Backup and Restore Plan
Docs + Word7 pages
Free
- Type
- Document
- Price
- Free
- Pages
- 6 · US Letter
- Style
- Corporate
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Updated
- November 6, 2026
Every page (6)
Overview
Most recovery plans fail on the first real outage, because the objectives were never checked and the steps were never run. This template sets out a cloud recovery plan in seven pages: the architecture, replication and backups, the failover decision and steps, failback, and the drill that proves the plan works. Each objective is a number and each step has an owner.
The sample is for Birchfield Systems, a fictional software company with a primary region, a warm standby and a recovery point of five minutes for customer data. Its objectives, drill results and contacts are sample data. Replace them with your own systems and tests, and have each system owner confirm the recovery time before you rely on it.
Useful for
- A cloud engineer preparing for an audit of recovery plans
- An operations lead running the first failover drill of the year
- An executive checking the recovery objectives for critical systems
What's included
- Architecture diagram of regions, backups and failover
- Replication table with recovery points and test dates
- Failover article on the decision, data and roles
- Failback tips for returning traffic safely
- Drill checklist with owners, dates and results
- Drill steps from alert to back online
How to use it
- 1
Click Make a copy in Google Docs, then confirm on the Google page. The copy is saved to your own Google Drive.
- 2
List your systems and assign each one to a tier, with the owner who confirmed its objectives.
- 3
Replace the replication table with your real schedule, locations and last tested restore date.
- 4
Write the recovery steps for your top three systems, then run each one as a drill.
- 5
Delete the guide page, add the vendor contacts, then store the plan off the systems it recovers.
What you need
Requirements
- A Google account with access to Google Drive
Works with
- Google Docs
- Microsoft Word (download the .docx)
Questions
Is this cloud disaster recovery plan template free to use?
Yes, free of charge. Make a copy into your Drive, then replace the recovery steps and contacts with your own.
Are the company, people and figures real?
No. Birchfield Systems, its regions, objectives and drill results are fictional sample data. Replace every figure with your own tested numbers before relying on the plan.
How often should a recovery plan be tested?
Restore a sample of backups each quarter and run a full failover drill at least once a year, with the results recorded and the plan updated afterwards.
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- #cloud-recovery-plan
- #failover-plan
- #rto-rpo
- #backup-testing
- #google-docs-template
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