete, and that the system can take over operations smoothly when the primary site is unavailable and then return to normal once it’s restored. By validating data consistency through checksums, record counts, and end-to-end application testing, you confirm that the recovery process preserves data correctness and that transactions continue correctly across sites. This directly addresses readiness because a DR plan is only as good as its ability to preserve data and keep services running. Ignoring data integrity or focusing only on network connectivity leaves you blind to potential data corruption or missing information that would break operations after a failover. Switching production workloads immediately without testing risks unexpected downtime and data loss, undermining the purpose of disaster recovery. Deleting the SnapMirror relationship after testing eliminates the recovery mechanism entirely, preventing any future ability to fail over, which is contrary to being prepared for a disaster.

The essential activity in disaster recovery testing is to verify data integrity after transfers and test failover and failback. This shows that replicated data on the disaster site is accurate and complete, and that the system can take over operations smoothly when the primary site is unavailable and then return to normal once it’s restored. By validating data consistency through checksums, record counts, and end-to-end application testing, you confirm that the recovery process preserves data correctness and that transactions continue correctly across sites. This directly addresses readiness because a DR plan is only as good as its ability to preserve data and keep services running.

Ignoring data integrity or focusing only on network connectivity leaves you blind to potential data corruption or missing information that would break operations after a failover. Switching production workloads immediately without testing risks unexpected downtime and data loss, undermining the purpose of disaster recovery. Deleting the SnapMirror relationship after testing eliminates the recovery mechanism entirely, preventing any future ability to fail over, which is contrary to being prepared for a disaster.