Name three DR testing types and their purpose.

Name three DR testing types and their purpose.

• A. Tabletop exercises (discussion-based), failover tests (actual switch to DR site), parallel tests (simulated operations without impacting production).
• B. Unit tests, integration tests, acceptance tests.
• C. Fire drills, power outage drills, data center relocation tests.
• D. Stress tests, load tests, soak tests.

Answer: (A)

Testing a disaster recovery plan involves different approaches to validate different aspects of readiness. Tabletop exercises are discussion-based reviews where the team walks through the plan and roles without powering down systems. They check that procedures are understood, responsibilities are clear, and decision points are agreed upon, all at a low risk and low cost. Failover tests, on the other hand, involve an actual switch to the disaster recovery site to verify that the failover process works, data integrity is preserved, and services can be restored within expected timeframes. This moves beyond planning into real-world capability, confirming that the technical steps can be executed under real conditions. Parallel tests run DR processes while production continues to operate, allowing validation of runbooks and the coordination of people and systems without a full production outage. This gives a realistic view of operations and helps catch issues that only appear when DR steps are executed in a live environment, but with limited or controlled impact. Together, these approaches cover planning and governance, the practical feasibility of switching to the DR site, and the day-to-day operational readiness to carry out the recovery. Other options listed relate to software development testing or other drill activities, which don’t specifically validate the DR plan in the same structured way or focus on the end-to-end recovery capability.

Testing a disaster recovery plan involves different approaches to validate different aspects of readiness. Tabletop exercises are discussion-based reviews where the team walks through the plan and roles without powering down systems. They check that procedures are understood, responsibilities are clear, and decision points are agreed upon, all at a low risk and low cost.

Failover tests, on the other hand, involve an actual switch to the disaster recovery site to verify that the failover process works, data integrity is preserved, and services can be restored within expected timeframes. This moves beyond planning into real-world capability, confirming that the technical steps can be executed under real conditions.

Parallel tests run DR processes while production continues to operate, allowing validation of runbooks and the coordination of people and systems without a full production outage. This gives a realistic view of operations and helps catch issues that only appear when DR steps are executed in a live environment, but with limited or controlled impact.

Together, these approaches cover planning and governance, the practical feasibility of switching to the DR site, and the day-to-day operational readiness to carry out the recovery. Other options listed relate to software development testing or other drill activities, which don’t specifically validate the DR plan in the same structured way or focus on the end-to-end recovery capability.