Disaster recovery scope: Should a disaster recovery plan include secure shipment or replication of database backups to off-site or secondary locations?

Introduction / Context:
Disaster recovery (DR) addresses region-level risks: fires, floods, ransomware, data center failures. If your backups are stored only on-site, the same disaster that destroys production can destroy your ability to recover. Therefore, off-site backup shipment or replication is a foundational DR requirement.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Backups must be durable, intact, and recoverable independent of the primary site.
• Threats include physical disasters and logical corruption (malicious deletion or encryption).
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) drive technology choices.

Concept / Approach:
A sound DR plan uses one or more of: off-site vaulting of encrypted media, cross-region object storage, log shipping, snapshot replication, or fully managed cross-region database replicas. Periodic test restores validate that backups are usable. Chain-of-custody and key management ensure confidentiality and integrity while in transit and at rest.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Define RTO/RPO and choose off-site replication or shipment accordingly.Encrypt backups; separate encryption keys from backup storage.Automate transfer to secondary locations; monitor success and latency.Perform scheduled DR drills with full restore procedures.Continuously improve based on drill outcomes and incident learnings.

Verification / Alternative check:
Run a failover simulation assuming the primary site is unavailable. If you can restore from the off-site copy to meet RTO/RPO, the plan is adequate; if not, the gap reveals missing off-site provisioning.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Correct (as an answer to the original false claim) would wrongly suggest off-site is unnecessary.Only for cloud or archives: on-premises and hot transactional systems equally require off-site protection.

Common Pitfalls:
Keeping backups in the same blast radius, untested restores, weak key management, and forgetting to protect the backup catalog itself.

Final Answer:
Incorrect