🛡️ DISASTER RECOVERY · BUSINESS CONTINUITY · SYDNEY
Disaster Recovery That Actually Works When You Need It
Backup is not disaster recovery. We design and run tested DR programs for Australian businesses — measurable RTO/RPO, quarterly failover exercises, ransomware-aware architecture, and APP-compliant data handling. The goal isn’t a DR document; it’s a recovery you’ve actually rehearsed.
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Sydney-based · 15+ years AU IT & backup · Veeam · StorageCraft · AU-region cloud · APP-compliant
THE DR REALITY
Most “Disaster Recovery” Plans Don’t Actually Recover
Most Australian businesses have a backup product, a DR document somewhere in SharePoint, and a quiet hope that they’ll never need to test either. When ransomware hits or the data centre catches fire, that’s when reality becomes expensive.
Your DR Plan Is a Document, Not a Capability
It was written for an audit, signed off by the board, and hasn’t been opened since. Critical contacts have left the business. Recovery procedures reference systems that were decommissioned in 2022. The plan exists; the recovery doesn’t.
RTO and RPO Are Numbers Nobody Tested
Your DR document says RTO 4 hours, RPO 15 minutes. Reality: you’ve never timed an actual recovery. The infrastructure changed three times since the numbers were written. The real RTO is whatever it actually takes — usually 2–5x what’s documented.
Ransomware Wasn’t in the Original Threat Model
Most DR plans were designed for fire, flood and hardware failure. Modern ransomware encrypts your backups too. If your backup repositories aren’t immutable or air-gapped, your DR plan is one phishing email away from worthless. Most businesses don’t know which side of that line they’re on.
Compliance Demands DR. Reality Doesn’t Match.
APP, ASIC, RACGP, Health Records Act — they all require DR capability. Your last audit ticked the boxes. Real-world capability is much shakier. When a regulator actually asks “show us your last DR test”, you don’t have an answer that holds up.
WHAT WE DO
Six Disciplines of Real Disaster Recovery
DR isn’t a product you buy. It’s a program you run. Here’s what we deliver — and how it differs from “we sold you Veeam, you’re sorted”.
DR Strategy & Plan
Business Impact Analysis, RTO/RPO targets per system, dependency mapping, recovery sequencing. A plan that names current people, current systems, current procedures — and that you’ll actually open in an incident. Not for an audit; for a Tuesday morning.
Replication & Recovery Architecture
Veeam Cloud Connect, StorageCraft, native cloud DR (Azure Site Recovery, AWS Disaster Recovery, GCP). We pick the right tool for your stack and budget — vendor-neutral. Replication tested end-to-end before it goes into production.
Quarterly Failover Testing
Real DR exercises every quarter — not tabletop discussions. We restore a representative sample of systems to a non-production environment, time the recovery, document gaps, fix them. Your RTO/RPO numbers become measured facts, not aspirations.
Ransomware-Resistant Backup
Immutable backup repositories, air-gapped copies, 3-2-1-1-0 architecture (one immutable + zero errors after verification). If your primary environment is encrypted by ransomware, the recovery copy survives intact and clean.
Cloud DR & Hybrid Architectures
Australian-region cloud (Azure Australia East, AWS Sydney) for sovereign data. Hybrid setups where you keep production on-prem but DR target is cloud. Cloud-to-cloud DR if you’re already cloud-native. We design for the architecture that matches your reality.
Compliance Reporting
APP, ASIC, RACGP, Health Records Act, ISO 27001 — DR evidence packs that hold up in audit. Test reports, RTO/RPO measurements, immutability proofs, restoration logs. Your auditor sees the actual capability, not a paper plan.
HOW WE WORK
Plan, Build, Test, Run — Repeat
DR isn’t a one-off project. It’s an ongoing capability. We engage either as a project (build it, hand over) or as a managed service (we run it, including the quarterly tests).
Discovery & BIA (2–4 weeks)
Business Impact Analysis. Workshops with each affected department. System dependency mapping. RTO/RPO target setting per system based on actual business cost of downtime — not arbitrary numbers. Compliance constraints documented. Output: a prioritised recovery profile.
Architecture & Build (4–10 weeks)
Replication tooling deployed. Backup repositories hardened (immutable, air-gapped where applicable). DR target environment provisioned (cloud or secondary site). Recovery procedures documented. Tested at component level before any production cutover.
First Full Failover Test (1–2 weeks)
Real failover exercise. Representative systems restored to DR target. Full timing measured. Gaps identified. Procedures refined. RTO/RPO documented as measured facts. Test report written for compliance.
Run, Test, Refine (ongoing)
Quarterly DR exercises. Annual full-business continuity test. Refinement after each test. Documentation kept current with infrastructure changes. Either we run this for you (managed) or we hand over to your team (project handover).
WHY INFRAWORX FOR DR
15+ Years of Real DR — Not DR Slideware
Our roots are backup and IT. We’ve actually run DR exercises for Australian businesses across more than 15 years. We’ve seen what fails when systems go down at 11pm on a Friday — and we design for that reality, not for the boardroom slide.
