Disaster recovery testing and failover testing for your application
A recovery plan that has never been run is a guess. Your operations team runs it and we test through it: a restore from backup, a database or region failover, a service you depend on taken away. Then we check that the application still works, the data is all there, and recovery took no longer than you promised.
What a test answers
- Does the backup restore?Into a system that actually works
- Does failover hold?With real traffic running
- How long did it take?Measured against your recovery time target
- What was lost?Measured against your data loss target
What we test
We test the application through the failure. Your operations team keeps control of the infrastructure.
Backup restore
A recent backup restored into a clean environment, then the application tested end to end on it.
Database and region failover
The switch to a replica or second region while load tests keep traffic running.
Dependency outages
Payments, email or a partner API made unavailable, to see whether your product fails gracefully.
Data after recovery
Records, totals and transactions that were in flight, compared before and after.
Recovery time and data loss
Measured on the clock, not estimated, against the targets in your plan or your contracts.
The runbook itself
Followed exactly as written, by people who did not write it. Every missing step is a finding.
How a recovery test runs
A 30-minute call
Your architecture, your recovery plan and the targets you have promised.
Proposal
Scenarios and a fixed price in writing, within 2 business days.
Test plan
Each scenario with its rollback, agreed with your operations team.
Test day
Usually on a staging copy. Production only in a window your team leads.
Report
Measured times, data checks, every gap found, and the fixes to re-test.
Why the team that built it should not be the only one testing it
The engineers who wrote the recovery plan know it by heart, so they skip the step that is missing from the page. We follow the page. When the restore needs a password only one person knows, we find out on a test day, not during an outage.
- Load and performance testing in-house, for failover under traffic
- NDA and DPA from day one
- Not in scope: network or infrastructure penetration testing
Recovery tests as evidence
Financial entities under DORA must test their ICT business continuity and recovery plans, at least once a year. Customers in other sectors ask for the same proof in security questionnaires.
Our report records each scenario, the version tested, the measured times and the gaps found, so your team can hand it to an auditor or a customer. We test and report. Your organisation stays responsible for the plan and for compliance.
What disaster recovery testing costs
A recovery test is a one-off piece of work with a fixed price, written into the proposal once we know your scenarios and environments.
Want failover and performance checks before every major release? That becomes ongoing QA at EUR 20-45 per hour. See performance testing services.
Disaster recovery testing: common questions
What is disaster recovery testing?
Running your recovery plan for real, on a copy of your system or in a planned window, to prove it restores a working application within your time and data loss targets.
What is the difference from failover testing?
Failover testing checks the switch, automatic or manual, to a standby database, server or region. Disaster recovery testing covers the whole way back, including restores from backup and the manual steps.
Do you test in production?
Usually on a staging copy built like production. A production test happens only in a window your operations team plans and leads, with a rollback for every step.
How much does it cost?
A fixed price in the proposal, based on the number of scenarios and environments. Ongoing checks inside a QA engagement are billed at EUR 20-45 per hour.
Do you need access to our cloud account?
Not to run the switch. Your operations team runs it. We need access to the application, monitoring and test data so we can verify what happened.
Do you do infrastructure penetration testing?
No. Our security testing covers web applications, APIs and mobile apps. See penetration testing.
Find out if your recovery plan works
Tell us how your system is built and what you have promised. You get the scenarios and a fixed price in writing within 2 business days.