Microsoft Disaster Recovery Plan Template

Standard Operating Procedure: Microsoft Disaster Recovery (DR)

Document ID: TR-IT-DR-001
Effective Date: 2023-10-27
Version: 1.0.0
Review Cadence: Semi-Annual (or post-incident)

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1. Executive Summary & Purpose

This document establishes the institutional framework for restoring Microsoft-centric infrastructure (Azure, M365, Active Directory) following a catastrophic failure. The purpose is to minimize Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) by providing a codified, repeatable execution path for technical personnel.

2. Scope & Prerequisites

• Scope: Azure cloud resources, Entra ID (Azure AD) tenants, Hybrid AD connectivity, and M365 data integrity.
• Required Tools: Azure Site Recovery (ASR), Microsoft Purview, PowerShell (AzureAD/MgGraph modules), Offline Backup Vault access.
• Access: Global Administrator / Recovery Services Contributor RBAC roles.
• PPE: N/A (Digital focus). Ensure Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) bypass codes are stored in secure, offline "break-glass" physical vaults.

3. Roles & Responsibilities (RACI)

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4. Step-by-Step Procedure

Phase I: Initial Triage & Assessment

• Declare disaster status based on predefined RTO/RPO threshold breaches.
• Notify all stakeholders via out-of-band communication (e.g., encrypted messaging).
• Confirm isolation: Ensure malware/threat vector is contained before initiating restoration.

Phase II: Identity & Infrastructure Restoration

• Trigger break-glass accounts to bypass compromised MFA/Conditional Access.
• Restore Domain Controller (DC) primary node (if Hybrid).
• Validate Azure AD Connect synchronization health.
• Initiate ASR failover for Tier-0 critical virtual machines.

Phase III: Data & Application Recovery

• Validate integrity of Azure Backup Vaults (immutable snapshots).
• Restore databases (SQL Azure / Cosmos DB) to the last known good state (RPO-compliant).
• Reconfigure DNS/Traffic Manager to route to the DR region.

Phase IV: Verification & Cutover

• Perform smoke tests on core business applications.
• Verify external connectivity and VPN/ExpressRoute status.
• Final sign-off from Security Lead regarding post-restoration posture.

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5. Quality Assurance & Pro-Tips

Best Practices:

• Immutable Backups: Always utilize Soft-Delete and immutability locks on storage blobs.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Maintain Terraform or Bicep templates to redeploy environment topology if the source region is scorched.

Common Pitfalls:

• Dependency Circularity: Attempting to restore a VM that requires an identity service which is currently offline. Always recover identity (AD/Entra) first.
• Credential Rot: Ensure "break-glass" credentials are tested quarterly; password-only expiry is a common failure point.

Metric Thresholds:

• RTO Target: < 4 hours for Tier-0 services.
• RPO Target: < 15 minutes for transactional data.

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6. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Should I restore the entire environment at once?
A: No. Prioritize Tier-0 (Identity, DNS, Network) followed by Tier-1 (Business-Critical Apps). Parallelizing recovery often results in race conditions and data corruption.

Q: What if Azure Site Recovery (ASR) is unreachable?
A: Immediately pivot to the "Cold Start" procedure: Deploy environment from validated Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) templates and re-attach storage snapshots manually.

Q: Are there local logs for audit?
A: Yes, export Azure Activity Logs to a Log Analytics Workspace that is replicate-locked to a secondary, isolated region to ensure forensic trail survival.

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End of Procedure - Julian Vance, Chief Architect