Vendor-Neutral, Outcome-Focused
We don’t sell you a DR product. We design DR architecture using whichever tool fits your environment — Veeam, StorageCraft, native Azure/AWS/GCP, or hybrid. The right tool depends on your stack, your budget and your RTO targets. We pick on outcome, not vendor margin.
Sydney-Based — Real DR Events Happen in Your Time Zone
When the disaster actually happens, you ring our team in Sydney. Not a call centre in another country. Not a vendor support queue. A team that designed your specific recovery and knows your stack. Same time zone, same business hours, hands on.
Compliance & Privacy Built In
Australian Privacy Principles, ASIC, RACGP, Health Records Act, Real Estate Council. AU-region cloud where data sovereignty matters. APP-compliant data handling end-to-end. Your DR plan satisfies the auditor because the underlying capability is real, not because the document says the right things.
Tested DR Beats Documented DR
Most consultancies write you a DR plan and disappear. We stay through the first three quarterly failover tests, prove the capability, refine the procedures, train your team. After that, your call — keep us on retainer for ongoing tests, or take it in-house with confidence.
FAQ
Disaster Recovery Questions Answered
The questions IT leaders typically ask before engaging a DR partner.
What’s the difference between backup and disaster recovery?
Backup is a copy of your data. DR is the documented, tested capability to restore your business operations to a working state within agreed time and data-loss windows. You can have backup without DR (data exists, but recovery is hours-to-days of guessing). You can’t really have DR without backup. Most businesses have decent backup and pretend that counts as DR — it doesn’t.
What RTO and RPO can we realistically achieve?
Depends on the system, your tooling and your budget. For business-critical systems with proper replication: RTO 1–4 hours, RPO 5–15 minutes is typical. For tier-2 systems: RTO 4–24 hours, RPO 1–6 hours. For tier-3 (archive, low-criticality): RTO days, RPO daily. Anything tighter (RTO sub-15-minutes) usually requires hot-standby or active-active architecture, which is more expensive but achievable.
How often should DR be tested?
Quarterly at minimum for a representative subset of systems. Annual full-business-continuity exercise. After any major infrastructure change. Compliance frameworks (ISO 27001, ASIC, RACGP) typically require annual testing as a minimum — but every-three-months is what we recommend because infrastructure drift makes annual-only testing risky.
What about ransomware?
Modern ransomware actively targets backup repositories. If your backups are reachable from your production network with admin credentials, ransomware can encrypt them too. We design with immutable repositories (object lock, write-once architecture), air-gapped copies (logically or physically separated), and 3-2-1-1-0 strategy (3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offsite, 1 immutable, 0 verification errors). Ransomware-resistant DR is a specific design discipline — not a generic checkbox.
Cloud-only DR vs hybrid?
Depends on your situation. Cloud-only DR (Azure Site Recovery, AWS Disaster Recovery) is cost-effective and scales fast — best for cloud-native or cloud-friendly workloads. Hybrid DR (on-prem production + cloud DR target) suits regulated industries that can’t move all workloads to cloud. Multi-cloud DR exists but typically costs 2x and only makes sense for very specific resilience requirements. We recommend the simplest architecture that meets your RTO/RPO and compliance needs.
What about AU compliance — APP, ASIC, RACGP, Health Records Act?
All have DR requirements. APP requires “reasonable steps” to protect data including against loss. ASIC requires DR for licensed financial entities. RACGP standards require DR for general practices. Health Records Act sets retention and recoverability standards. We design DR to meet your specific compliance overlay — and provide evidence packs (test logs, RTO/RPO measurements, immutability proofs) that hold up in audit.
What’s the typical investment for DR?
Initial Discovery + BIA is fixed-fee. Build phase scope-dependent (driven by which systems and what RTO/RPO targets). Ongoing operating cost is monthly retainer if you choose managed mode, plus underlying tooling costs (Veeam licensing, cloud storage, etc). We share indicative ranges in discovery once we understand your environment. Most clients find DR ROI positive on first incident avoided — but the bigger value is regulatory + business-continuity confidence.
How long does setup take?
Discovery + BIA: 2–4 weeks. Architecture + Build: 4–10 weeks. First full failover test: 1–2 weeks. So 8–16 weeks from kickoff to operational tested DR capability — depending on environment complexity and how clean your existing backup is. Some pieces can run in parallel.
Can you handle multi-site or multi-cloud DR?
Yes. Multi-site (data centre + secondary site) is common for regulated industries. Multi-cloud (AWS + Azure replication) is rarer and usually only justifiable for the very highest resilience requirements (cost is significant). Cross-region within a single cloud (Azure Australia East + Australia Southeast) is straightforward and we deploy this often.
How Confident Are You in Your Current DR Plan?
Most businesses don’t know the answer until they need to. To walk through your current state — RTO/RPO targets, last test date, ransomware posture, compliance gaps — get in touch and we’ll arrange a no-pressure conversation. Honest assessment, no sales pitch.
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🇦🇺 Australian-owned, Sydney NSW · 🛡️ DR + Business Continuity specialists · 🏆 15+ years AU IT & backup · ✓ APP-compliant data handling