I read an interesting blog post on the Citrix website about how we should not use XenDesktop as a disaster recovery strategy. My initial thought was “huh?” Why in the world would I not want to use XenDesktop as a DR strategy? And why wouldn’t Citrix want to sell me product?
I’m not going to rehash the argument but I have to agree with Citrix on the topic of not designing for the exception. When I think of the successful DR implementations I’ve done they’ve always leveraged or extended the primary technology. For example, I’ve used SAN storage to provide Microsoft SQL to Microsoft SQL replication. I take the authors view that I wouldn’t design a DR solution that had a Microsoft SQL to MySQL concept of operations.
Your DR solution should be something that you can practically support in a DR situation. The technology is only part of the equation for a successful DR implementation. Remember you have to have a solid repeatable process that your IT staff and employees can follow. If your employees have to use a method of access different than their normal procedures how will you even communicate this in a DR event let alone support it potentially with reduced IT support.
The Citrix post is a reminder to never let the technology get in the way of your business processes.
