ELI5: What is Documentation?
It’s the instruction manual you’d follow to rebuild your LEGO set if it fell apart. Recovery documentation includes step-by-step guides, contact lists, and maps so the team knows exactly what to do during an emergency.
Definition
In the context of disaster recovery, documentation encompasses all written materials necessary to execute recovery procedures effectively: step-by-step recovery runbooks, contact lists for key personnel and vendors, system dependency maps, network diagrams, hardware/software inventories, and vendor support agreements. Without current, accurate documentation, recovery efforts become chaotic and significantly slower during high-stress incidents.
Key Details
- DR documentation must be kept current — outdated runbooks are nearly as dangerous as no documentation
- Contact lists should include primary and backup contacts for vendors, cloud providers, ISPs, and executives
- Runbooks should be written at a level that allows staff unfamiliar with the system to execute recovery steps
- Documentation must be stored in a location accessible during a disaster (off-site or cloud-based, not only on local systems)
- Exam tip: Security+ may test the importance of documentation in DR scenarios; the key point is that documentation must be current and accessible
Connections
- Parent: disaster-recovery — documentation is a foundational element of any effective DR plan
- See also: testing-the-drp
- See also: order-of-restoration