Disaster recovery is extremely important to keep your company running in case of a disaster. It can be a natural disaster such as a flood, earthquake, or hurricane. It could also be man-made, such as a ransomware attack, that brings your company to a halt. Before the cloud, you had to have a secondary data center from your primary one that had a hot, warm, or cold setup. The secondary site would be in another region. For example, if your primary site was on the East Coast, then your secondary backup site would be in the Central time zone. Ideally, a disaster recovery site is located in a geographically separate region, far enough from the original site to not be affected by the same disaster (such as a flood or earthquake) but close enough to be reached in a timely manner if physical access is needed. The choice between a hot, warm, or cold site is a balance between cost, speed of recovery, and the importance of the systems that are being protected.

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